Kitchen rescueMeat, fish and vegetablesUsually saveable

How to fix tough meat in a stew

Keep cooking it. Tough meat in a stew is usually undercooked rather than overcooked, so put the lid on, keep it at a gentle simmer and check it every so often until it's tender.

How you can tell

  • The meat is chewy and springy
  • It's hard to cut with a spoon or fork
  • It feels stringy and dry even though it's in liquid

Why it happens

Stewing cuts such as beef shin, chuck and lamb shoulder contain a lot of collagen, the connective tissue that makes meat tough. Long, slow cooking in liquid breaks collagen down into gelatine, which makes the meat tender and gives the sauce body. If the stew hasn't cooked long enough, the collagen is still intact and the meat is tough. If it boils hard, the muscle fibres tighten and squeeze out moisture, making it stringy. Lean cuts with little collagen tend to go dry in a stew however long they cook.

How to fix it

Option 1Cook it longer

  1. Make sure there's enough liquid to keep the meat mostly covered
  2. Cover with a lid and keep at a very gentle simmer, on the hob or in a low oven
  3. Check it every so often and stop when the meat falls apart with a spoon

Option 2Shred lean meat into the sauce

  1. If a lean cut has gone dry and stringy, take it out and shred it with forks
  2. Stir it back into the sauce so it soaks up the liquid

Next time

  • Use stewing cuts with plenty of connective tissue rather than lean steak
  • Cook gently, at a bare simmer rather than a boil
  • Allow plenty of time, and judge it by tenderness rather than the clock
General kitchen guidance, not food-safety advice. If food may be unsafe, for example undercooked meat or anything left out too long, follow the Food Standards Agency and throw it away if in doubt.