What Is Stew Meat? (7 Best Types Explained)

I’ve made countless stews during my ten years on a carnivore diet, and I find meat stew a comforting, hearty, and economical dish.

Still, you have to know what meat to buy and how to cook it for a delicious final result.

Today, I’ll explain everything you should know about stew meat, including what dishes you can make with it apart from the stew, alongside other cooking tips.

Quick Summary

What Is Stew Meat?

Stew meat is cubed, diced, or meat that’s cut into chunks and used to make stew dishes. Different cuts of beef, such as chuck, sirloin, or brisket, can be used as stew meat.

Stew meat should be cooked in a liquid on low heat for a long time. According to a 2023 article in Yahoo!Finance, simmering beef gives it a more tender texture and flavor [1].

Best stew meats are lean and full of collagen-rich connective tissue (which may improve hair, skin, and nails), with some marbling for extra flavor [2]. Lean meat comes from animals such as cows, deer, pigs, or elk.

The meat comes from parts of the animal with muscles, such as legs. When the meat cooks for a long time, the proteins break down into gelatin, and the meat becomes tender.

You can use stew meat for other dishes apart from stew, which makes it very economical.

It’s always best to get the meat from trustworthy sellers. ButcherBox has been my go-to meat delivery service for the past year because it sells sustainably raised meat that’s antibiotic and hormone-free.

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The Importance of Collagen

Many people think tender cuts of beef are always better. For example, beef tenderloin shouldn’t be used for a stew. These cuts are already soft, and cooking them for a long time will result in chewy and dry meat.

Instead, you want meat that’s full of collagen.

Collagen-rich beef comes from the parts of the animal full of muscles.

The muscles have less fat but more connective tissue, which means more collagen.

Raw collagen is extremely tough, but when cooked for a long time on low heat, it melts into gelatin, which results in a tender piece of meat. Plus, gelatin also seeps into the sauce, which gives it a deep flavor.

For most collagen, choose meat from the cow’s shoulder. The shoulder supports the cow’s weight, so these are very tough cuts.

Types of Beef for Stew Meat

Here are the best meats for an easy stew recipe.

1. Chuck

Chuck comes from the cow’s forequarter and includes the shoulder, neck, and upper arms. The best chuck for the stew comes from around the shoulder.

Chuck gets its name because it’s a popular choice for making chuck roast. It’s an affordable cut, has good flavor, and is rich in connective tissue and fat. It releases a lot of gelatin during slow cooking, which makes it the top choice for stew meat.

Chuck’s main downside is that it consists of different muscles, so you get irregular pieces — a mix of lean, fatty, tender, and tough.

“Beef stew is one of those recipes that’s used all over the world. It’s a classic in French, British, and American cooking. What makes it so good is that it brings you back home, it’s hearty, and fills you up.”
- All Recipes, YouTube Channel

2. Bone-in Short Rib

Short ribs come from the cow’s underside, called the plate. It’s sold with the bone in, thus the name. This cut has a rich flavor with plenty of fat and toughness.

It’s more expensive than the chuck, especially because part of the weight you’re paying for comes from the bone.

Bone-in short ribs pay off because they give the stew rich beef flavor with even grain.

3. Oxtail

Oxtail is one of the best cuts you can get for the stew. It’s a very tough cut of meat that comes from the cow’s tail.

Oxtail meat is very rich in fat and gelatin, which makes it delicious. Each cross-section of the tail has a bone filled with marrow. As the meat cooks, the fat from the marrow seeps out and gives the meat flavoring.

The downside of oxtail is that the bones are heavy and require a lot of work. You have to take them out of the sauce near the end of the cooking techniques, remove the meat from the bone, discard it, and return it to the pot.

Oxtail also takes more time to cook — three to four hours, compared to the two hours that most other cuts need.

Finally, oxtail is expensive because there’s limited availability (each cow has only one oxtail).

4. Sirloin

Sirloin comes from behind the cow. In terms of toughness and fat, it falls somewhere between beef chuck and round.

Sirloin beef for stew gives a strong beefy flavor with some chewiness when cooked properly.

Sirloin is more expensive than chuck, so it’s not often used for the stew.

5. Round

Round comes from the cow's rear legs. Round roast is a very tough cut with low fat.

You can choose between the top or bottom round, but the bottom round is better for slow cooking techniques.

Next to the chuck, this is the most affordable stew meat.

6. Brisket

Brisket comes from a cow's breast or chest. You can choose between a whole brisket, flat, or point when making a stew. The point has more tough tissue and fat and is generally better stew meat than flat cut, which is less fatty.

Brisket is another best beef stew meat. Depending on the butcher, it’s even more affordable than the chuck.

Finally, brisket has the most pronounced beefy flavor because of its fat content.

Best Stew Meat Dishes

The best stew meat dishes are:

• Beef stroganoff stew — Start by browning stew meat and simmer in beef stock with onions and carrots. Add sour cream and cream cheese at the end, and serve over egg noodles.
• Beef bourguignon — Also called beef burgundy, it’s cooked in a red wine broth with bacon, carrots, and onions. You can serve it with mashed potatoes or green beans.
• Beef chili — Beef chili can be made with ground beef, but you can also use stew meat. Simmer the beef cuts with spices and beans, and you’ll have tender cuts after several hours.
• Irish stew — Stew the meat in a beef broth with vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, and black pepper.
• Beef enchiladas — Start with a stew recipe and cook meat with tangy vinegar. Once the gelatin breaks down and makes the meat moist, shred it into enchiladas and finish in the oven.
• Slow cooker pepper steak — Use stew meat instead of flank steak, so the meat cooks in the slow cooker. This gives it a chance to be in the liquid for longer, which results in cuts of beef with more flavor.
• Guinness beef stew — This dish uses lean beef stew meat, vegetables, and Guinness beer to create a hearty and comforting meal. The process involves marinating and grilling the beef, preparing the stew in a slow cooker with vegetables and Guinness, and cooking it on high for 4-4.5 hours.

Also Read: How to Make Beef and Veggie Soup

FAQs

References:

1. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/instead-full-boil-simmer-beef-003047448.html
2. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/collagen/