Stew is more than 'souped-up' soup

As I write this, it is 25 degrees outside. By the time you read this, if the folks at the National Weather Service are right, it will still be below freezing.

Alas, it looks like it will be another winter during which we will be doing much shivering, not to mention shoveling. Sure enough, a source some trust more than the weather service, the Farmers' Almanac, predicts below-normal winter temperatures this year.

So, staying warm this season will be a challenge. From a culinary perspective, that means it's going to be soup weather. But given the forecasts for this year, soup may no longer cut it. It's time to upgrade to stew.

Soup, to be sure, is wonderful winter warm-up food, but a hearty bowl of stew does the job even better. After all, even as late as the 19th century the word stew was used in its original sense to refer to a sauna, so the word is inherently associated with warmth. Not so soups, some of which are designed to be served cold. Stews never are.

Stews are often thought of merely as thick soups, but there's more to it than that. Essentially, stewing is a technique for cooking solids. Whether it's in water, broth, wine or some other liquid, the focus is on those solids. Soup-making, on the other hand, typically involves flavoring a liquid even if the solids, say, pieces of chicken, used to do it may be left in the pot. The lines can sometimes be blurred (consider, for example, gumbo, chowder, minestrone, bouillabaisse or menudo, to name a few) but stew is far more than merely "souped-up" soup.

Stew, like this classic Beef Bourguignon, can do a lot better job of keeping you warm than mere soup. (TOM HARTE)

Regardless of where you draw the line, the history of stew arguably begins with Prometheus. Once he gave humankind fire, there was no stopping people from throwing ingredients into a pot (or a turtle shell or an animal paunch before the invention of the pot) and bubbling away, which they have been doing for thousands of years.

In the process every country has produced a signature stew: some, like mulligan stew or hasenpfeffer, well known, and others, like chankonabe (traditionally eaten by sumo wrestlers) or frogmore stew (containing nary a frog), less so, but all designed to help people cope with the onslaught of winter. The favorite at our house is If It's Stew. If it's in the refrigerator it goes into the pot. And if it's winter, we're going to eat plenty of it.

Beef Bourguignon

Julia Child was famous for her daunting three-page recipe for this stew. But this version, adapted from Food & Wine Magazine, is easier and just as good. It belonged to Jacques Pepin's mother and calls for no stock or water -- just red wine.

Stew, like this classic Beef Bourguignon, can do a lot better job of keeping you warm this winter than mere soup.† (TOM HARTE)

Beef Stew, here being made in the classic French manner with red wine, is a dish designed to help you cope with the onslaught of winter. (TOM HARTE)

Unlike soup-making which typically involves flavoring a liquid, stewing is chiefly a technique for cooking solids like meat. (TOM HARTE)

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 pounds chuck roast
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 thyme sprig
• 5 ounces pancetta
• 15 peeled pearl onions
• 15 cremini mushrooms
• 15 peeled baby carrots
• Pinch of sugar
• Parsley

Melt butter and one tablespoon oil in a large Dutch oven or casserole. Trim beef and cut into eight pieces, add to pot, and cook over moderately high heat until browned on all sides. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened. Add flour and stir to coat meat. Add wine, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve brown bits on bottom of the pan. Cover pan and cook in 350 degree oven for 1 and 1/2 hours until meat is tender. Meanwhile, bring pancetta to a boil in two cups of water, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and cut into 1-inch wide lardons. Combine with pearl onions, mushrooms, and carrots, remaining tablespoon of oil, 1/4 cup of water, a pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until almost all of water has evaporated. Uncover and cook over high heat, tossing, until vegetables are tender and browned. Stir some of this mixture unto the stew and scatter the remainder on the top as a garnish along with the parsley.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702-0699. n 1 tablespoon flour

• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 thyme sprig
• 5 ounces pancetta
• 15 peeled pearl onions
• 15 cremini mushrooms
• 15 peeled baby carrots
• Pinch of sugar
• Parsley

Melt butter and one tablespoon oil in a large Dutch oven or casserole. Trim beef and cut into eight pieces, add to pot, and cook over moderately high heat until browned on all sides. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened. Add flour and stir to coat meat. Add wine, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve brown bits on bottom of the pan. Cover pan and cook in 350 degree oven for 1 and 1/2 hours until meat is tender. Meanwhile, bring pancetta to a boil in two cups of water, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and cut into 1-inch wide lardons. Combine with pearl onions, mushrooms, and carrots, remaining tablespoon of oil, 1/4 cup of water, a pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until almost all of water has evaporated. Uncover and cook over high heat, tossing, until vegetables are tender and browned. Stir some of this mixture unto the stew and scatter the remainder on the top as a garnish along with the parsley.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702-0699. n 1 tablespoon flour

• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 thyme sprig
• 5 ounces pancetta
• 15 peeled pearl onions
• 15 cremini mushrooms
• 15 peeled baby carrots
• Pinch of sugar
• Parsley

Melt butter and one tablespoon oil in a large Dutch oven or casserole. Trim beef and cut into eight pieces, add to pot, and cook over moderately high heat until browned on all sides. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened. Add flour and stir to coat meat. Add wine, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve brown bits on bottom of the pan. Cover pan and cook in 350 degree oven for 1 and 1/2 hours until meat is tender. Meanwhile, bring pancetta to a boil in two cups of water, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and cut into 1-inch wide lardons. Combine with pearl onions, mushrooms, and carrots, remaining tablespoon of oil, 1/4 cup of water, a pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until almost all of water has evaporated. Uncover and cook over high heat, tossing, until vegetables are tender and browned. Stir some of this mixture unto the stew and scatter the remainder on the top as a garnish along with the parsley.