Recipe: Sailor's Stew (crock pot)

recipelink.com Chat Room Recipe Swap - 2001-07-24
From: recipelink.com

Sailor's Stew (crock pot)
From: Lei Gui, Bronx NY
Newsgroup: rec.food.cooking
Date: 7-4-97

Adapted from: Creative Crockery Cooking by Ethel Lang Graham
serves 6

4 slices bacon, cubed
2 - 2 1/2 pounds lean beef (chuck, round, rump) cut into 1/2-inch slices
4 potatoes, sliced
3 dill pickles, sliced (I use 4-5 gherkins)
3 onions sliced
1 green pepper, thick sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced (optional)
salt
cayenne pepper to taste(I use from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon)
1 bay leaf
1 cup beef bouillon or stock
1 can kidney beans, undrained (or any beans you like) (Shake well before opening to get more of the thickened liquid from the bottom or rinse out with some of the liquid from the stew.)
1/4 cup catsup
flour-water paste (optional)

Fry bacon in a large skillet until is transparent. Remove to crockpot. Brown Beef slices in hot bacon fat about 1 minutes per side; season with salt and pepper and remove beef to crockpot. Brown potato slices, but do not cook through and remove to crockpot (doing this is optional. Sometimes I just put potatoes in without browning); season with salt and pepper. Add celery, green pepper, pickle slices, and onion slices, bouillon, and bay leaf to crockpot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.

Stir catsup into stew at the end. Stir in kidney beans. Let heat through about a half hour or less if you microwave the kidney beans first, then it is just a matter of stirring them in. My original recipe said to cook it on slow for 8 hours. But I find this too long. 6 1/2 usually worked fine. I do not like the potatoes to get too well done. You know your cooker, so you decide.

Accumulated cooking liquid is to be thickened in a saucepan with a flour-water paste, if desired.

Note: I like to add canned peas, or cooked Brussels sprouts the last half hour if I am at home, which I am now, that I am retired. Other wise I just use the canned peas, drained. Sometimes I add dried chopped mushrooms with the bacon at the start, if I have them on hand. I also check out any leftovers that might be able to go in.

I serve this with dinner rolls, crusty bread or dumplings. It reheats well and tastes better the 2nd day.