Making a stew

[Tilly2]

When you put all the vegetables and stewing beef into the saucepan and bring it to the boil why do you always get that horrible looking scum on the surface as it boils? What causes it? I know it doesn't happen if you brown the meat first but I don't like frying things if I can help it.

[mrs_overall]

I brown my meat first.
My secret ingredient for stews is a slug of balsamic vinegar

[Tilly2]

I use a slow cooker too but have to start everything off on the hob because my slow cooker is not magnetic.

[shaneystar2]

Magnetic slow cooker ?
I've used a slow cooker for donkeys years ..that's a new one on me :)

[Tilly2]

Shaney, my hob is induction so I need to put magnetic pans on it. The slow cooker is a metal one but isn't magnetic.

[woofgang]

wow Tilly....what do you do to fill your kitchen with smoke...I mean I am an "adventurous cook" but even so....

[Nibble]

Mrs O, I've never put slugs in my stew :-(

[Tilly2]

That's the whole point, woolgang. I don't do anything which produces smokey fumes:- fried eggs, yorkshire puddings, pancakes, bubble and squeak, chips. I think it was the chips frying in a chip pan when I was a child. It put me of.

[Tilly2]

Sorry, that should be woofgang. I'll go and clean my glasses.

[shaneystar2]

Tiily .. a slow cooker in my book is a separate bit of kit that goes nowhere near a hob.
Slow cooker
http://ecoswitch.com/...ctric-slow-cooker.jpg

[diddlydo]

It's impossible to make a decent stew/casserole without browning the meat first in a really hot frying pan. End of story.

[Tilly2]

My Morphy Richards slow cooker (which I've had for at least twelve years) is a metal dish with a glass lid. It sits on a hotplate which I switch on. It bubbles slowly throughout the day and produces a lovely stewaround about six o'clock, regardless of the browning issue.
When it conks out, I'll a new fandangled one. Thanks for the link, shaney.

[chakka35]

Blood goes white when it is cooked, which is why black pudding has to be dyed to make it look palatable. Gentle sealing of the meat (without the conflagrations that Tilly2 seems to produce) locks in the blood so that it doesn't cook separately and form a scum.

[woofgang]

If its a metal dish on a hot plate, turn it on any get the dish hot then toss the meat in and brown it in the slow cooker.

[Tilly2]

That's a really good idea, woofgang. I had never thought of doing that. Thank you.
Will try it out next stewsday.