Instead of throwing out the cooked carrots and onions, how about using an immersion blender to incorporate these softened veggies into the gravy of the stew rather than discarded them. By doing so you are definitely adding to the flavor of the stew!!! Thank you!!

Basically with this, you want a smooth sauce/gravy–if you notice the liquid is strained after the meat is tender. The thing with the final vegetables is that mostly, they’re overcooked by that time (1 hour) because that’s way more time than they actually need to cook. The veggies stay whole and don’t fall apart and each one is done perfectly. They only warm up in the stew. On a personal taste note, that mushiness that most stews have I found very unappetizing. I won’t say what it reminded me of 🙂 but because everything is intact here and basically gorgeous looking, it’s pretty much fit for company. As they say, we eat with our eyes too.

Baby carrots are easier, that’s why I specified them. Most beef stew’s I’ve seen where the vegetables are added at the beginning turn into mush. It may taste good, but it doesn’t look good. While it simmers, there’s carrots and onions in the sauce–that gets strained out when you make the gravy, so there’s plenty of flavor added. The tip about cooking the veggies separately came from a show Julia Child did on stews. That way you get great flavor and the carrots, potatoes, etc., don’t get mushy.

Hope you really like it!!!