Irish Beef Guinness Stew #SundayFunday

 

Today the Sunday Funday group is looking at recipes made with beer. Thanks to Stacy of Food Lust People Love, Sue of Palatable Pastime, Rebekah of Making Miracles, and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for coordinating this low-stress group. 

This week, Rebekah is hosting. She wrote: "August 8th is International Beer Day! Share your favorite recipes cooking or baking with beer - or if you don't like beer, cook or bake with your preferred alcohol! Beer Brats and Beer Bread anyone?" Here's the line-up...

• Autumnal Spinach Salad with Beer Vinaigrette by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Braised Pork with Dunkel Bier Gravy by Palatable Pastime
• Dum Chicken Rum Biryani by Sneha's Recipe
• Irish Beef Guinness Stew by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Slow Cooker Beer-Braised Pot Roast by Making Miracles
• Spicy Beer Shrimp Potatoes by Food Lust People Love
• Whole Wheat Beer Pretzel Nuggets by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Irish Beef Guinness Stew

Back in March, I started looking at dishes for St. Patrick's Day. Corned beef and cabbage is always a family favorite - despite knowing that it's not an authentically Irish dish - but I came across an Irish beef stew made with Guinness. So, I picked up a six pack and decided to make a version. So  delicious! And we've been making it once a month since then.

Ingredients

 

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 to 2-1/2 pounds beef (I used brisket), cut into large chunks
• 1 cup onion, peeled and diced
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 cup carrots, sliced into coins
• 6-8 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 bottles of Guinness (or you can use any beer or stock you have on-hand)
• 1 can (28-ounce) diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
• 4 cups potatoes, scrubbed and diced (I leave the peels on)
• freshly ground salt, as needed
• freshly ground pepper, as needed

Procedure

 

Heat the oil in a large, Dutch oven. Stir the beef into the pot. Sear on each side for  3 to 5 minutes - until a nice brown begins to appear. Add the onions, celery, and carrots to the pot. Pour in the Guinness and bring to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. 

After an hour, stir in the canned tomatoes or tomato sauce. Bring the liquid to a boil again, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover, again. Let the meat braise for another two to three hours; you really can't cook the meat too long so long as there is still liquid in the pot. The meat just gets more and more tender. 

Fold in the potatoes and simmer until they are fork tender, approximately 30 more minutes. Raise the heat to reduce the sauce to your desired thickness. 

Spoon into individual bowls and serve with more Guinness. 

Sláinte!

Next weekend the group will be back with Sue at the helm. We'll be sharing Roman recipes in honor of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Time to put on my thinking cap. Stay tuned!