Winter is a month away, and already the nights are getting colder and it's getting hard to get out of bed in the morning. While the chill may make us yearn for the warmer months, there's one thing to love about winter: it's stew season!

Whether you eat it from a can, enjoy it at a restaurant or tackle it at home, stew can be so good. Not only is it salty, tasty, filling and warming, but slow-cooked meat such as the casserole beef in stews is amazing for your health. Slow-cooked and stewed meats draws minerals like calcium and magnesium from bones, which are easier for the body to absorb. Slow cooking breaks down collagen in tougher cuts of meat, making it more tender. It also extracts nutrients from joints, tendons, and cartilage, which can help maintain cartilage structure. 

You may think that good stew is expensive, with premium meat cuts like chuck steak, and that recipes are limited to beef, potato, carrot ad gravy, but that's not true! Stews exist across the continent in different cultures and all of them follow a basic framework: 

The simple stew framework

1. The base 
It can be easy to skip components that aren't the star of the dish, but aromatics and flavour foundations are vital for a stew that doesn't just taste like meat water. Base flavours can be any mix of onion, garlic, ginger, celery, leek, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary etc.  Cooking them down in a rich fat releases both the flavour and aroma, seasoning the oil and layering flavour.

2. The protein
The key with proteins for stew (or soups) is to choose protein options that get better with long cooking. For example, a porterhouse steak or a chicken breast do not necessarily suit a slow cook, whereas a brisket or a chicken thigh will continue to break down, tenderise and build flavour. Luckily, a premium stew doesn't have to come with a premium price tag! Stews are perfect for tougher, more affordable cuts of meat. Think beef chuck, gravy beef, lamb shoulder, or chicken thighs.

If you’re using:
 Beef or lamb: brown it first for deeper flavour
Chicken: thigh can be browned or added right in, other brown meat like chicken legs can be added right in

3. The body 
Classic filling options include potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, or root vegetables for rich, gravy-like stews, and zucchini, mushrooms, or cabbage which shows up a lot in Eastern European stews. Here's the secret to making stew no matter what's in your fridge/freezer: the timing is the key. You can use any vegetable you like so long as you know the timing. Hardy vegetables, root vegetables and any whole vegetables need to be put in early, and softer, frozen or water-heavy vegetables get added in towards the end of cooking.

4. The liquid
Now we take a stir fry and turn it into a comforting winter stew. Assess the flavours of your stock so far and work from there. Traditional stew will use a rich stock, water, wine, and an umami element. You can also use tomatoes, coconut milk, or even water with a strong seasoning element (such as seaweed to make dashi). Add the liquid volume : volume, so the ingredients are covered but not drowning. Especially if you're using a slow cooker with a lid, the liquid will not reduce and thicken as much as on the stovetop so reduce liquid slightly. 

5. The slow cook
Is a midweek meal really a midweek meal if you have to hover over the stovetop and can't walk away? Though stews are not known for being a quick midweek meal, the reality is that low and slow fits perfectly around your work or after-school schedule!

Your stew can be done on the stovetop, in the oven, or a slow cooker.
Stovetop quick stew: 60 minutes on a light simmer
Deep, rich stew: 2–3+ hours in the oven on a light simmer 

Slow cooker stew: 4-8 hours on low or high respectively

If you’re staring into your fridge with no recipe, try this:
Pick 1 protein (or go plant-based)
Add 2–4 vegetables (mix of hearty + soft)
Choose 1 flavourful liquid base (stock, tomatoes, coconut milk) 
Add flavour boosters (herbs, spices, salt, acid like vinegar or lemon) 

Simmer until everything is tender, taste, adjust seasoning—and you’re done. 

If you're not excited for stewing season yet, get ready with our lamb and ginger stew, recipe here.