I made this in a crockpot without browning first and it was excellent. I like to make extra to freeze so I used 3lbs of cut up cubes of Chuck that I got at COST** (The big warehouse store) Their meat is always tender, I did 1.5x the recipe, and used mushroom soup mix because I didn't have mushrooms, and dry beef gravy mix w/only 1c water. (not the recommended 2c broth)because the beef makes liquid while cooking, and the reduction of the 1c. made it thicker which I liked. Excellent recipe