Guinness Beef Stew
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
- 4 slices thick cut bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 3 lbs beef chuck roast cut into 1 inch bite size cubes
- 1 1/2 tsp salt divided
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large yellow onions chopped
- 4 medium cloves garlic minced
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3 large carrots peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 large celery ribs chopped
- 1 14.9 oz can Guinness beer (dark Irish stout beer) (OR 11 oz bottle plus additional 1/4 cup beef broth)
- 3 cups low sodium beef stock or chicken stock
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 4 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 medium bay leaves
- few sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 Tbsp fresh chopped Italian parsley plus additional for garnishing
- mashed potatoes for serving
Instructions
- Cook bacon in a 6 quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes or until crisp. Remove from pot using a slotted spoon.
- Season beef cubes with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper on all sides. Add to bacon drippings in Dutch oven, browning on medium-high heat turning as need to brown on all sides. Cook in batches if needed, to avoid overcrowding the pot. Remove to a platter.
- To the drippings add onion. Cook for 4-6 minutes or until softened and lightly browned. Add garlic, cook for 1 minute longer. Add butter stirring until butter has melted, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add flour, cook for 1-2 minutes until flour is absorbed.
- Return beef to Dutch oven along with reserved 1/2 tsp salt, Guinness, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste. sugar, bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower the heat and simmer covered for 1 hour.
- Uncover and add carrots and celery to pot. Replace cover and continue to cook for an additional 1 hour. (To equal 2 hours total at this point) After simmering, test doneness of beef with a fork, it should be tender and shred easily. If not, stir well then cover and continue to simmer another 15-20 minutes, then test again.(If adding potatoes, do so at this point)
- Once beef is fork tender, increase heat to medium-high and let bubble uncovered to reduce slightly for about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove bay leaves and thyme. Mix in cooked bacon and chopped parsley.
- Serve ladled over mashed potatoes with soda bread and garnished with additional parsley or thyme.
Notes
You may thicken further at the end of cooking two ways:
- Mix 2 Tbsp cornstarch into enough cold water to fully dissolve. Whisk into broth.
- Alternately, add additional tomato paste 1 Tbsp at a time at the end of cooking, repeating until it thickens to your taste.
- You may use one 11 ounce bottle of Guinness in place of the 14.5 ounce can. When doing so, simply increase the beef broth adding 1/4 additional to the amount called for in the recipe.
- If preferred, you may add 1-2 cups of potato cubes to the stew 20 minutes before the end of cooking.