Instructions

1. Pull the meat apart along the natural fat lines to break the meat down into smaller, more manageable sizes. A chuck roast often has one or two fat lines to separate the roast into two or three pieces, but it might have none at all in which case you can simply cut it in half or thirds.

2. Insert a boning knife under the silverskin that commonly covers shoulder meat, especially at the fat lines where you separated the meat. A boning knife has a pointed tip that makes it easy to get between the meat and silverskin. Cut along the meat just enough until you can grasp the silverskin with your hand and pull it away from the meat. Cut the silverskin off if it doesn't pull away entirely. Silverskin is shimmery and silver in color; it doesn't break down and can actually become tougher as you cook the stew.

3. Trim away excess fat from the meat, particularly the hard fat. Press the fat with your finger to feel if it's hard or soft. You'll usually find hard fat on the outside of a whole roast and along the fat lines where you pulled the meat apart. The hard fat doesn't break down as the stew cooks, but the marbleized soft fat in the meat, also called intramuscular fat, melts in the stew to make the sauce rich.

4. Cut the trimmed chuck roast pieces into bite-sized pieces about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in size with a chef's knife. This might require cutting the roast pieces into rectangular strips before cutting them into smaller pieces, but this largely depends on the size and shape of the roast pieces. Try to cut the pieces perfectly square so the meat cooks evenly. Smaller pieces won't brown evenly in a skillet and must be cooked in multiple batches.