Stewp

(It's not soup, and it's not stew.  Actually, combining the two names is kind of stupid.)

Pictures will really be helpful, so I'll post them as soon as I can

(Update! Instead of hot jalapeños, try a jar of pepperoncini! Just toss the whole jar in, juice and all. I think it's absolutely pefect that way.)

about 3 lbs of beef brisket (that is, 3 lbs after removing fat)
2 cans of sliced waterchestnuts
2 cans of bamboo shoots
1 stalk of celery, sliced (everything except the very end)
about 8 to 10 carrotts, sliced (again, everything except the very end)
1 bag of broccoli, sliced/chopped (usually 3 stalks) even slice up the stalks!
2 green bell peppers, sliced how you like (some people don't like large pieces of bell pepper, because they get kind of slimey when you boil them)
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced (bell peppers are usually sold in combos like this)
hot peppers (I recommend jalapeños.  try some out.  I like the kind that hit instantly and are just a bit of zing, not a sinus-opening grenade)
up to 1/2 cup lemon juice (SECRET INGREDIENT!)
up to 1 cup sugar (SECRET INGREDIENT!)
(optional) MSG (such as Accent, it seems to work well)

You will need a big pot, not a saucepan, not a small soup pot...a big soup pot.  I strongly recommend a pot with a thick base to evenly distribute the heat.  Chop the beef up however you like.  I recommend small cubes.  Put the beef into the pot and fill the pot with water a little higher than the level of the meat.  Cook the meat.  (It's usually best to set the meat to medium so as to avoid the chance of burning some meat on the bottom of the pot.)  When the meat is well cooked but still too tough for stew, add the chopped celery stalk, carrotts, bamboo shoots (juices and all), waterchestnuts (juices and all...well, not the can), and a couple of peppers.  (Be careful with the peppers.  Nearly half the times I make stewp I end up making it too hot, and it distracts from the overall taste.  Try starting with two peppers.  The pepper will be well spread through the stewp when the pepper itself is soft and not spicy itself.  You'll be able to eat the pepper whole with no problem.)  All through the rest of the cooking process, you'll want to stir the soup to mix up the ingredients.  Since there's usually not even enough water to get to the top of the vegetables, it will probably be tough to stir...especially if you have already filled up a small pot!  As soon as the carrotts are just starting to get soft, add the broccoli and the bell peppers.  As soon as the broccoli is to your liking, add the lemon juice and sugar.  (Usually, when tasting the sugar and lemon juice, those who have never tried stewp before will think that a couple teaspoons is enough.  It's really something different from what you would expect from a soup; it's hot and sweet, with a zing!  You might want to add a little less than the whole cup of sugar and the half cup of lemon juice.  Try starting with 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup sugar.  Add a little more, and it's a little better.)  Let the stew cook for another 15 minutes (no more), and it should be good to eat.  You'll know the stew is done when the ladle stirs it much more easily.  The juices from the vegetables will have helped to make the soup easier to stir, and the water level should be a little lower than the level of the veggies.

This is very important: Don't add salt, pepper, or any kind of seasoning!  Trust me.  Soup and stew flavorings just don't work with this stew.  They will make you neasous!

I am definitely not a cook.  When I brought a big pot of this to my congregation, I was afraid people would hate it.  I brought it into the kitchen, and I asked a friend (who just so happens to work for the McCormick spice company) what he thought the stew needed.  He said, "Just looking at it, I would say salt and pepper."  I asked him to taste it first.  He tasted it and said, "It's good.  I wouldn't do a thing to it."  I saw people going back for seconds and thirds.  Another week, someone else brought a soup, and I heard people asking, "Is this Ben's soup?"

Now can anyone give me a good reason why NOT to eat a lot of this soup?  Is there any ingredient that is bad for you?  Ramen noodles have enormous amounts of transfatty acids (probably listed as saturated fat), just like most processed foods do.  The only fat you're going to get from this stew will be from the brisket, and that's going to be negligible.  The vegetables in this stew are things like broccoli, carrotts, celery, and the like.  Aren't at least a few of these vegetables things that people say "yuck" about?  Aren't they very good for you?  I heard in the news that Broccoli is one of the 10 best foods (surprisingly, so are eggs).  Instead of "yuck", people will be saying, "Yum, I'm gonna win the fart game tonight!"

Go ahead, have it for breakfast the next day, too!  (For some reason, it seems like stewp tastes better after it has been refrigerated and then microwaved.  I think it has to do with the flavor slowly osmoting out of the carrotts.)

Actually, I should point out an impotant thing about cholesterol and saturated fat. It seems that ground beef is normally very high in saturated fat, though I have yet to find any information on brisket. I recently learned that regulating the amount of cholesterol you eat does not moderate the amount of cholesterol your body keeps. Saturated fat, however, does!

Here's a diet hint. If you want to reduce the amount of cholesterol in your body, eat eggs! Yes, I know that a single egg has around 90% of the USRDA of cholesterol, but it has very little (around 8%) saturated fat. This being the case, eggs allow you to get the amount of protein you need without eating beef. Just remember to watch for saturated fat!

Email me and tell me how it turned out!