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Stage One: Coating the meat. I'm not sure if this is a normal thing or a Shiel thing, but my father always did it, and it works. You mix flour with black pepper and salt, and roll the chunks of meat (beef, today - I've like to have some game to throw in as well, but game is expensive, and not available in the supermarket) in it, before frying them quickly in olive oil on a very hot pan. For proper hotness, you need an iron pan - ours is cast iron, and heavy enough that I'm the only one in the house than can handle it in comfort. The flour acts as a thickener for the juices coming off the meat, and the salt and pepper start the seasoning. The frying helps "lock in" the flavour of the meat, meaning that by the time it's cooked, it still tastes like beef, not stew-flavoured chunks of soya. After frying, the meat goes in the stewpot, and is covered in cold water, and the heating begins.
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