Well, I got to the Celebration tonight and poked my head up into the radio booth, which is directly above the part of the press box where the print reporters sit.

Rusty Reed of WLIJ/WZNG immediately asked me how the stew had turned out. I knew from previous conversations that Rusty reads the blog here.

As I told Rusty, the stew turned out terrific. I had a bowl for dinner tonight and will take some to work tomorrow — I may take the whole container and see if someone else wants some, because I’m proud of how it turned out. It is time-consuming, but as Alton often says — and Cheryl quoted in the comments of my earlier post — “Your patience will be rewarded.”

I saw Alton Brown make this beef stew recipe last night on Food Network and I was dying to try it. I’m braising the beef all evening tonight and will finish the stew tomorrow.

Alton’s recipe calls for cooking beef short ribs, with seasonings and a small amount of water, in an aluminum foil pouch, with the pouch resting in a metal pan. But when I checked my oven just now, my pouch — which I hadn’t crimped well enough — had started to leak. At first, I thought I could pour a little of the leaked broth back into the pouch and reseal it, but as I moved the pouch I poured more and more liquid into the pan.

I finally gave up and put everything — meat and rescued broth — into a round casserole with a heavy glass lid, where it will spend the last hour of its cooking time. I can only hope Alton will understand.