Ok, how to follow my spatchcock

I say cook whatever you want to eat and food trends be damned! Also I think all stews (and maybe all soups too) are pretty timeless, anyway. This is a perennial favorite of mine: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/minestrone-black-eyed-peas-and-kidney-beans. The black eyed peas cook right in the soup and adds a ton of flavor. The one thing I do always alter though is that I sub chicken stock for at least half the water, or if I don't have it on hand I add Better Than Bouillon a teaspoon at a time untilI I like the way it tastes. It would still have plenty of flavor without; I just like the savory punch that it adds. Good for you and have fun!

Another beef barley soup fan here. It’s especially appealing as the colder weather approaches.

Carbonnade! Mmmm! One of my favorite beef stews. Worth trying, for sure.

A lot of people still eat beef barley soup, my family included. People all over the world eat variations of stew, beef bourguignon is just one. It started life like they all do, a peasant dish - and didn't get considered all hoity toity until Escoffier and his sort got ahold of it. They are not usually difficult dishes to pull off, so no fancy kitchen knife skills are required- just patience and low temperatures. You can go crazy with the red wine of France, a Belgian beer to make up a pot of carbonnade (which is delicious over mashed potatos, just sayin) or perhaps something with a nice smoked paprika from Spain? Or olives and such to make a guisado from the Carribean/South America? It all is just stew- and only fancy if you can master the appropriate accent and pronunciation of the actually name. But you can make it and pass it off as some exotic dish, without having to reveal all you know. Sometimes the best cooks, like magicians, don't reveal all the secrets behind the curtain. So if you have a chuck roast begging to be transformed- why not take out a world map, close your eyes, and stick in a pin. Where ever it lands, I'm fairly certain grandma's make stew of some sort.