Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons preferred fat
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon chili seasoning
- 2 pounds beef or venison steak, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cups mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 quarts beef or vegetable broth
- 1 cup cooked egg noodles (optional)
Directions
- In a heavy pot, heat fat over medium heat.
- Mix flour, salt, pepper, and chili seasoning in a bowl. Then, toss steak in flour mixture. Lightly fry steak in the pot until golden but not cooked through.
- Add onion, mushrooms, and broth. Bring to a boil, turn down to low, and simmer for 1 hour. Alternately, cook in your electric pressure cooker or slow cooker.
- Make your roux and add it to the stew, and cook on low an additional 10 minutes, stirring to combine and thicken. After removing from heat, add cooked egg noodles, if using them. Optional: Add homemade dumplings instead of egg noodles, adding extra broth for desired thickness.
Cold, snowy winter days are great for soups and stews! My biggest problem with most recipes is that they frequently use ingredients that are less-than-healthy. There’s really no reason for this, since delicious, healthy soups can easily be prepared with a few flavorful ingredients.
Flavor and Beyond
No dish is complete without seasoning. My go-tos are garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and a few other blends. Use measurements as a starting point, but folks like foods seasoned differently, so I suggest measuring to taste on any spices and seasonings after getting a handle on amounts.
Fats are an important part of most recipes as well, and it’s important to choose one that’s full of flavor. Olive oil, tallow, butter, and lard each do an excellent job of flavoring ingredients and adding satiety to recipes.
Thicken It Up: How to Make a Roux for Soup
Cream cheese, heavy cream, shredded cheese, flour, leftover mashed potatoes, and rice all make excellent thickeners. I use either hard white wheat or spelt in my recipes, but you may use your preference.
To make a roux to thicken your soup or stew, use 1 pint of broth and equal parts flour and fat (4 tablespoons fat to 1/4 cup flour to start). Melt your fat in a separate pot. Add flour (or cornstarch) and whisk together until combined. Whisk your broth into the pot over low to medium heat, mixing well to avoid any clumping. Turn off heat, and slowly combine your roux into your soup or stew pot.
Soups and stews are delicious for a later meal also. Just cool the soup completely (don’t add your cheese or cream cheese until you reheat) and place into freezer bowls or bags. Label and freeze for up to three months.
Into the Pot
You can cook the following hearty soups in an electric pressure cooker or slow cooker, on a stovetop, or even in an oven.
For the electric pressure cooker, use the sauté setting first if needed, and then add all the ingredients and set the cooker to the “soup” setting with the pressure gauge closed. Allow it to release for 10 minutes before opening the pressure gauge, and then add any cheeses or toppings after dishing the soup into individual bowls.
For a slow cooker, sauté any ingredients in a separate pan, and then add the ingredients to the slow cooker. Cook for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
On the stovetop, stir and check your liquid often, as it’ll evaporate at a higher rate. Cooking in the oven is also an option, but you’ll need to cook these recipes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around 3 hours. Always test the doneness of your ingredients before serving. Nothing dampens an appetite like crunchy potatoes!
These recipes are a great way to use up produce that’s past its prime but can still be utilized. Just remove any bad spots, and no one will know! Here are a few other tips.
- If you aren’t a fan of any of these ingredients, just switch them for something you like. For example, swap out sweet potatoes for white potatoes, or sausage for bacon.
- Use brown rice, or even quinoa or barley, as a thickener. These recipes double or triple easily to save you kitchen time on a busy day.
- It’s easy to prep vegetables for future use as well. Just dice onions, carrots, celery, peppers, tomatoes, etc., and toss them into freezer containers.
- Blanch ingredients, such as green beans, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, if you plan to freeze them before making your soup.
- Optionally, you may use already frozen or canned vegetables. However, if you use canned, you’ll need to shorten your cooking time to prevent mushy vegetables. A good way to do this is to add any canned foods 15 minutes before your recipe is done.
- Dehydrated vegetables can also be used; just add extra liquid to the cooking pot, or rehydrate before adding by soaking them in water until softened.
More Hearty Meals for Hard Workers
Southern Homemade Chicken and Dumplings
How to Make Chicken Soup from Scratch
Venison Soup Recipe with Bacon and Sweet Potatoes
Originally published as “Hearty Meals for Hard Workers: Steak and Mushroom Stew” in the November/December 2024 issue of GRIT magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
Jenny Underwood is a homeschooling mom of four. She lives on a fifth-generation farm in the foothills of the Missouri Ozarks with her husband of 24 years. Her favorite things are reading a good book with a good cup of coffee, gardening, mushroom hunting, and fishing.
