The days are getting shorter, the weather is bleak, autumn has arrived! What better time to long for a tasty, aromatic stew prepared in the Big Green Egg? Such as a hash with beef, Stifado with fish or a tasty Stroganoff sauce, slowly cooked in the Dutch Oven. Ignite your EGG and enjoy these three stew recipes!
Tastily stewed in the Big Green Egg
Each country has its own traditional stewed dishes. Dishes such as French coq au vin, Hungarian goulash, Italian ossobuco and German sauerbraten are well known beyond the national borders, but in addition to these there are a great many stews that are only known locally. All stew recipes do have one thing in common; you can prepare them all in the Big Green Egg using a Dutch Oven.
Stewing is a cooking technique where the ingredients are slowly cooked in a liquid and at a low temperature. It is common practice to briefly fry the meat, fish or vegetables before adding the liquid. You could do this in a pan, but when you plan to stew in the Big Green Egg it would also be very tasty to grill the ingredients first.
It is a very healthy way of cooking as no vitamins or minerals are lost. After all, you will retain the cooking fluid. Furthermore, it is a very easy process and there’s not much that can go wrong with a stew. The liquid and low temperature substantially reduce the risk of burning the dish and it usually doesn’t matter if you extend or lessen the stewing time by fifteen minutes or so.
Tender and juicy
When stewing meat, the lengthy cooking process ensures that any tough bits with a lot of connective tissue will become as tender as can be. The collagen in the connective tissue of the stew meat will melt, improving the structure of the meat. Hard vegetables rich in fibre and the more sturdy types of fish will also become tender and juicy when stewed.
An additional advantage of the lengthy process is that all the flavours of the ingredients are allowed plenty of time to infuse with each other. The flavour of the liquid, the herbs and other seasoning will be fully absorbed by the vegetables, fish and meat, which adds to the overall taste.
Optimal heat distribution
When using the Big Green Egg for stewing it is preferable to use the Cast Iron Dutch Oven. You can achieve the best heat distribution by first placing the convEGGtor and grid followed by the pan. The cast iron of the Dutch Oven will absorb the heat and transfer it evenly.
In the event of a long stewing time, keep the lid of the Dutch Oven on the pan for most of the time. This prevents too much moisture from evaporating during the cooking process. Removing the lid of the Dutch Oven for the first and last 15-30 minutes of the preparation will leave enough time for the stew to acquire that delicious Big Green Egg flavour.
Do you want to prepare a stew on the Big Green Egg? Give these 3 recipes a try!
