Winter warming stews

Well over a year ago, in the middle of the northern hemisphere winter, I was filming in China and went to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong to do some research. I used to love walking the back streets and looking at the various food, herbal and medicine shops.

The aromas walking through these back streets were truly amazing. Some of the shop windows were all steamed up, so you couldn't really see what was cooking or being displayed in them. But I could smell this very spicy, fragrant, almost medicinal smell. I ventured into one of these shops in a back street of Hong Kong and once I walked in I could see that on offer was a huge array of different cuts of beef, pork, poultry and a whole lot of offal.

Luckily there was a menu in English, revealing a huge selection of soups, broths, stews and other items. I chose the beef brisket soup as it was freezing outside and I really felt like a hot bowl of soup to warm me up. Little did I realise that I would be given a huge bowl of warm, dark, rich broth filled with all sorts of things and topped with cubes of very tender beef brisket. The soup was so warming and the meat so filling and rich that I walked out afterwards feeling a fair bit heavier, but truly warmed.

I thought for days about what spices and herbs could have gone into that soup and decided to do some research. I asked some Chinese friends to help me and was determined to create a similar dish of my own.

Recently on Channel Nine's Today show I prepared that recipe — click here to view my hearty feef stew Asian-style.

Some of my tips for winter cooking:

• Buy cheaper cuts of meats and use a slow-cooking method, either in a slow cooker or very gently in a heavy-cast iron pot. Cheaper cuts are more flavoursome.

• Prepare plenty of soups or broths, or incorporate a stew and soup as an all-in-one, similar to an Irish stew. It's funny how when I was a kid, I would screw my nose up at such a dish like Irish stew, but by jingo, I would now pay a good sum to enjoy a great Irish stew like my mum's.

• Blanch the meats first, this helps get rid of any impurities.

• Dried pulses such as white beans, kidney beans and lentils are fantastic in soups and stews.

• Don't be afraid to experiment with spices and herbs. Lots of these herbs and spices are actually medicinal.

• Buy winter vegetables that are in season, such as: bok choy, choy sum, gai laan, wonga bok, avocado, beetroot, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, fennel, garlic, ginger, horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leek, okra, onions, parsnip, potato, pumpkin, shallot, silverbeet, spinach, Swede, sweet potato and turnip.

  Enjoy!

  YOUR SAY: Do you have any favourite winter dishes or great tips for winter cooking? Tell us below.