Irish Beef in Stout

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Celebrate with Cathi’s version of Irish Stew

“Wherever you are and whatever you do, may the luck of the Irish be always with you!”

With my Scots-Irish heritage, I like to celebrate Irish culture on March 17 and I focus on the folklore, the music and the food.

PHOTO CREDIT: public domain, "Beltany Stone Circle," taken in June 2002 in Ireland

I’ve been reading leprechaun stories to my youngest son for at least a week now leading up the holiday, and sharing longer folktales with my oldest son. Teresa Bateman is one of my favorite authors of children’s books; her picture stories of “The Leprechaun Under the Bed,” “Fiona’s Luck,” and “The Magic Ring” are always read multiple times in March. My son is also delighted with the mischievous antics in Eve Bunting’s “That’s What Leprechauns Do.” For longer folktales we read “The Children of Lir” and “Billy Beg and his Bull.” 

               

For music, I’ve been listening to The High Kings this year, they sing traditional Irish songs a cappella in harmony or with musical accompaniment. Beautiful! They are wonderful and remind me of The Dubliners with their crystal clear voices and moving renditions. Also auld treasures are The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem. And I enjoy how Enya alternates Irish Gaelic and English through her songs, with an ethereal quality. I’ve found the Celtic Woman specials on PBS to be entertaining; however, as angelic as their voices are, I sometimes prefer the less mixed/production sound for the simpler folk arrangements. Like The Irish Rovers, a band I grew up with watching their specials on TV in the 1970’s and singing along with my mom. Songs like “The Unicorn,” “The Orange and the Green,” “The Black Velvet Band,” “Gypsy Rover,” “Nancy Whiskey,” “Fields of Athenry” and “The Parting Glass.”

Photo credit: Free Celtic Clip Art depicting square celtic knot

And now that your ears are feasting, let’s move on to the food! In years past I have done either an Irish stew with colcannon or a corned beef/cabbage/potato casserole, served with traditional soda bread. For dessert I’ve baked an Irish Bailey’s wacky cake, a chocolate Guiness cake with Bailey’s frosting, or lime shortbread. Right now, I’m going to share my Irish Beef stew recipe. (For my colcannon recipe, see my post from Samhuinn here.)

Photo credit: Free clip art; celtic knot

“May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow. And may trouble avoid you wherever you go.”

Photo credit: Wikimedia; pint of stout

Irish Beef in Stout

Inspired by Traditional Beef in Ale recipe on ScotlandFor Visitors Website -

Ingredients:

1 lb stewing steak meat

1-2 Tbsp Olive or safflower oil

4-8 oz sliced baby portabello mushrooms

2 sprigs fresh Thyme (or use ½ tsp dried)

½ -1 sprig fresh Rosemary (or use ½ tsp dried)

1 red onion, chopped

~¼ bag of baby carrots (or 2 whole carrots) – peeled & diced

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp whole wheat flour

½ pint Stout Ale, which is ~10 oz (Guinness is ideal)

1 tsp soft brown sugar*

Parsley, if desired

*NOTE: adding sugar to the stout sauce is essential; in my experience cooking stout can turn it a bit bitter and it needs a sweet counterbalance. You are welcome to try liquid sweeteners, like maple syrup, and/or to adjust the sweetness to your particular liking. I suggest starting at the 1 tsp mark, tasting, and then tweaking upward as desired.

Directions:

Heat up the oil in a deep sided skillet. Brown meat on all sides and then remove. I use tongs to help turn the meat and move it around. After it’s browned, I place on heavy duty dinner plate.

Sauté mushrooms in remaining oil for a few minutes, adding in Thyme & Rosemary. When the mushrooms have decreased in size, given up most of their liquid, and browned a little, remove them from pan – then can go on same plate as meat.

Add a bit more oil if needed, and now sauté onions & carrots. May take ~5 minutes or a tad longer depending on the thickness of your carrot slices. Add garlic at very end when veggies are mostly tender.

Stir in flour and keep stirring; toast for 1-2 minutes.

Slowly pour in the stout, whisking or stiring briskly to prevent any flour lumps. Add in sugar and stir to melt & incorporate. When the sauce is uniform in color and thickening a bit, return the meat and mushrooms back into skillet. Stir well to coat in sauce.

Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer on low for 2 – 2½ hours, until meat is tender. Veggies should be fork tender. Taste sauce; season with salt and pepper as desired and add more sugar depending on your sweetness preferences.

Garnish with a sprinkling of fresh or dried Parsley. Serve with mashed potatoes - or even better, Colcannon (recipe here) - and a thick slice of Irish Soda bread.

