Now that you’ve browned your meat and sweated your vegetables, it’s time to add the meat back to the pot. Some juices will release from the meat while you’re sweating the vegetables, which is fine; add that to the pot, too. While sweating the vegetables, you’ll notice that more fond has developed. It’s time to collect that and use it to your advantage.

Recipes vary, some calling for brandy, others for red wine. The older, more traditional, recipes call for brandy, so we’ll stick to that, although you don’t have to. Before adding the brandy, remove the pot from the burner if you’re using a gas stove, as brandy is flammable. Add the brandy, return the Dutch oven to the burner, and again use a spoon or silicone spatula to scrape the fond from the bottom. This point is where many people miss an opportunity to build flavor.

Turn the burner to high until the brandy boils. Let it keep boiling. During this step, water evaporates from the brandy, and you concentrate the brandy’s flavor. You get a more intense flavor without the additional liquid, yielding a better stew. When the brandy is almost completely evaporated, with a syrupy consistency in the bottom of the pot, you can move on to adding your cooking liquid.