Coating meat with seasoned flour -- doh?

[Weyland]

Here's part of a slow-cooker recipe:

3. Toss the beef and kidneys in the flour to coat and add to the slow cooker

4. Add the onions, carrots and 3 or 4 whole mushrooms. Stir well

5. Add the balsamic, thyme, and porcini mushrooms and their juice. Add a good dash of Lea and Perrins and 2 tbsp of mushroom ketchup. Add the juniper berries and peppercrons. Stir well.

6. Add the hot stock and stir.

The meat is still raw at Step 3.

Question: Seeing as Step 6 will remove it, what's the point of coating the meat with flour?

This is not the first time I've seen apparently pointless coating of stuff with flour and then plunging it into a liquid. What am I missing?

[riotgrrl]

If you are cooking Cajun chicken, you spray it (or rub it . . depending on how health-conscious you are) with olive oil, then roll it (the chicken breast) in flour mixed with cajun seasoning.

But then you dry roast it in the oven, so it makes sense in that way of cooking as it creates a sort of flavoured crust to the meat.

otherwise I assume the flour is added merely to thicken the sauce . . but maybe Sesley knows. She's the board's cooking expert.

[jean]

Ususally when you've coated the meat you brown it in fat before you add the liquid. This is supposed to seal it

Your post doesn't say there's any liquid in the slow cooker when you put the meat in. Or is that in Step 2 and you just haven't told us?

[Weyland]

Aug 9, 2010 19:32:38 GMT @riotgrrl said:

If you are cooking Cajun chicken, you spray it (or rub it . . depending on how health-conscious you are) with olive oil, then roll it (the chicken breast) in flour mixed with cajun seasoning.

But then you dry roast it in the oven, so it makes sense in that way of cooking as it creates a sort of flavoured crust to the meat.

otherwise I assume the flour is added merely to thicken the sauce . . but maybe Sesley knows. She's the board's cooking expert.

Yes, I know about Cajun chicken (I'd use rapeseed oil) and stuff like that.

Perhaps tossing the meat in flour is just to meter the right amount for thickening, but I doubt it. If I want to thicken something like a stew I wait until it's cooked, especially in a slow cooker recipe, and then I'd probably use cornflour (if indeed thickening turns out to be needed).

Whatever -- I didn't coat it, and I didn't add any flour, and it's cooking overnight. I'll report back tomorrow.

I got some "dwarf beans" (on offer at Morrison's) to go with it. Never tried them before. Probably tasteless, he whinged.

[jean]

Aug 9, 2010 21:41:51 GMT Weyland said:

I didn't coat it, and I didn't add any flour...I'll report back tomorrow.

Well that's no good, is it?

You should have done a controlled experiment - half the meat coated in flour, half left naked.

Then we could have deduced something.

[Weyland]

Aug 9, 2010 21:40:58 GMT jean said:

Ususally when you've coated the meat you brown it in fat before you add the liquid. This is supposed to seal it

Your post doesn't say there's any liquid in the slow cooker when you put the meat in. Or is that in Step 2 and you just haven't told us?

The meat is the first thing into the pot, but only by a few seconds if all the other ingredients are to hand. There's no question of any fat or browning or sealing.

[Weyland]

Aug 9, 2010 21:49:06 GMT jean said:

Well that's no good, is it?

You should have done a controlled experiment - half the meat coated in flour, half left naked.

Then we could have deduced something.

Nag nag nag nag.

That was indeed the plan, but I was badly let down by the delayed response from the serried ranks of you Crouchers, who just couldn't give two good shifts about my gourmet aspirations.

[everso]

Right. Now I've been cooking for nearly 40 years and this business about coating the meat in seasoned flour has never worked for me. I always end up with gloopy lumps of meat. Maybe I use too much flour, I don't know, but it's always been not quite right. Anyhow, like Weyland says, if the casserole or whatever needs thickening, then cornflour is the thing.

If you're just browning the meat to seal it, you should be putting just a few bits of meat in at a time. If you throw it all in together it lowers the temperature of the oil too much and the meat just sort of boils and never browns properly.

Oooh, did you do dumplings, Weyland? ;D

[Weyland]

Aug 9, 2010 22:08:43 GMT everso said:

Oooh, did you do dumplings, Weyland? ;D

That is the plan, Ev, but dumplings need care and attention, which will wait until this evening when I can devote a lot of time and thought to their taste and texture. The word "simmer" springs to mind.

(By the way, the stew is not bad at all, but needs some tweaking in the seasoning and thickening departments.)

[aubrey]

I'd not bother with the meat and concentrate on the dumplings: they're the best part.

I think the stew probably needs a couple of days maturing, Weyland.

[Weyland]

Aug 10, 2010 9:34:54 GMT aubrey said:

I'd not bother with the meat and concentrate on the dumplings: they're the best part.

I think the stew probably needs a couple of days maturing, Weyland.

Dumplings. How true.

There's plenty of stew. I need some today, but the rest will be mature before I eat it.

~ ~ ~

Talking of the scientific method . . .

[everso]

I'm resisting the urge to say what I usually say about dumplings.

Weyland, I use 4 oz. self-raising flour, salt, 2 0z.suet, half a teaspoon of baking powder (to give extra lift and water.

[Weyland]

Aug 10, 2010 13:24:29 GMT everso said:

I'm resisting the urge to say what I usually say about dumplings.

Weyland, I use 4 oz. self-raising flour, salt, 2 0z.suet, half a teaspoon of baking powder (to give extra lift and water.

Same recipe I use. Imagine my surprise. (Only in grams, natch.)

But one must, of course, be careful. The keywords are patience, light, and touch. Any undue haste or rough handling is not a good idea.

[everso]

True. The dough must not be too dry either (unlike when you make pastry)

You're getting me all worked up for a casserole now Weyland.

It will have to wait a few days though. I'm looking after my grandkids today and tomorrow and I'm usually prostrate with exhaustion when I get home.

[Weyland]

Aug 10, 2010 14:56:10 GMT everso said:

True. The dough must not be too dry either (unlike when you make pastry)

You're getting me all worked up for a casserole now Weyland.

Tell me about it. I should really withdraw from the discussion right now, only it would make such a mess on the kitchen table.

It will have to wait a few days though. I'm looking after my grandkids today and tomorrow and I'm usually prostrate with exhaustion when I get home.

Did I mention patience?

[everso]

OK, I've made up my mind. I'm going to quickly defrost some mince when I get in and do a mince casserole in my pressure cooker.

When you're worked up for dumplings, nothing else will do.

Mr.E. will be thrilled.

[Weyland]

Aug 10, 2010 15:40:41 GMT everso said:

OK, I've made up my mind. I'm going to quickly defrost some mince when I get in and do a mince casserole in my pressure cooker.

When you're worked up for dumplings, nothing else will do.

Mr.E. will be thrilled.

I bet. But we really must move on.

Do you like a good meaty Bratwurst? It's lovely hot, with a nice honey and oyster sauce, on a bed of wild salad (not dressed), or -- especially -- on a cosy winter's evening in front of the fire after a couple of Glühweins or Pilsner Urquells.

[everso]

I have fond memories of a bratwurst I once ate in Austria on a walk to Krimml Falls. With lots of bread and german mustard, plus the obligatory half litre of something, it was divine.

[trubble]

I ate some sort of generic raw meat when I was in Holland that I still dream of. You never forget your first. <3

[Weyland]

Aug 11, 2010 20:55:27 GMT trubble said:

I ate some sort of generic raw meat when I was in Holland that I still dream of.

You know it's Stub Crouch when a sentence like that appears.

You never forget your first. <3

That clears that one up, then.