Disco Stew Doesn't Advertise

So last weekend the roommate and I decided to hit the Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market and visit our meat friend. Can't remember the name of the farm. Will post in an update.

We got a big-ass bone-in chunk of cow, dusted a 15" cast iron skillet with flour, centered the meat, surrounded it with veggies (also from the market), poured in some broth base, and threw it in the oven. The result was amazing. For our broth base we went with chicken stock and beer (Schlitz, I believe), but pretty much anything will work.

General cooking rule for this kind of thing: when the potatoes are done, check the meat.

Regarding flour: when you stir (which you should do about halfway through cooking), it will mix with the broth and the fat that renders off the meat, and thicken your stew considerably. If you want it soupier, use less flour or more broth. We used an unmeasured dusting of flour and enough broth to 1/2 cover the veggies, and it turned out a little thicker than ideal.

If, however, your meat is done before the rest of the stew, as was ours, pull it out, cut it up, and reserve, but be sure to return the bone to the stew. Nothing enriches a bowl of beef stew like some melted-out marrow. Mmmmmmarrow.

A word on making stew with beer: when cooking a soup or stew with beer, eat it all when it's hot. You are heating up beer. When you refrigerate it, it will get cold. Then you will heat it up again. Then your stew will be skunked. Don't do that. If you're cooking for leftovers, use something else.

And finally, a word on romanesco broccoli: it has a more neutral taste than broc, a little on the sweet side, but none of that really matters. It's a vegetable with fractal self-similarity, and that means it is the best.