- Hey, friends. Y'all come on in, sit down,
get you a cup of coffee, and relax, and just enjoy the
time that you're able to sit and rest and put your feet up because I wanna share a
recipe that has been requested by a lot of y'all out there,
and it's a old-timey beef stew. So that's what I'm gonna make today. And I just wanna tell
y'all how excited I was when Theresa walked in with a big box. She had my new cookware. And my team and I had
been working on this for, what, would you say about a year? - [Theresa] Yeah. - Would you say about a year, Theresa? And finally, you know how
the shape of the world with this COVID and all,
it's so hard to get things. But this came in today,
and I'm so happy with it. I decided to go with a hammered look. I just feel like that could
take more of a beating maybe. And it's got that nice
heat-conductive bottom. So I'm using this for
the first time today. And what'd you tell me? It won't be offered in stores- - [Theresa] April 1st. - April, the 1st. On April Fools' Day? - [Theresa] Well, somewhere in that vicinity.
(Paula laughs) - Maybe May, the... Wait, January, February,
March, April, May. Maybe the 31st of May, (chuckles) and not April Fools'. All right, so let's see what this is. All right, that's a little oil. And I'm gonna put this
back here on the stove. I brought it up here so I could wash it. And I've already got this eye heating up. Well, no, I don't. I told the story. All right, let's see. Let me get a bowl. And I'm gonna toss our meat into a bowl with
our seasonings in it. This looks like pretty good meat. Preferably, for me, for my taste, I like to buy a chuck roast. - [Theresa] I knew I should've called you. I knew I should've called you.
(Paula laughs) - Listen to Theresa. Well, it doesn't say that
in the recipe, Theresa. So I'm just saying. (laughs) But I know that a chuck roast, I can cook it long
enough to get it tender. And you know when you get these
packets that say beef stew, I don't really know what parts
of the cow it's coming from. So like I said, normally,
I would buy a chuck roast and cut it up. So you did great, Theresa. (Theresa laughs) All right, so I'm gonna put pepper. And... What is this? A little sugar. Little salt. A little garlic. And let's see what this is. Is that paprika? - [Theresa] Yes, ma'am. - [Paula] Mm-hmm. That'll help brown it. So now I'm just gonna marinate that meat. And I can't remember
how much Worcestershire. - [Theresa] A teaspoon. - [Paula] Just a teaspoon? - [Theresa] That's what
it says, and I left that- - [Paula] Why bother? (chuckles) Right? (chuckles) - [Theresa] Well, you
don't like it anyway. - [Paula] No, I don't. I don't care for it, but
I do use it sometimes. So a teaspoon's not gonna... All right, now let's see,
I've got ground cloves. How much? I can't remember. - [Theresa] A dash. - A dash?
- Either it says allspice or ground cloves, a dash.
- Okay. I'd rather use ground cloves. Okay, one dash? - [Theresa] Yes, ma'am. - (chuckles) I'm gonna give
it two dashes. (chuckles) Okay, so this would really be good if I could have properly
marinated this overnight. It would certainly give it a
chance to infuse the flavors. All right, so we got our
oil heating up back here. All right, so maybe that's hot enough. And I'm just gonna dump all that in there, Eddie.
(oil sizzling) And I'm just gonna stir it around. And I'm gonna go ahead
and put in the onions. So hopefully, all of
it will brown together. Okay, so after this is brown enough, I'm
gonna add two cups of water. And we're gonna let this cook
for about an hour and a half. Maybe an hour up to an hour and a half, depending on how tender our meat is. And then we're gonna add
our carrots, potatoes, and celery to the mix and cook it for another 30
to 45 minutes, however long. You know what? I'm think I'm gonna go ahead and put that celery in now, y'all, because I sure do like
what that does to the pot. Yes, so we'll let it stay
in there a little longer than it's supposed to. You know? (laughs) I have trouble, y'all, following
my own recipe. (chuckles) - [Theresa] Did you add the bay leaves? - No, not yet 'cause I
hadn't added my water. - [Theresa] Oh. - But thank you for reminding me. They're sitting right here. Okay. We're gonna have a lot of
juice, a lot of good juice. All right, so I'm gonna go ahead now and add our two cups of water. And I'm gonna throw in
a couple of bay leaves. You know, I had bay
leaf trees at Riverbend. And I don't know, I went out there one day and
just picked some bay leaves and came back in and threw them in a pot. Well, it ruined that pot. What, do you not? (chuckles) - Do you have-
- Are you supposed to let them dry?
- To let the leaf dry? Yeah, I would think that you might. - I think that's probably
what I did wrong, but I just put that green bay
leaf right in there. (laughs) - [Theresa] Yeah, I don't
see that being the right way. - Okay, so an hour and a half, we're gonna come back and look at you. And we'll adjust our
seasonings at that time. And we may wanna add a
little bit more liquid to it. We'll just see what's going on 'cause it's all about your tongue, and your taste, and your family's taste. - [Theresa] Paula, do you
cover it to let it cook? - Oh, yes, I'm gonna cover it.
