The Thickest Stew

November 24, 2019 5:22 AM

I want The Thickest Stews. I want my stews to never be thinner than a good gravy, and I find that many stews disappoint me. How do I do this? Please answer with tips and tricks to getting the consistency I want, though recipe recommendations are welcome.

No food restrictions. I do eat curries as well and spicy foods. Equipment-wise I have many soup pots including an extra-large pot (40qts) that I generally use for Gumbo making, a pressure cooker, and a slow cooker. No immersion blender, but will purchase one if that's the thing I need to make the stew I want.

posted by AlexiaSky to Food & Drink (34 answers total)

At the end of it’s too thin, just add a little thickener. Usually I brown the meat in flour, but you can also add that at the end (mixed with water first so it doesn’t clump). That will need to simmer in for another 10 min.

Other faster, easier (and more flavorless) thickeners are corn starch and psyllium powder, the latter also being pure fiber, which is often nice in a stew, and is part of traditional Indian curry thickening.

Generally you’ll get thicker stews the longer you cook them, so another option is doing the same stuff you do, but for longer.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:38 AM on November 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

You need starch and/or gelatin. Traditionally in European cooking, when you brown the meat and veg, before adding the liquid, you add a good tablespoon of flour that browns a bit along with the other ingredients. This will often be enough for a lovely gravy-like consistency, but it gets even better with gelatin. A Serious Eats, they seem to add gelatin powder to all stew-ish things. For natural gelatin, cook your meat on the bone, as with osso buco, oxtail stew and stuff like that. That works best with meats that need a long cooking time, + 3 hours, which is not optimal for chicken based stews, or stews based on more expensive cuts. Here, you need a gelatinous stock for your liquid. I always make a stock from our left-over chicken carcass, and reduce it a lot, which will lead to a nice wobbly jelly. Or you can make bone-broth.
In Chinese cooking, you use a slurry of cornstarch and cooking liquid that you add to the stew after stir frying the other ingredients instead of wheat-flower at the beginning. Some people do this for European stews and gravies as well, but it doesn't work as well IMO.
posted by mumimor at 5:42 AM on November 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

Add potatoes and/or pre-cooked beans. They will absorb the flavors and mash down to a beautiful, hearty texture.
posted by Weftage at 5:56 AM on November 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

+1 gelatin. Your stocks have to be solid in the fridge. BUT gelatin is more for mouthfeel, not thickness (gelatin is liquid when hot).

At the end of cooking I always strain all the solids (because you CAN overcook stew meat, and stew veg too) and just boil the sauce until it gets to my desired consistency. Deepens the flavor too.
posted by supercres at 6:00 AM on November 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

Another mashed-down-veggies option: in curries the "broth" is often onions and tomatoes cooked down until they liquify, usually without a ton of other liquid added, though sometimes you'll add in yogurt or cream.

And another technique: you can thicken broth using egg yolks, or a mix of egg yolk and cream. This one's tricky — you need to temper the egg yolks so they don't turn into scrambled eggs. Greek avgolemono is a nice example of this, where the broth gets added starch from the rice, and also gets eggs tempered into it, and it comes out thick and rich and silky.

But yeah, flour/cornstarch and gelatin are the main anglo-american options, and probably the way of getting the familiar gravylike texture you have in mind.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:06 AM on November 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

We use puréed cauliflower a lot. Steam first (or roast if you want more caramelization), run through an immersion blender, and add for instant thickness. It’s fairly taste neutral, and adds a lot of thickness. It’s a reasonable substitute for heavy cream, especially if you add a little avocado. We put it in fish chowder this week!
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:23 AM on November 24, 2019 [9 favorites]

Lentils, especially red ones, can make a very thick stew.
posted by neushoorn at 6:26 AM on November 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

Starting with a roux is a great way to get things thicker, but I don't always remember that. You can make roux separately and add it to the pot! I like animal fats like shmaltz, duck, or fatback but butter is classic too - just take a small pot, melt down your fat and stir in your flour, brown as desired. Then temper the roux by putting in a couple ladles of stew liquid into the roux, combining that thoroughly (a stick blender can help with lumps) and pouring the whole thing into the stew pot. Bring it back up to a simmer and cook down for a bit. Best of course if you can do this mid cook.

Depending on your cuisine often some heavy cream added at the end can be a finishing touch that makes everything feel much thicker than it might actually be. I've heard good things about cashew cream also working for this? But I've never tried it myself. Might be great to try in a few curries.

With cornstarch it helps to really get the liquid boiling. So strain out your solids, add a cornstarch slurry and crank the heat for a while.

