Love a beef stew especially now the weather is getting colder and this one is fab! its no fuss and so easy to make and by using the slow cooker you can buy the cheapest of cuts of beef. I browned off my beef first as you will see in the video but as always the choice is yours. 

My top tip for cooking a fab beef stew is give yourself plenty of time and wherever possible always cook it on low, if the beef is tough and chewy its not cooked keep cooking until it nearly falls apart.

I added pearl barley to mine but you can use red lentils if you want they will disappear during the cooking but will still thicken the gravy – they do exactly the same job as pearl barley but if you have kids then this maybe an easier option!

Lets talk about the Jam i added yep i appreciate that sounds mad but it really does work and you need to adjust it to your taste i would suggest you add 1 teaspoon then taste again before serving and add another one if you like. If your stew has that “too beefy” taste or a “tinnie metalic” taste the jam will counteract that and the sweetness from the sugars will take that taste away. 

The biggest mistake people make when cooking a stew in the slow cooker is they add way too much water trust me it doesn’t need it.

This recipe appears in my Cookbook MY SLOW COOKER MEALS its on my Amazon shop look under COOKBOOKS

The slow cooker i use can go on the hob under the grill and in the oven again its one my Amazon shop press the below link and look under KITCHEN GADGETS

https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/julesthelazycook