VEGAN OPTION: I have not tried this dish without meat, but you could experiment with root veggies like turnips or parsnips. You could also use potatoes as the featured veggie (instead of the side dish) and simmer cubed potatoes in the sauce.

ALLERGENS: Contains wheat and mushrooms

ALLERGY ACCOMMODATIONS: The flour in the sauce is used to thicken, so it may be substituted with cornstarch, oat flour, arrowroot or whichever gluten-free option works for you. The mushrooms enhance the flavor and add a bit of texture, but they can be left out without a problem.

Cider Stew

Beef and veggies in cider gravy...

I just love Autumn – my favorite time of year. Crisp cool air, color-bursting leaves, earthy root veggies, crunchy leaves. And when I'm inspired the scent of simmering stews.

Autumn in Scotland, on the river (Photo credit: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/26110733/4)

 

In September I start craving apples, especially Honeycrisp and Jonathan variety. I want hot soups and thick stews and brown bread. And use the last of the summer rhubarb for bumbleberry crisp. Then in October I get fixated on pumpkins and stories about Halloween. I mash sweet potatoes and do the Monster mash, too.  Come November I get just as excited about what to create with leftover turkey as I do with the Thanksgiving feast. And pears are in season. December is all about baking, cookies, cardamom, rich dishes, and planning leftovers with ham. And cutie clementines. Darker evenings make homes seem cozier and I like to have simmering stockpots on the stove to delay turning up the heat.  With school back in session and scheduling getting kinda hairy with my sons' new activities - karate, chess, and trombone this year - it's nice to plan a hearty meal that doesn't need much attention and simmers slowly, patiently, while it waits for you to sit down, breathe deeply, and savor your food.


Today I'm sharing one of my family’s fall favorites. We really like the sweet tangy sauce and melt in your mouth beef.

The key to the fork tender meat lies in the essential braising before stewing. (Learned the hard way that boiled meat is as tough as and as tasteless as the tongue on a hiking boot.) The secret ingredient is the vinegar; it counters the sweetness of the cider and breaks down the meat fiber. This can be a meal in a bowl or serve with side salad and biscuits.

I adapted this recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens, New Cook Book, circa 1980’s (ISBN: 0-696-00011-3). 

Cider Stew

Chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, & celery in apple cider sauce

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs beef stew meat, cubed

3 Tbsp wholewheat flour

1 tsp kosher salt + ¼ tsp ground black pepper

½-1 tsp dried tarragon (or substitute with dried thyme)

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups fresh Apple Cider* (preferably from a local orchard)

½ cup water

2 Tbsp malt vinegar

3-4 medium potatoes, diced (or large handful of fingerlings)

4-8 oz baby carrots, cut in halves or thirds (for bitesize pieces)

1 small red onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced into thin crescent moons

2 cloves garlic, minced (or use a garlic press)

*NOTE: Only cider will do. Do NOT substitute with apple juice! Cider is made from the entire apple, pressed raw in a machine to extract juices, unfiltered and with no extra sugar added. Most cider makers use a blend of apples to balance out sweet & tart flavors.

Directions:

•  Get big freezer bag and carefully dump in flour, salt, pepper & herb. Seal bag completely and shake dry  mixture around to combine and somewhat coat the bag. Then drop in stew meat cubes, reseal, and shake to coat the meat pieces.

•  In big stock pot, heat up oil. Braise the meat. Probably easiest to do in 2 batches. Rotate the meat (I use tongs) to brown all sides. As meat is browned, remove to waiting plate. Replenish pot with uncooked meat until done. When all meat is browned on all sides, return all meat (and juices) to the stock pot.
• Add in the 2 cups of apple cider + ½ cup water. Stir with wooden spoon to ensure no meat is stuck on bottom of pot. If there is any flour mixture left in freezer bag, dump into pot & stir, then throw out bag. Add in 2 Tbsp of malt vinegar. Stir. Bring up heat to boiling point for liquid, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1¼ hours. Check on pot periodically and stir as needed.

This is stew meat simmering in the cider broth

• While meat is stewing, cut up the fresh veggies in bite-size chunks. I use approximate measures in the ingredients list; in general you want your chopped piles of potatoes, carrots & onions to be roughly equal. 

Veggies - red onion, celery, fingerlings, carrots

Veggies added to the pot with meat and cider broth

•  Add veggies & garlic into pot after the hour and a quarter cooking time. Add a bit more liquid (½ cup water, then ½ cup cider) only if needed to mostly cover veggies. This liquid makes your tasty sauce, but don’t turn it into a soup! Allow the veggies to simmer for about 30 minutes, until fork tender.

ALLERGEN INFO: Contains wheat

ALLERGY ACCOMMODATIONS: Substitute gluten-free flour or ground oats to coat meat before braising