Beans make for great stews. If you start with dried beans instead of canned/prepped, they especially thicken up a dish and carry a ton flavor. It's wild, I'll be thinking that beans are huge after an overnight soak but then I'll cook them and they'll get so much bigger! And the starches will thicken up their cooking liquid a ton, which you can use in a separate dish or cook the beans as part of a stew from the beginning. You can also set some aside and puree them to stir back in. Lentils don't need soaking, of course. I've accidentally thickened a chicken stew by putting lentils in way early and having them just completely break down - maybe you want to do that on purpose!
posted by Mizu at 6:28 AM on November 24, 2019 [8 favorites]

Use flour or cornstarch or potatoes or beans.

If your stew contains beans, mash some beans into a paste and whisk in. The same goes with potatoes.

If you don't mind butter make a roux in a separate saucepan and whisk in, repeat as necessary.

See the 4:14 mark on this video for instructions. This method uses a stick of butter with 2/3 cups of flour plus stock from the stew. You can lessen the amount of butter, although one stick distributed into a big stew is not as calorific as it seems.

Also flour your meat before cooking. See here: Hunters Chicken Recipe

Cornstarch method: 1 T cornstarch blended with 2 T cold liquid (water or broth or stock). Whisk in.

Flour and water method: 2 T flour blended with 3 T cold liquid. Whisk in.
posted by loveandhappiness at 6:29 AM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also beurre manié method.

See how to incorporate here at 6:22 mark.
posted by loveandhappiness at 6:41 AM on November 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

Central/Eastern European here: almost all of our stews begin with onions. Lots of them. Like, stews are almost equal parts meat and onions. The onions are sauteed until falling apart and then you brown the meat and add liquids.

The other method is adding flour or roux, but I hate flour, so... Onions.
posted by gakiko at 6:42 AM on November 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

I always have instant mashed potatoes around for this exact task, it thickens perfectly and has a better flavor than flour or starch.
posted by i_mean_come_on_now at 6:44 AM on November 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

Lots of great suggestions already. If you forget about the roux or other front end steps you could also simply sprinkle in a bit of gravy mix at the back end to adjust thickness. As you normally have lots of great flavours already and only use a little bit of gravy mix it doesn’t really taste like artificial gravy.
posted by koahiatamadl at 7:07 AM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I like the buerre manié method for rescuing something that wasn’t thick enough; it’s usually easier and more convenient than making a roux. But I just wanted to note that any kind of cornstarch or flour thickening relies on the starch being cooked, so once you add it to the liquid it needs to simmer for a bit.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 7:24 AM on November 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

Potatoes are best. Depending on whether you want them to have their own presence or just thicken you can add at beginning or halfway through.

A useful thing to have around is Wondra instant flour. You can add it at the very end. It doesn't require precooking, it melts right in and thickens upon cooking.

Beurre manie (mush flour and butter up into a doughy paste and mix in in small plops) will also work.

But potatoes are the best.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:25 AM on November 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

Bones bones bones. Whatever meat you’re putting in the stew, substitute or add some cut that’s all bone and gristle — neck bones shin bones anything. Cooked long and slow, that’s where you get the gelatin for a rich thick gravy.
posted by LizardBreath at 7:30 AM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Note, corn starch won’t stay thick upon reheating, so if you make a giant stew and love leftovers, that’s not the best choice. If you are thickening with flour, make sure there’s enough fat in the soup.
posted by advicepig at 7:47 AM on November 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

Use lots of barley and you'll be able to tap dance on it,
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:27 AM on November 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

I've not tried adding gelatin, but I do prefer stew meat with a bone, preferably a cut with lots of connective tissue that will dissolve with long slow cooking. Any chicken stock, soup or stew is so much better with bones and skin. I always brown the meat in oil to get that extra flavor.

I usually use a couple of onions and brown them. Every recipe will tell that takes 5 minutes, but it takes at least 20 or 30. I don't mind and even like a few bits of quite dark onion. I dislike the onions to be al dente. Onions add a lot of sweetness and umami, and I suspect you want a fair bit of umami/ savory. To add savory flavor, Better Than Bouillon, Marmite, Miso, wine, sherry, marsala, mushrooms, are all effective, obviously not all together. Sauteing chopped celery, carrots, cabbage and other veg adds adds flavor, too.

Corn starch has to be heated to thicken, add sparingly, as it takes a couple minutes.
I prefer flour to be added as a roux, and fat is a thickener. When I make a Thanksgiving dinner, I make quite a bit of roux for gravy and soup. It takes a minute to absorb liquid so be judicious.
Rice flour, potato flakes, beans, lentils, potatoes, garbanzo flour are all thickeners, also butter, sour cream, yogurt(full-fat if possible). Adding rice, barley, or noodles thickens stews. I suspect you're missing fat in stews that are too thin. I never felt like I made good chili until I started using more oil and fattier beef.
posted by theora55 at 8:28 AM on November 24, 2019

Not just lentils - other pulses work as well. Split peas are very fine in things with ham, for instance. Similarly, pearl barley absorbs water and that's what makes it work - rice and even pasta will do the same if you add it late to the cooking so that it remains whole.

