In the week I bought some stewing steak..... from Lyddl

the meat cut up into half inch pieces, it looked good.

I cook it today with onions, oxo etc
add potatoes , carrot.... thinking Im putting a good stew together

However end result... the meat was tough..... it took a lot of chewing

which took away all the enjoyment of the meal.

I feel let down by the butchers involved........ they must have known the age
of the animal and that the meat would not be tender.

The meat should have gone into mince meat where it would have been
ok to cook and eat.

I feel Ive wasted money buying it and time cooking it .

You've not said how you cooked it, what heat and for how long.

I fried and simmered in a frying pan... 20 mins

then simmered in a pan 30 mins ...

but thats irrellevant it was basically tough... meat

obviously from an older animal... 3 hours of cooking would nt have made any difference.

I find that stew often takes a few hours in a low oven to be really soft and tender. I know this might sound rubbish, as you feel let down by the quality, but maybe try it again leaving it to cook in the oven for longer?

but when you re cooking meat diced that small.... half inch squares

its basically cooked after 20 mins in a frying pan and should be tender
to eat even then, you should nt have to go into endless cooking just
to tenderize the meat.

It was obviously from an older animal ... perfectly ok
but the butcher should have put it into the mince section

Why do you think that?

They have butchers at Lidl's supermarket to cut up your meat?

You're not cooking it for long enough. You should flash fry to seal in the flavour then slow cook for a couple of hours. Stew should always..stew, for hours.

You clearly know absolutely nothing about stewing steak or how to cook it. Look it up its nothing to do with the age of the animal it is a tough cut and it's meant to be hence why it's a cheaper cut. It's meant to be cooked slowly i.e casseroled in an oven or done in a slow cooker. No decent stew will be made in under an hour from a cut like that as it's not meant to be.

If you think all meat will be cooked to tender in 20 minutes your going to be let down a lot in your cooking then. Some do require long slow cooking not just a quick flash in the pan.

Invest in a slow cooker.
£15.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russell-Hobb...s=Slow+cookers
That'll tenderise any piece of meat.

As others have said, it clearly wasn't cooked long enough. I'd have cooked it on a low heat for at least three hours.

Sounds like you need to brush up on your cooking skills.

A pressure cooker would have tenderised it nicely in 20 minutes, but on the hob I give a stew at least 2 hours and then usually re-heat the next day. Nobody should expect something labelled "stewing steak" to be cooked in under an hour on the hob - even if it was from Lyddl.

I know exactly what has happened here. Meat these days can only be sold in metric sizes, e.g. 450g, or 1 kilogram.

Instead of cutting into 1cm pieces you have cut into half inch pieces, and you just shouldn't do this because mixing metric with traditional measures just confuses the other ingredients.

LOOK at kebabs.... 5 mins cooking and they are ready to eat

the diced cubes of steak that I cooked for a total of 1 hour should have been
tender and ready to eat

we re not talking 2 hours to cook a huge leg of lamb... !
for ------ sake !

The meat was ok taste wise..... I just should nt have had all that trouble
trying to eat it ....

it was obviously from an animal getting on in years when the meat goes from
tender to tough........... ok for mince ... but not sold as stewing steak

I ve still got the label, I might send it to Lyddl head office with a stiff letter
and see what response I get

The longer you cook cheaper cuts the better.
In fact, leave it overnight, and cook it again.

At least 2 to 3 hours for stewing steak, but keep cooking if it isn't tender.

Several hours for lamb sharks. 5 or 6 maybe.

I can't put a link, but look at the comments on the on going slow cooker thread.

You need to get back to cooking basics, at the moment your showing little cooking knowledge. It was stewing steak which needs long slow cooking, its not fillet steak now is it

You can't beat a good stiff one - that should make them sit up!
Where is Lyddl?
Is it in Wales?

THEY RE all over the country.... German store like Aldi

Priceless!

I'm surprised people are chewing....err I mean biting

don't feed the troll. not even tough bits of beef....

Now I'm convinced you're trolling.

xxtimbo.
You cannot expect to cook STEWING steak in under an hour.
Also It needs lots of liquid to break down the muscle tissue otherwise it will be tough.
I suggest you look up beef stew receipes

This is a wind-up, and a poor one at that. You come on a food forum and moan your stewing steak is still tough after cooking it for just 50 minutes? Yeah right...