I don't cook many Irish dishes. Well that's a bit of a lie, I cook potatoes quite often / every night but aside from that I don't have a ton of recipes from my home country. This is one I found a while ago and edited a bit to put AnotherFoodBlogger's twist on it. I hope you my beef & guinness stew.
Beef & Guinness Stew
Saturday in New Farm, Brisbane
As you have probably read from previous posts, I have been getting most of my meat from the local farmer's market here in New Farm, Brisbane. I love heading down to the park on a Saturday morning with the 2 ladies in my life. At this point I'm not sure who is the bossier of the 2 but such is! We usually head down bright and early, pick up a coffee on the way and head to the playground. Getting there early means the carnage of 200+ kids converging upon 5 swings, 2 slides and a treehouse hasn't yet begun. So Princess gets to do her thing at her leisurely pace whilst shouting for a 'nana' (banana),' cumber' (cucumber) and some 'hummie' (hummus) in between pointing at everything she wants Dad to do with her.
All About Meat
After our little trip to the playground we hit the market! Typically it starts with a trip to see Steve at All About Meats, then the fruit & veg and finally a bacon & egg sandwich and a trip to the dog park where one of us shouts woof woof woof at the dogs. Clue - it's one of the 2 ladies in my life! Even though it's coming into winter here in Brisbane. It still feels warmer than an Irish summer. So we saunter along the river in shorts & tees while watching many Brisbanites wrapped up with scarves and knee high boots.
Maybe this will be us in a few years once we acclimatise to the temps better. But for now I'll be that Paddy who likes to get sun on every inch of his body for fear of never seeing the sun again. Truthfully though, I do see the drop in temp in the evenings now so I have started making a few more warming dishes, including this great beef & guinness stew. It's rich, flavourful, contains alcohol & meat and it's pretty damn cost effective too. #winning!
You don't have to use the best cut of meat to make a stew but it also doesn't hurt to use a good one too. Check out the wagyu chuck down at the market and tell Steve AnotherFoodBlogger sent you. I'd love to see your versions of this so don't forget to tag me @another_food_blogger on insta.
Ingredients
- 1 kg stewing beef cut into 1inch cubes. I used wagyu chuck in this one.
- 4 carrots roughly chopped
- 2 celery sticks roughly chopped
- 2 white onions roughly chopped
- 2 star anise
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 4 slices smoked bacon diced
- 500 ml beef stock
- 880 ml Guinness 2 x 440ml cans
- 4 tbls plain flour
- 2 tbls chopped parsley
- 1 dried chili
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Season meat and fry in batches on medium to high heat in 1 tbls oil until golden brown - approx 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove meat from pot and leave on clean plate.
- Fry bacon until brown and fat has rendered.
- Add carrots, celery, onion, star anise, bay leaf, dried chili & garlic to pan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly to lift the bits stuck to the pan.
- Add beef back into pan along with its juices.
- Add 800ml Guinness, stir and cook for 5 mins until simmering.
- Add beef stock & thyme. Cover and cook on low heat so stew is simmering for about 1 - 1.5 hours until beef is tender.
- Mix flour with remaining Guinness to make a paste and stir into stew. Cook for another 20 minutes until sauce has thickened.
- Serve with some mashed potatoes and sprinkle with parsley to finish.
Notes
Essential Tools
- large pot / dutch oven
- small mixing bowl
- chopping board
- knives
- measuring jug/spoon
- tongs
- wooden mixing spoon
Tips/Tricks
- adding spices like anise & chili are optional. I like the spice kick but obviously they aren't "traditional" Irish ingredients
- when frying the meat do so in batches, this allows temperature of pot/pan to remain high, therefore caramelizing the meat and adding a nice crust rather than grey looking meat
- this stew will freeze very well
- keeps for 3 - 4 days in the fridge
- some recipes suggest rubbing the meat in flour first I find that this can burn in the pan and burnt stew = no good, so this is why I make a paste and add later
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