Stephanie Alexander's advice on braising and stewing beef

There is nothing worse than getting an hour into the process of making a delicious pie or stew, only to find when you test the meat that it tough and chewy. In her seminal book, The Cook's Companion, Stephanie Alexander offers some advice on avoiding this predicament:

TO BRAISE AND STEW When cutting meat for a braise or stew, follow the natural separations of the meat as far as possible, then cut across individual muscles. Meat that is cut willy-nilly across several different muscles can twist and bend in very strange ways in the cooking pot and can be tough. The connective tissue on such cuts as chuck or blade will melt to tenderness when braised slowly.

Whether a dish is a stew or a braise, the result will be better if it is cooked gently for longer. 

It is much better to buy the meat and cut it yourself rather than buy the cubes of casserole steak you can get from the supermarket, since they are unlikely to have taken this level of care when cutting the meat. If you are worried about cutting the meat yourself, get it from a decent butcher and ask them to cut it for you.

It is also important that you use a heavy-based saucepan which conducts and diffuses heat more evenly.