CROSSWORD The Food Corner

By Paul Cormier, Salamanders of Kemptville

We just had a family favourite for dinner, Sweet and Sour Beef Stew. Beth substituted deer meat from our freezer and it turned out really good! This recipe will work with beef, pork or venison and may also become one of your family’s favourites. So here is Sweet and Sour Beef Stew. By the way, this dish is adapted from a 1972 cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens entitled All Time Favourite Beef Recipes. Our house and restaurant shelves are filled with cookbooks we have picked up over the years (we’re addicted to them…)

Sweet and Sour Beef Stew

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds of beef stewing meat (or pork of venison) cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 cup of shredded raw carrots

1 cup of sliced onions

1 -8 ounce can of tomato sauce

½ cup of water (you can add liquid if you need to, including some red wine)

¼ cup of white vinegar

¼ cup of packed brown sugar

2 good shakes of Worcestershire sauce

Preparation

- In a largish saucepan, brown the meat in hot oil

- In the same saucepan, add all of the other ingredients

- Cover and simmer for a couple of hours till the meat is tender

- For venison (deer meat), add another hour (to get rid of the “gaminess”

- Thicken the stew with a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch and water