Can I cook stew meat like beef ribs?

[eks6426]

Help, my 8 year old boy will not eat anything that has broth or a sauce on it. I''m trying to come up with a recipe that uses stew meat (which is cheap now) that he will eat. I know stew meat is tough and is usually cooked slowly in liquid to make it more tender...but then my kid won''t touch it. I''m thinking maybe I could treat stew meat like ribs....precook with some sort of liquid then finish on the grill so my kid doesn''t notice a sauce? Would it work? Any ideas hugely appreciated.

This is my mother''s recipe for ribs....would it work with stew meat? Other recipe ideas hugely appreciated!

8 meaty beef short ribs (4 lbs.)
1/2 t. @ salt & pepper, mixed
2 T. oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 t. dried rosemary
1 C. dry red wine
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can beef broth
2 T. tomato paste
1/2 C. water
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
Creamy Polenta
2 T. chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375 deg. Season short ribs with salt & pepper mix. Brown ribs in oil in large skillet on all sides. Remove. Add onion, garlic & rosemary to skillet; cook over medium-high heat 5 to 6 minutes. Spread onion mixture in roasting pan. Place ribs, meaty sides up, on top. Pour wine into skillet. Bring to a boil; boil 4 min. until reduced by half. Whisk in broth & tomato paste: return to boil. Pour over ribs. Cover roasting pan tightly (with foil if necessary). Braise in oven 2 hrs. till beef is fork-tender & falling off bones. Uncover; remove beef from bones with tongs: place on platter; cover w/ foil to keep warm. Discard bones. Skim fat off onion mixture. Puree onion mix in blender till smooth. Transfer puree to saucepan, add water & Worcestershire; heat through.

Thinking at this point, I''d pop the stew pieces onto skewers and put them in the George Foreman grill to dry them out a bit for my son. Would it work?

 

[Lorelei]

I think it is well worth a try! I don''t have children but I was the fussiest kid EVER for food, if it is the sauce or " wetness" he objects too then " drying them off" this way might well do the trick! With me sometimes I would eat raw cheese but not cooked, fish sticks but not fish, uncooked carrots but hated them cooked etc to name just some of my food foibles!

 

[eks6426]

Well, I went grocery shopping at lunch and bought the stew meat. I''m going to try it. I''m going to tell my kid that it''s "steak" and hopefully he will eat it.

Lorelei--that is my son exactly. Any suggestions on how to get him to eat more things? I''m sick of chicken fingers, pizza, pasta, fish sticks & tacos....oh yeah, and hot dogs...the main things he will eat.

 

[Lorelei]

I would try jazzing up basic foods into some of the things he likes for example grilled chicken and a little veg in a taco, maybe some plain fish in a coating, ( no different to fish sticks son

), julienne some veggies really small to go in his pasta, give him dry meat and put a little sauce or gravy in a separate dish beside him and don't say anything apart from here's some sauce if you want to try it. I think the thing is from a nutritional point of view is to try to sneakily add some veggies to his meals where you can and let him try different things at his own pace. I think this is a common phase, in time he will maybe want to try some new things of his own accord . I know with me the more I was pushed the more I gritted my teeth just to prove my Mother wrong

and would no way have eaten the foods she was insisting I eat than fly to the moon! I am sure nutritionally he is fine and will grow out of it in time! I am still a really faddy eater, still despise tomatoes but will eat tomato soup, if using tinned tomatoes in a spaghetti sauce I have to blast them in the blender and then sieve them to get rid of all the revolting pulp and pips........

Also be crafty like saying to your son today's recipe is steak, avoid terms such as stew and sauce if that is what puts him off!

 

[strmrdr]

cook it long and slow to soften it up.
smashing it with a hammer before cooking will help too.

 

[eks6426]

lorelei--thanks for the tips. I like the idea of a special dipping sauce bowl. He probably wouldn''t try it, but it''s worth a shot. I am lucky that he actually eats veggies mostly ok. He prefers them raw or frozen. His favorite is frozen peas. I''ve been pureeing veggies into pasta sauce for years. It''s kind of funny when his friends have dinner with us they always comment on the sauce being yummy....when I just puree veggies into what ever pasta sauce was on sale that week.

strmdr--oh goody, a dinne where I can use my meat pounder. That''s always fun!

On a different note, I just bought a meat pounder a few weeks ago and my son helped me pick it out. So, one day he asks when we were having company later in the day he asks if he "can beat his meat in the morning." My husband about fell off his chair laughing. My poor 8 year old son had no idea why he was being laughed at...just knew he got a reaction. So, later at dinner with my in-laws he announces very loudly that he "helped Dad beat the meat in the morning." You could have cut the silence at the table with a knife as everyone looked around not knowing what to say.....

 

[cnspotts]

Date: 1/4/2006 1:47:53 PM
Author: IslandDreams
lorelei--thanks for the tips. I like the idea of a special dipping sauce bowl. He probably wouldn''t try it, but it''s worth a shot. I am lucky that he actually eats veggies mostly ok. He prefers them raw or frozen. His favorite is frozen peas. I''ve been pureeing veggies into pasta sauce for years. It''s kind of funny when his friends have dinner with us they always comment on the sauce being yummy....when I just puree veggies into what ever pasta sauce was on sale that week.

strmdr--oh goody, a dinne where I can use my meat pounder. That''s always fun!

On a different note, I just bought a meat pounder a few weeks ago and my son helped me pick it out. So, one day he asks when we were having company later in the day he asks if he ''can beat his meat in the morning.'' My husband about fell off his chair laughing. My poor 8 year old son had no idea why he was being laughed at...just knew he got a reaction. So, later at dinner with my in-laws he announces very loudly that he ''helped Dad beat the meat in the morning.'' You could have cut the silence at the table with a knife as everyone looked around not knowing what to say.....

OMG!!!

Every now and then something pops up that cracks me up so hard I nearly fall off my chair! As they say "outta the mouths of babes!" Thanks for another great laugh.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 1/4/2006 1:47:53 PM
Author: IslandDreams
lorelei--thanks for the tips. I like the idea of a special dipping sauce bowl. He probably wouldn''t try it, but it''s worth a shot. I am lucky that he actually eats veggies mostly ok. He prefers them raw or frozen. His favorite is frozen peas. I''ve been pureeing veggies into pasta sauce for years. It''s kind of funny when his friends have dinner with us they always comment on the sauce being yummy....when I just puree veggies into what ever pasta sauce was on sale that week.

strmdr--oh goody, a dinne where I can use my meat pounder. That''s always fun!

On a different note, I just bought a meat pounder a few weeks ago and my son helped me pick it out. So, one day he asks when we were having company later in the day he asks if he ''can beat his meat in the morning.'' My husband about fell off his chair laughing. My poor 8 year old son had no idea why he was being laughed at...just knew he got a reaction. So, later at dinner with my in-laws he announces very loudly that he ''helped Dad beat the meat in the morning.'' You could have cut the silence at the table with a knife as everyone looked around not knowing what to say.....

As the saying goes ROFLMOA!

 

[eks6426]

Well, I cooked the stew meat like the rib recipe above. My family decided it was good but not great. Ribs have a lot more moisture in them. The stew meat dried out quickly if it was taken out of the broth. It was worth a try though. I think the rib recipe above would be a good start to a stew recipe (no polenta of course) so I''m going to work on that instead next time.