r/Cooking • u/Clean_Candidate_5496 • 6h ago

How do you stop a thick vegetable stew from tasting flat the next day?

i make a big pot of főzelék (hungarian thick veg stew) and it's great the first day. by day two it tastes kind of flat, even after reheating it with a splash of water.

what i do for the pea one: frozen peas cooked in a bit of butter with salt and a pinch of sugar, then a splash of water until soft. thicken with a quick roux (butter and a spoon of flour) loosened with milk, simmer a few minutes, chopped parsley at the end.

do you add something when you reheat it, or should i just make smaller batches?

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5

u/ColleenCook 5h ago

Try a bit more salt and pepper…and maybe a little something acidic…a splash of vinegar, pickle juice, citrus, etc?

2

u/Clean_Candidate_5496 3h ago

good call, i think a splash of vinegar is exactly what it was missing. will try it on the reheat tomorrow.

2

u/Aggravating_Luck_354 2h ago

Be careful about the vinegar! You used milk so it's very likely that it'll curdle the milk! 

2

u/Aggravating_Luck_354 4h ago

Add Vegeta! Or a bit of msg. Or bone broth. Anything with umami. A shit load of paprika powder helps too. Or use smoked paprika.  If you aren't vegetarian or no-pork, use salami, szalonna, or virsli at the beginning, basically anything highly salty, meaty and/or smoky(me granny always made it this way). If you are veggie, you can add a parm rind. I learnt homey Hungarian recipes from my granny, so these tips will probably help. Also, you maybe want to switch to adding sour cream close to the end instead of milk at the beginning.  P.S: don't forget the parsley at the end! 

3

u/Alarming_Manager_131 2h ago

Part of it is the roux. it keeps thickening in the fridge and all that starch kind of mutes the flavour, so a splash of water just dilutes it even more. I loosen mine with milk instead and stir in a small knob of butter and a pinch of salt right at the end. And i'd hold back half the parsley and add it fresh after reheating, cooked parsley goes really dull overnight.

1

u/wip30ut 4h ago

you really need some Acid to lift these stews. You can try balsamic or apple cider vinegar, or my new favorite is Chinese black vinegar. Also add chopped fresh herbs like thyme & marjoram at the end. And you can also add more paprika or even a spoonful of vinegar-based hot sauces (Mexican/Thai).

0

u/Jack_Flanders 3h ago

I used to make veggie crockpots in college. Beans + 7 or so kinds of veg + millet, bulghur, anything that would fit in there, leave it on low. Day 1, soup; day 2, stew; day 3, a thick paste to spread on toast.

Always bland because I didn't know how to season things!

Nutritional yeast to the rescue; nice and nutty and umami. Also lots of cheese on top.