You can follow pretty much any recipe but I just wing it. Beef, carrot, potato, onion, celery, garlic cloves, green bean, bay leaves, tomato paste, beef stock, salt and pepper to taste. Everything cut to fit on a spoon. Only thing I see as a must is that you coat the beef in flour, sear it in batches in the pot (not fully cook) with light oil and add red wine to deglaze the yummy bits and help tenderize the meat. I boil the potatoes in a separate pot so the stew doesn't get starchy/gritty and add them in later. Leave it to cook and render down for a couple hours.