Guinness Stew

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Well folks, football time is here again, and what better way to watch the game than with a nice hearty bowl of delicious, thick beef stew? Mine is a little different than most, as I do not put potatoes in it at all. Of course you can if you want to, but I prefer mine over egg noodles. Here's the recipe if you want to give it a go.

I'll be updating this as the day goes on to show the whole process.

Guinness Stew

Serves: 8
My version of a classic beef stew with a Guinness Draught base. 

I prefer to prepare it without potatoes and serve it over buttered noodles in a shallow bowl.

   4 pounds stew beef cut into 1-½ inch pieces

   2 tablespoons vegetable oil

   2 onions, chopped

   4 cups beef broth

   1 bottle guinness draught NOT extra stout

   1 tablespoon brown sugar

   1 teaspoon dried thyme

   1 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

   2 bay leaves

   5 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1" chunks

   8 ounces button  mushrooms, trimmed

   4 stalks celery, chopped

   1/4 cup all purpose flour

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1. Trim the beef carefully, pat dry with paper towels and season with 
salt and pepper. Heat two teaspoons oil in a large skillet over 
medium-high heat.

Cook half of the beef until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. 
Transfer beef to slow cooker insert, and repeat process with the 
remaining beef.

2. Add more oil to skillet and saute' onions with 1/4 tsp salt until onions are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. 

Add the broth, and 1-1/2 cups Guinness, sugar, thyme, chocolate and bay 
leaves and bring to a boil, using a wooden spoon to scrape up the 
browned bits. 

Transfer to the slow cooker insert.

3. Add the carrots, mushrooms and celery to the slow cooker insert, 
place in cooker, cover and cook on high for 6 to 7 hours, or low for 9 
to 10 hours.

4. Set the cooker to high and whisk the flour with the remaining 1/4 cup Guinness. Whisk until smooth, then stir into slow cooker.

Cover and cook on high until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Prepare 
some wide egg noodles while waiting for the sauce to thicken. Butter the
 boiled noodles,

place in a shallow bowl and spoon stew over.

Here are the basics that are needed...like a dummy, I forgot to put the carrots in the picture, but you get the idea. Please note the new knives! yes, the set I won at cheftalk arrived on Thursday...these things are scary sharp! 

Trimmed up the chuck no problemo with the new cutlery, and managed to keep all fingers firmly attached.

Browned it all up in three batches seasoned with S&P

Saute'd the onions till golden, then added the stock, bay leaves, Guinness, sugar and chocolate and thyme...then brought to a boil and poured over the meat in the cooker insert.

Add celry, carrots and mushrooms, give it a good stir and cook it on low all day long. Will thicken the sauce when we get home later

Well, home from the pub so let's thicken this up and eat!
We'll boil up some wide egg noodles first.

While the noodles are working, we'll add some flour and Guinness to the stew to thicken it.

Butter the noodles, spoon the stew over, and chow down....what's even better is the fact that my Patriots kicked butt!

lesson learned:...next time I will transfer the entire dish to my dutch oven and thicken the gravy on the stove. The slow cooker just can't do it ....at least not quick enough for me. The stew was out of this world delicious, but I was disappointed texturally...the whole gravy thing...it has to be a bit thicker.

All in all...try it! you'll like it!
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Cookbook Software from DVO Enterprises.