283500 Mon Feb 27 12:31:45 -0800 2006 7 31 Home Cooking 0 1513438 I need to use up a packet of stew meat but the family wants soft tacos, can I use this type of meat and if so how? thank you from a cooking novice! Mon Feb 27 12:31:45 -0800 2006 0 Donna 1 1513450 Absolutely. I immediately thought of tinga (stewed beef), but you could probably do anything with it (if you have a food processor you can even chop it up and treat it like ground beef). I linked one, and here's one that looks even easier (although I think you'd want to add some chiles -- a chipotle chile in adobo would be perfect): http://beef.allrecipes.com/az/SpicyShreddedBeef.asp Link: http://www.recipezaar.com/130595 Mon Feb 27 13:08:26 -0800 2006 1513438 0 Ruth Lafler 1 1513469 I don't know how much you have, but you could make a stew and then remove some of the meat, shred it, season it with some mexican seasonings (cumin, chile powder, a little cayenne, etc.), serve it as tacos, and have stew tommorrow. Two dinners for the effort of 1. Mon Feb 27 13:44:23 -0800 2006 1513438 0 Aaron 1 1513479 I'd second the previous posters. And add that you should NOT try to simply saute the meat with seasonings and then throw them in taco shells. Stew meat is typically very tough unless cooked for a long time at a low temperature. If you cook it quickly at high heat it will have the texture of rubber. Mon Feb 27 14:01:16 -0800 2006 1513438 0 chococat 1 1513482 I was just talking about this the other day. When I was a kid, my mom use to make taco meat by braising meat (roast) with a jar of Pace Picante. I haven't had it in years, but I looooved it. Mon Feb 27 14:27:51 -0800 2006 1513438 0 Tallullah 1 1513498 I do this all the time, usually when I have gotten sick of eating stew. The thing is, you have to stew the beef first. As other posters have said, the only way to cook stew beef is "low and slow," like in the crockpot. You could also braise it in the oven, but this is not going to be a fry-it-up-in-a-few-minutes type thing. Cooking the beef will take several hours at least, or you will wind up with meat that you don't want to or literally can not eat. Otherwise, it work's perfectly. Mon Feb 27 15:24:21 -0800 2006 1513438 0 cheapskate 1 1513502 Thank you everyone, I ended up putting it in the crockpot with some Adobo and some Cilantro Sazon seasoning and topped it off with 2 sliced onions, it smells increadible, I am going to serve it with onion and cilantro on corn tortillas, can't wait! Mon Feb 27 15:38:47 -0800 2006 1513438 0 Donna 2 1513507 That sounds perfect. Mon Feb 27 15:57:59 -0800 2006 1513502 0 Tugboat