Burning question: The right beef for stew

I enjoy making myself a beef stew now and then, but the meat always comes out chewy and tough. What is the proper cooking time to keep the meat tender? -- Frank Salerno, Oceanside

When I got this email, I immediately wrote back: What cut of meat are you using? "Gee, I don't know," Salerno responded, "It's in the supermarket, designated as being for stew."

Bingo. I'm willing to bet it's the meat and not the cooking time that is dooming his stew to chewy toughness.

In the course of their work, supermarket butchers trim a lot of meat, and these trims and ends usually wind up in a Styrofoam tray labeled "stew meat" (or, during warm weather, "kebab meat.") But there is a very good chance this meat is not well suited to stewing.

Stews are braises, just like pot roasts. A braise is a dish wherein meat is simmered slowly in liquid. In a pot roast, you braise a large cut of meat -- a brisket, a chuck roast, a shoulder of lamb or pork. In a stew, you braise smaller pieces of meat. But it's essential in any braise to use the right cut of meat. You want something with some fat on it and, more important, with some connective tissue in it.

Yes, those tough fibers -- they are really collagen -- that ruin a roast or a broiled steak are actually desirable in a braise because long, slow, moist cooking dissolves the fibers into gelatin, which adds a silky smoothness to the finished dish.

What cuts of beef have connective tissue in them? Look for meat from parts of the animal that do work. In the case of beef: chuck. The chuck is basically the neck and shoulders of the steer. There are almost a dozen different roasts and steaks cut from the chuck, but any of them will work for either a pot roast or a stew. Buy your own chuck roast and cut it up into 2- to 3-inch cubes.

Brisket and short ribs also are good braising cuts. (If you're doing a lamb or pork stew, look for meat from the shoulder. Pork shoulder is also called a picnic ham or pork butt.)

Now, once you have the proper meat, there is something to cooking method and timing. The slower the meat cooks, the more tender it will be.

The great English cookery writer Elizabeth David wrote that one should allow a pot au feu (French beef stew) "to barely simmer, to tremble or shudder rather, in the center of the pot only." This means cooking it in a heavy pot over a very, very low flame. If your gas burner doesn't go low enough, stack up two grates to keep the pot farther from the flame. Or cook the stew in a very low oven, say, 250 to 300. Either way, periodically check to make sure the liquid is at a bare simmer.

Depending on the size of your meat cubes and the cut of meat you're using, you should achieve a tender stew within two to three hours.

In a restaurant, when is it proper for the waiter to clear plates?

Most etiquette sources advise -- and I concur -- that everyone at the table should be finished before plates are cleared. I'm usually the first person to finish her meal, but my slowpoke friends have told me that a too-zealous waiter can make them feel awkward.