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Last night, I put together a low carb beef stew in the crock pot.

Jul 13, 2018 Posted in Ketolishus 0 Comments

Last night, I put together a low carb beef stew in the crock pot. I used 2.5 lbs chuck roast, diced radish, finely chopped onions and white mushrooms, a little red wine, a few cups of beef stock, and garlic. I dare say it turned out beautifully, and the radishes are a perfect stand-in for the usual potatoes. Will be 3 grams net carbs, if I can squeeze 10 servings out of this batch.

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  1. Bob W |

    That is interesting. Not a huge radish fan. Was the radish still strong, or did some of the flavor cook out?

    I’ve been using cauliflower as a potato substitute.

    Reply
  2. Bobbi Jo Woods |

    Not strong at all. Very little of the sharp flavor of a raw radish remains when cooked (and none of the heat, if you get a batch of “not” radish–this batch was slightly hot). I’ve experimented this with roasting them, and frying them in bacon fat. There is still a bit of a wet pop to them, but it’s similar to the kind of texture and flavor you’d get out of adding rutabaga or turnip (which are still a little peppery, but mildly so) to soup/stew. Hope that helps.

    I don’t miss potatoes, really – this was a textural decision. I just got tired of making beef stew with just beef in it. Mushrooms are a lovely addition, but every bite being mushroom and beef gave kind of a mushy feeling and left me wanting something with bite/hearty texture. So the radishes are definitely fitting the bill with that.

    The reason I finely chopped the mushrooms and onions here was just so they could flavor the stew but texture-wise, go into the background and let the big hunks of meat and medium dice radish stand out.

    Reply
  3. Laur P |

    Nice!!!

    I might have to try this radish thing cause I am not a potato fan. At all.

    I will avoid a lot of soups because of potatoes.

    Especially, the ones that have rice n potatoes in it. Never understood that.

    Reply
  4. Bobbi Jo Woods |

    You are probably lucky if you don’t care for potatoes, that’s an addiction for some, and a burden for low-carbers.

    I hope you do try it, though

    Reply
  5. Bobbi Jo Woods |

    And yes, I did use a little cornstarch, not ideal, but I wanted to dredge the stew meat with, before browning, and I don’t keep flour. I guess in hindsight, I could have used coconut flour or oat fiber, of which I have both, but I was afraid one of those would make the stew grainy. So I tossed 1/4 of the chunks of beef into a bag with 1/4 cup of cornstarch, but I think only about 2 TB of it stuck to the meat and I shook off excess. It also helped the stew produce a lovely gravy-like broth, not too thick, not too thin. The pinch of xanthan gum also added a bit more oomph to the broth.

    Reply
  6. Laur P |

    Bobbi Jo Woods oh I know it is. I’ve even said luckily I can do without.

    My carb crutch is bread n pasta. More bread thou. Love me some sammichs so I try and keep to a minimum and do the bread less option as much as possible.

    As far as pasta, I get a real craving for it like once a month… Blame being feed it like 3 times a week growing up. Cheap, easy n were Italian so get why.

    Reply
  7. Bobbi Jo Woods |

    I get it! I used to enjoy those things, but I feel 300x better now that I do not eat them. I feel like a hyperactive, energetic kid when I eat mostly fat and protein and get my carbs from veggies and sometimes cheese.

    Reply
  8. Bobbi Jo Woods |

    We had rain the last couple days before I made this, and it seemed gloomy. Crock pot is way better than slaving over the stove or turning on the oven. Especially when it is something I don’t need to eat right away. I did brown the beef in batches which took 20 minutes, but I had the air conditioning on.

    I was craving beef and my body needed the iron. I have been eating chicken, salmon, and pork for weeks. 2 days ’til shark week and now I’ll be good to go. TMI, I know. Don’t care.

    Reply
  9. Simon Vince |

    When we started tryinh keto – and it was a struggle, let me tell ya, we switched to radishes in place of potatoes. I didn’t even know my wife had done it. I’m not a fan of anything that doesn’t say Captain Highliner on the box but, my wife makes a fantastic clam chowder. She swapped out the potatoes for radishes and I didn’t even know, even after she told me that she’d done it.

    Well worth it to switch.

    Reply
  10. Bobbi Jo Woods |

    Simon Vince that sounds cool. I would have never tried them myself until I saw a decent cooking site had roasted them in the oven (it was Bon Appetit or Food52 or one of them) and then not too long after that, I saw a few folks recommending Daikon radish for potato substitute in a gratin or in soup, so that gave me the idea that maybe they’d be good in braised foods like stews. I held on to the thought until the roast I like to buy went on sale for like $12 (from $18) for 40 ounces. I also tried frying them in bacon and a little butter, though the French have been frying radish in butter for ages—I liked it.

    So I finally thawed the roast out the other day and took a stab at the stew. Well, a tiny stab! About halfway through cooking time (I had it on LOW for about 12 hours) I diced up about 180 grams of radish and tossed two pieces into the stew and let it go another two hours before peeking. I suspected the radish would be either mush or hard. It was nearly done! About 3 hours to the end of cooking time. i added the minced onion, diced mushroom, and the rest of the radish, a little more water (because I wasn’t sure how much liquid would be released by the veg, as the veg to meat ratio was quite low) then I sprinkled a pinch of xanthan gum after the veg an d stirred, because the stew was a little thin after I added the water…but it all turned out great.

    Reply
  11. Jeff Leaper |

    I have dispatched an underling to the supermarket to fetch me some white icicle, sparkler, cherry belle, and Easter egg radishes because I feel lucky. I got’s t’ know (From the movie “Dirty Harry when he asked the punk if he feels lucky”.)

    Reply

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