- Okay. - Because if I didn't, Theresa, there would be not one speck of water left in it.
- Okay. - So we're gonna cover it up
so we won't lose our water 'cause that's gonna be our gravy. - [Theresa] Yum. - Uh-huh. Okay, y'all, our old-timey beef stew has been cooking about an hour and a half. And look at that. Doesn't it look good? So I'm gonna throw in our potatoes. And I'm using a red potato.
I adore red potatoes. If I can find a big enough,
that's what I prefer to bake. Because when you bake a big red, it's like opening up a potato
full of mashed potatoes. It's so creamy and so good. But you can use any kinda potato you want, but that's my choice. And you can see, I use them unpeeled. And now I'm gonna add my carrots. And these are fresh carrots
from produce section when they did that
little fancy cut on them. But they are fresh, not canned. Okay, so we're gonna
cook this for another, (lids rattling)
oops. Watch it, Paula. We're gonna cook this for
another 30 to 45 minutes. And then I'll fork that potato. And if it's done, then we're gonna make our
slurry of corn starch and water, and that's gonna tighten
up the juices that we have, and that's gonna make our gravy for us to dip our cornbread in. Our old-timey beef stew is almost ready. And so I'm gonna go
ahead and make our slurry using two tablespoons of corn starch with maybe 1/4 of a cup of water. And you wanna use cold water
when you're making your slurry versus hot water. So I love thickening things this way because it doesn't lump. Like if I had been trying to use flour, it takes forever to
incorporate just regular flour into the water. But I will share with y'all... These people don't know
me from Adam's house cat, but I do like this for gravies, y'all, 'cause you can sprinkle it right on top of whatever you're trying to
thicken, and it won't lump. So this is a good stuff. But I really, really, really,
really love the corn starch. And you'll want to have your
liquid at a full rolling boil when you add your corn starch. And then you wanna make sure
you got a spoon in your hand so you can stir, stir, stir. So I am hoping to hear from
y'all on this recipe, too, 'cause we had a debate
earlier in the video. Tomato sauce, or ketchup, or tomato juice, I think Eddie
said his mother used to use. So tomatoes or no tomatoes? I wanna hear y'all's story. And if you want me to
try one of your recipes, just send me the recipe and I will do it. I will share it with everybody, and, of course, give you credit for it. I'm gonna take a little sip of that au jus
(liquid boiling) and see what it needs. I know it's hot. It definitely needs some salt. Definitely. So I am gonna add a little salt. And I'm gonna actually add
a little bit more pepper. And if I can round up those bay leaves, I'm gonna go ahead and take those out. Michael tells a funny story about Anthony. When he was a little
boy, he had been invited to spend the night off with a friend. And apparently, they must've
been having spaghetti or something like that. So when Anthony got home the next morning, naturally, his daddy asked
him, "Well, how was it, son? Did you have a good time?" I don't see that other
leaf. Do you, Eddie? - [Eddie] There it is. - [Paula] Where? - [Eddie] Right. - (gasps) I see it. I've seen it, too. (chuckles) There it is. (laughs) Thank you, and
that was the big one. So anyway, Anthony said,
"Daddy, I had a good time, but for supper, his mother put leaves into her food. And I didn't eat too much
'cause I don't know anybody that puts leaves in their
spaghetti." (chuckles) So Michael explained, "Well, son, (laughs) that was a bay leaf." (laughs) Okay, so I think these
are pretty much done, so I'm gonna turn this back on. But you know what? I am gonna check that to make sure I got enough salt in there. That's better. There's nothing worse to me than serving somebody a
flavorless dish, you know? It's important to have that flavor in it. All right, so that's
starting to boil up again. I'm gonna turn it up a little bit higher 'cause we want that
boiling real, real good. Okay, now it's starting to
kick up a little bit, isn't it? (liquid boiling) Okay, I think we're gonna
be safe to add it now. And if that doesn't thicken
it enough to suit your taste, all you can do is just
mix you up another slurry and put it to it. But see how nice and thick that's getting? And again, me stirring it
around, it quit boiling. (spoon thumping) But in just a few seconds, this will be... I'm gonna add just a touch more water. Gonna just wash out my bowl real good. Add a little bit more water. There you go. It's time to ask the
blessing, y'all. (chuckles) Isn't it, Eddie? (Paula and Eddie chuckling) Yum.
(spoon thumping) Delicious. And y'all try this recipe. I hope that you enjoy it. Like I said, I would suggest buying you a little chuck
roast, cutting it up, and cooking it until
it's almost fork-tender, and then add your cut up
potatoes and your sliced carrots. Because, like I said, I know where that piece of meat came from. So enjoy, y'all. Bon appetit. (laughs) And I will see y'all tomorrow. Love and best dishes.
