Browning meat for stews, soups and braised dishes isn’t a necessarily a difficult task, but here are a few things you should consider the next time you need to do this:

- Use your ears as a guide. If your meat doesn’t sizzle as soon as you put it in your pan, it isn’t hot enough and won’t brown your meat.

- Don’t crowd your meat. Give each piece space to brown, otherwise you’ll be steaming your meat instead.

- Don’t turn your meat prematurely. If you try to turn your meat and find that it’s sticking to the bottom, it’s not ready yet. Meat that has been properly browned will turn quite easily.

- Deglaze the fond (all that good brown stuff) at the bottom of the pan – I like to use wine or broth; this will help to add depth of flavour and colour to your soup or stew.

Try out this delicious beef stew for dinner tonight.