Beef and Guinness Stew

Chef

Patrick Taylor

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Cookbook

An Irish Country Cookbook: More Than 140 Family Recipes from Soda Bread to Irish Stew

Published by Forge Books

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Editor's Note: For a hearty Irish stew recipe that will get you through even the coldest days of winter, look no further than this savory Beef and Guinness Stew. The stew cooks slowly for up to three hours, allowing the flavors of the Guinness to become infused with the beef. The beef cooks up tremendously tender and is complemented perfectly by the starchy root vegetables. The end result is a stew that is hearty and savory, perfect for any icy winter evening. Serve this dish with dumplings or cobbler for an authentic Irish supper.

Serves4 people

CostInexpensive

Easy

MealDinner

Taste and TextureSavory

Type of DishSoup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons all- purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound stewing steak, cut in 2-inch chunks
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus extra as needed
2 large onions, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
8 ounces Guinness
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
34 ounces beef stock
1 small bunch fresh thyme

Instructions

Season the fl our well with salt and pepper and coat the steak with the seasoned flour.
Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or pan with a lid over a medium to hot heat. Gradually add the meat to the hot oil and brown on all sides. D on’t add too much at a time.
When all the meat has been browned, remove it from the Dutch oven to a plate. Now add the onions, carrots, and parsnip and a little more oil if necessary. Don’t worry about the brown caramelised remains of the meat as this all adds to the flavour. Stir the vegetables around for a few minutes and then return the meat to the pan.
Add the Guinness and cook, stirring to scrape the remains from the bottom. Add the stock and the thyme and allow to simmer slowly for 2 or 3 hours.
Remove the lid and the thyme stalks and cook for a further 30 minutes or so until the liquid has reduced by about half.
Serve with Champ and suet dumplings or scone cobbler on top.

Do-Ahead Strategy

I like to make the stew the previous day because I think this improves the ﬂavour. Then when you cook it the following day you can make the suet dumplings or cobbler topping to ﬁnish it off.