I find that pulses and potatoes have a certain texture, but cornstarch leaves the sauce smooth. You can always use these things in combination, of course.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 8:41 AM on November 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

Use less water. I usually start with about 2/3 the amount called for, although sometimes I cut it to 1/2 if the recipe looks too liquid-y.

Also yes to barley, potatoes, beans, and other starchy ingredients, and yes to mashing a little of these thickeners to help them along.
posted by Quietgal at 8:57 AM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

One fairly simple and easy way to add flour to your stew for thickener is to cut your raw meat into cubes and then moisten them and roll them in flour. They can then be tossed as is into the slow cooker or a roasting pan. As the juices escape from the cooking meat they dissolve the flour so no stirring and trying to dissolve lumps is necessary. If you want a thicker gravy you cut the cubes smaller so there is more surface area and more flour. You can of course add seasonings to the flour, such as garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper, curry powder or thyme, or whatever you favourite stew flavourings are. If you like to brown your meat before you start the stew go ahead and do it after they have been dredged in flour. It will work as well or better in terms of ensuring the meat doesn't dry out.

Bread crumbs are a good thickener to use at the end, because unlike flour or cornstarch you don't risk ending up with the taste of something raw. They can just be stirred in and simmered for a few moments. With a slow cooker stir them in, lid again and let them heat while you set the table. Alternatively you can fish a couple of lumps of potato out of the stew, mash them well with a fork or a potato masher and stir them back in again. Leftover mashed potatoes work too, but the odds of you having some on stew day are probably not high.

Nth, always have some bones in your stew if you possibly can. It does wonders for both consistency and flavour and I'm not even going to mention the nutrition...
posted by Jane the Brown at 9:31 AM on November 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

Roux is your friend.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:38 AM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Or, you could thicken bisque with Taco Bell rolled tacos.
posted by theora55 at 10:01 AM on November 24, 2019

Or, you could thicken bisque with Taco Bell rolled tacos.

Or ground-up corn chips, which is apparently the reason the snark-author (we need a good word for that) decided to give them a try and decided they worked adequately. I might actually try that the next time my chili is too thin (I am a must-be-thick chili person).
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 10:10 AM on November 24, 2019

Or, going even further back to the source, masa harina, which is a dried version of the dough you make corn tortillas from. You can buy it in big bags (Maseca is a really common brand). It's more flavorful than flour, it thickens like flour, and it tastes great in chili.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:20 AM on November 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

If you do get an immersion blender (I use mine all the time - it's great for soups, gravies, batters, and quick things like whipped cream without dirtying a whole large appliance), then what I sometimes do is just pull out a ladle of the stew into a small container and blend it, lumps and all, until well pureed. Then add it back in - presto, a thick, rich gravy incorporating all the flavours. Great for chili in particular.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 1:32 PM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Haven't seen this yet, but I just skimmed so I may have missed it.

Okra will thicken a liquid dish quite handily. And it's also useful for blood sugar regulation unlike flour which may have the opposite effect.
posted by crunchy potato at 3:23 PM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Roux roux roux roux roux
posted by Grandysaur at 8:36 PM on November 24, 2019

Green pea flour. Add seven tablespoons just after adding the veg, before the water - stir to coat everything in the pea flour, then add the water, this stops lumps forming. Cook for at least 10 minutes.
posted by BinaryApe at 12:51 AM on November 25, 2019

I do my stews in the oven now and remove the lid for the last half an hour to make sure that the stew is as think as possible. You have to be careful that it doesn't completely dry out, but about half an hours seems about perfect for what I make.
posted by koolkat at 3:04 AM on November 25, 2019

I'll echo: roux.

Hoever, I will add: it doesn't have to be at the start. You can make roux in a separate pan at the end and ladle in liquid from the stew to basically build up a gravy, and then recombine with the stew. I do this for pretty much all stews, it allows me to adjust consistency at the end when I know how much liquid I'm working with, and if you do it and it's still not thick enough you can do it again.
posted by tocts at 6:24 AM on November 25, 2019

If you like thick soups/stews and have the means to do so, you should totally treat yourself to an immersion blender. Blending won't always be the answer, but certainly one of the easiest ways to thicken-up a soup or stew is to puree a portion of its cooked vegetable content. Doing it in the cooking pot with an immersion blender is much safer than transferring your scalding hot liquid to a countertop blender.

I also use Wondra or masa harina, depending on the nature of the dish. Cornstarch less so—it thickens well, but it contributes a very smooth, slick mouthfeel.
posted by mumkin at 12:39 PM on November 25, 2019

In addition to roux, I have used sweet potatoes to thicken a stew.
posted by Nolechick11 at 5:08 PM on November 26, 2019