Grandpa Campbell’s Stew

Dad always made the best stew and I got to be in the kitchen with him many times while he made it. I wasn’t much help… mostly I was there to keep him company. He knew exactly what he was doing and I was just plain blessed to be there with him!! I’ve added a few more spices here then he did and left out the all important ingredient of celery, only because I didn’t have any on hand at the moment, but here you go kids… this one is famous. We’ve all had it and love it. And him…

I used sirloin steak, cubed, or you can use stewing beef. I cut it in about 1.5 inch chunks and trimmed visible fat off.

Add some vegetable oil to a dutch oven, heated on setting 3 of my stove, when it’s hot add beef, and about 1/3 cup of flour on top. Add spices on top of the flour. Salt, pepper, onion power, garlic powder, smoked paprika. Mix in with meat (you can also add the flour and spices to the meat before you put it in the oil, that’s how grandpa did it, but I’m getting lazy and this way works just as well. When it is browning, turn heat to 2 and add beef broth. Simmer on the stove until very tender. I left it there for about 4 hours. I forgot onions and garlic so fried some up in another cast iron pan in bacon and added it to the gravy when I added the cubed potatoes and carrots. I also added a package of gravy mix to thicken it up instead of using more flour. Gives it more flavour. Simmer another half hour or so until vegetables are tender. Serve with toast and butter like Grandpa did or garlic toast if you prefer.. or salad.. I’m sure he would have made a salad to go along with this!!