First of all, there is NO reason to cook this for 2 hours!!! In fact, I think the beef was LESS salty because I didn't cook it for so long. DON'T ADD THE SALT. It's just not necessary... and I am a certified saltaholic! I'm not sure that this recipe really needs the Worcestershire, or maybe just not as much. I also added a bayleaf and used fresh garlic (and plenty of it). Instead of diluting the gravy mix with a full cup of water, I only used half a cup and I also blended in a tablespoon of cornstarch with the gravy mix before adding it to the beef. I wouldn't use flour. I'd stick with cornstarch. Flour should actually be fully cooked or it can taste too, well, floury. Cornstarch can safely be added just before serving. I served this over mashed pototates. It was good.
My meat&potatoes husband couldn't get enough. However - I did make some adjustments. Coated beef w/ flour, then sauteed.. added 2 Tbsp minced garlic w/ the onions instead of garlic powder. 1.75 cup beef broth, 1/4c red wine. Did not add any salt or pepper. Simmered 1 hour. Then added the brown gravy directly to the beef (no extra liquid!) and simmered an additional 30 minutes while I made mashed potatoes to put it over. It ended up DELICIOUS! A tad bit salty, but we like salt. Use some Pillsbury Grands to sop up the extra sauce and it was perfection. Follow these steps and you will avoid the problems that keep coming up - overly salty (no salt, low sodium soy), too runny (no extra water at end), meat too tough (1.5hrs, at the most!).
My husband asks for this all the time. I like to use fresh mushrooms and garlic instead of canned mushrooms and garlic powder. I just saute the mushrooms, garlic and onions with a little butter and olive oil before I add the meat to the pan. Using fresh mushrooms and garlic really makes a big difference. I also like to use only 3/4 cup of water and I add 1/4 cup red wine. About 15 minutes before I add the gravy mixture, I like to add about 1 cup of frozen peas to the beef tips. At the end when I add in the gravy mixture I usually use a little less than one cup of water and add some flour or cornstarch to thicken it up a little more. This is great served over egg noodles or rice.
Food For Thought: It is very fustrating when you look up a recipe and find reviews on how everyone has modified the recipe and given the review based on modifications. If you modify the recipe post it as a new recipe, as your own recipe not as a review of what's been written. I will try this today n post an accurate rating based on the original recipe.
This recipe was delicious. I too cooked it in the crockpot. I only filled it with water till the 2lbs of stew meet was covered, I omitted the salt, put in 1/2 a large white onion, and the 1/4 c. worscheshire and low sodium soy sauce. It smelled great cooking day. Right before we ate it I added just the brown gravy pack with no water and it thickend up quite nicely. The was a great meal. My husband is asking for seconds.
My whole family loved this recipe! I just dumped it all in the crockpot and it was great.
The only part that I changed about this recipe when I made it the first time was, after an hour and a half simmer, the gravy wasn't looking like it would be thick enough. So at that point I mixed 1/3 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of milk, shaken in an airtight container to get the lumps out. Then stir it into the pan. It made the gravy the perfect consistency for pouring over rice. You may want it a little thinner with noodles, but it won't work as the recipe describes. Doing this will also cut back on the "too salty" taste other reviewers spoke of. I didn't cut back on salt at all and it was perfect. Actually it was nice not to see my husband salt his food for once. We really love this dish and will eat it often! Thanks so much for posting it.
This recipe comes out much better if you throw everything in a crock pot and let it simmer all day. The meat is so tender!
Very, very good! My boyfriend did everything but lick his plate clean! I omitted the salt and it was still bordering on too salty... next time I will use reduced sodium soy sauce. Served it over No Yolks noodles, with flaky biscuits and Garlic Green Beans (from this site). Yum!
Good base recipe, but way too salty. I floured the stew meat before browning, I used 2 cloves of fresh garlic instead of powder, low sodium beef broth instead of water, half of the low sodium soy sauce, and no water with the gravy packet (maybe that's why it was so salty?). The sauce was nice and thick. Next time I will add in fresh mushrooms, maybe 1/2 cup of red wine - and I will leave out the soy sauce altogether. I don't really care for the taste of it anyway.
