Stew recipe tweak - any ideas?

devorah1231

Mon, Feb 13 2017, 11:26 am

Someone gave me a recipe which I tried, with some tweaking. I wasn't terribly happy with the results. It was ok, just a bit blah. Can anyone suggest any way to improve this, give it more pizzazz, but not to make it hot - we don't do spicy.

1 large onion - chopped
2 medium carrots - chopped
1 cup barley
4 small potatoes
1 small marrow bone
3/4-1 lb chicken cutlet
2 Tbsp honey or duck sauce - I used duck sauce and didn't like that
1 tbsp salt
1 heaping tbsp paprika
sprinkle garlic powder
5 cup water, or more, to cover
Assemble all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on low for a day

treestump

Mon, Feb 13 2017, 11:39 am

I would try adding

-more salt (between the meat, barley and potatoes, it looks like the kind of recipe that needs at least 2 T more salt.)

- a clove or two of garlic

-using honey - it makes a big difference.

-a dash of black pepper - it won't be hot, but will help bring out the other spices.

Do you like thyme, rosemary or parsley? If you add even a sprinkle it can enhance the taste and pizzaz it up. (They're not hot spices, more like flavors.)

I don't know what this recipe tastes like, so I don't know if this would blend with the flavors, but maybe some red wine would help bring out the flavor too.

AlwaysThinking

Mon, Feb 13 2017, 4:20 pm

I'd probably cut out the honey and paprika, and use Italian spices like oregano and thyme instead. Make sure there's enough salt too. I do this instead of cholent and it's one of the only things that keeps it's flavor and doesn't end up just tasting like 'cholent'.

ra_mom

Mon, Feb 13 2017, 4:28 pm

devorah1231 wrote:

My suggestion is to start with the water and then add the seasonings like onion, garlic salt, paprika and whatever else you're adding from this thread here. Then taste the seasoned water/broth/sauce. If it tastes really flavorful and you could see it seeping into the barley/potatoes/chicken the way you'd want it to taste, proceed. That way you know what you're making.
FYI if this is for overnight cooking for shabbos, I'd skip all barbecue sauce and honey which give off a burnt flavor after being cooked so long and would also use dark chicken instead of white.