Beef Stew Night was a success!
John got the ball rolling by thawing and cubing 10 pounds of chuck roast while watching “For All Mankind” on Thursday night. On Friday, the meat got seared in olive oil, and the big lobster pot got loaded with beef broth, onions, garlic, bay leaves Worcestershire sauce, and a couple of base seasonings. After the meat was cooked in this mixture for several hours, carrots were diced and tossed in, as well as numerous potatoes. This cooked for several more hours until the meat began falling apart. At this point, taste-testing began, and John felt that something was missing. The last bits of a bottle of red wine was tossed in, and while searching the kitchen for “that thing” that would make things perfect, John found a bottle of fish sauce that Aaron had left in the kitchen. Several shots of this, as well as some Knorr beef base, and more pepper, were added. The end result was spot on. This simmered for a bit longer.
About 2 hours before dinner, mushrooms were added and were allowed to cook down. Once everything was cooked down, the excess liquid (there was plenty), was strained off and reduced into the gravy. While this was happening, garlic mashed potatoes were born, and dinner rolls were baked! Once everything was ready, the chafing dishes were loaded up, and dinner was served!
Early on, David and his kids were in attendance, Grumpy and April showed up, Drew dropped off ice and beer for Grumpy, and Meg came downstairs. Shortly thereafter, Aaron arrived, Caitlin showed up, and Robert crash-landed. A bit after that, Drew reappeared, having satisfied his previous engagement.
The overall sentiment was that dinner was amazing, the beef stew was delicious, and the mushrooms were a welcome addition. The gang raved about the dinner rolls, devoured ALL the mashed potatoes (I’ll need to make more next time), and everyone who wanted leftover stew, got some to take home. Another standout of the evening was the paper bowls we served dinner in. They worked perfectly and cut down our dish load massively.
Also of note, Super-Torey Facetime’d in from the O.C. to catch up with folks. It was good to see our brother and catch up for a bit.
Overall, dinner was a success, the company was good, And when we called it a night, the world was a slightly better place.
Oh yeah, John found Duke’s Mayo at the grocery store! This is a super east coast thing, which made him very happy!
