Saturday, November 28th, 2020

I take the bones out of the stew first. A lot of the meat was still attached to them when I cubed the beef. They’re larger than what I had cut away. I figure I’ll have what’s on them in this first meal so I don’t have to deal with storing them. I don’t need to. After seventeen hours, stewing overnight in the slow cooker, the meat has come right off of them on its own. Everything has cooked down just as I’d hoped. With the flour coating the meat before I browned it, the added tomato sauce, and the other ingredients, the texture of the gravy is just as I’d hoped. The recipe was vague on spices. I should have put more in. I had guessed on how much sumac and baharat to add. I also didn’t have beef broth. Following other recipes, I just used water and a splash of wine. I eat two servings for lunch. It’s too much. I feel heavy for the rest of the day. I pack up and freeze eight more servings. There is still a lot of the gravy left. I freeze that separately. I may add it back in when I make the next stew, in lieu of prepackaged beef broth. And next time, I may add beans and barley back in. I could adapt it into an excellent cholent.