Recipe: Crock Pot Beef Stew (using cinnamon)

Crock Pot Beef Stew
rec.food.cooking/Douglas Kerns/2002

1 lb beef chunks
6oz can tomato paste
1 large onion
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt (or more if your taste is like mine)
1 or 2 bay leaves
water as needed
assorted vegetables

Brown the beef in a skillet and toss it into the crock pot, along with the other ingredients, and stir it all up. I usually slice the onion coarsely (or use a generous handful of pearl onions), and slice the garlic finely. I generally also add more salt, as my taste runs to rather salty flavors. It's good with mushrooms and carrots, also with a bit of red wine.

Simmer it for at least 6 hours, longer is generally better.

I usually add a little water or wine to the skillet after browning the meat, and scrub it into a thin gravy, and add that to the stew at the start, too.

Once I tried adding some kalamata olives to the stew, and they gave an unpleasantly bitter flavor overall.

If you have the time to simmer it for 8 hours, then a slightly gristly cut of beef will give a better flavor overall (tends to be less expensive, too).