We all have foods we don't like. For example, I hate eggs. This is a fact. It is known. But did you know? Just like a very famous and super cool anime protagonist, I also HATE MILK!!! Dun dun DUUUUUUN. 

True story. I'll drink it with cereal, but that's about it. And, somewhat coincidentally, Edward Elric, one of my all time favorite anime characters (nostalgia level = too high), hates milk too! When I saw that Crunchyroll had acquired Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, I just knew, both to satisfy my inner 12 year old and my desire to share my hatred for milk, that I would have to find a recipe to recreate for this anime. I've already done Winry's Apple Pie, so I was looking for a new challenge. Luckily, my highly esteemed and most beautiful roommate suggested I make Ed and Al's favorite dish- beef stew! 

Quintessentially, this stew boggles Ed because it contains the dreaded beverage- milk. He is flabbergasted that such a horrid liquid can be made delicious when combined with other ingredients. He uses this as a rather sophisticated metaphor for explaining alchemy to his brother Al while they were learning about it, which is really kind of impressive when you consider that Ed was a measly 9 year old kid at the time.

I always loved that Ed was so passionate about sticking up for himself and what he wants- he never drank his milk, even though he wanted to be taller, and did (somewhat stubbornly) what he wanted to do, (and sometimes against the better judgement of his friends). To me, when I watched this show as a light-hearted youth, he was the coolest guy ever- smart, ready for action, and unafraid to take on a challenge. To make things better, he was funny- easily teased about his height and easily goaded into silly challenges, resulting in amusing alchemy battles with others. (By the way, anyone remember that alchemy battle with Mustang in the original anime series? I showed that episode to my parents when they proclaimed a desire to learn about what my sister and I were watching all the time. It's a funny episode, except that we'd forgotten about Mustang's "Mini-Skirt Campaign", which also appears in that episode, and that did not go over very well with my mom...).

So, the best thing we can do is to honor Ed's hatred of milk by making it delicious! Not having a lot of ingredients to go off of, I went for a basic beef stew recipe. I'd never made this dish before, so I wanted to start off with a basic recipe that was both easy to make, and as tasty as I could possibly make it. The good news here is that if you can chop veggies, measure out ingredients, and stir a pot of food, this is the recipe for you.

This picture demonstrates Ed and Pinako yelling while Al and Winry try to eat their stew.

The Ingredients

Recipe adapted from this recipe for beef stew.

DISCLAIMER: There are many ways you can make beef stew! A few people have mentioned that browning the meat beforehand will produce a better stew. The great thing about this recipe is that there is not a specific recipe to follow from the manga or anime. You can do whatever you want, as long as it tastes good to you! I thought this tasted amazing, and my friends agreed, but you can really do whatever you want. That's the great thing about cooking at home- you can adapt recipes as much as you want to suit your preferences. 

In case you missed it, check out our last dish: Okonomiyaki from "Sweetness and Lightning". What other famous anime dishes would you like to see Emily make on COOKING WITH ANIME?