“I remember waking up to the smell of onions, beef and celery cooking on the stove, and knowing that snow was falling outside my window. There was a sense of comfort that came from those aroma’s and that time of year. Family gathered round and life became just a little simpler,” Jan remembers.

With cattle in the back corrals, there was never a time in my memory when we didn’t have plenty of fresh beef in the freezer. Whether it was the most recent butchering or one over a past summer, we knew there’d be plenty of beef for Grandma’s “famous” Beef Stew.

Grandma’s Beef Stew

A nice sized chunk of lean beef, braised with salt and pepper in the black iron skillet. Set the oven to about 350 degrees and prepare the big roaster pan with 3 or 4 quarts of water. Chop 3 – 5 onions in slices and a head of celery in 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Place meat in roaster and top with onions and celery. Add in about 2 lbs. carrots cut into bite sized pieces. Salt and pepper to taste.

After roast beef is cooked, about three hours, add in 8 potatoes cubed and a gallon size bag of whole frozen tomatoes. Put lid on roaster and put back in oven for about three hours, until lunch.

Prepare bread rolls for crusty homemade bread while roast finishes cooking. Stew will be ready in time for lunch when the guys come in from working. Take it out of oven for about 45 minutes, just long enough to bake the bread rolls, and let it rest before serving the stew. Meat should be “forkable” which means you can tear it into bite sized pieces with two forks. The soup from the stew will be thick and dark in the bottom of the pan. (Be sure when you add potatoes, there’s enough liquid to keep it from burning.)

Ladle hearty servings into stew plates and serve with homemade bread rolls, plenty of butter and apple jelly.