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Irish Stew with Guinness Beer.
There is nothing quite like a rich, dark beer to mellow your countenance. Something about that distinct, almost roasted, taste that helps you to focus and produce a new outlook on life. Perhaps that is why the Irish are so well known for being friendly and gregarious people with a keen lust for life--it's the beer. Guinness is the best known of the dark Irish brews and this recipe calls for a good 1 1/4 cups of it--this of course does not include what you consume both during the cooking and serving phase. Enjoy!
Ingredients
2 lb lean stewing beef
3 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp flour salt, freshly ground pepper and pinch of cayenne
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1 large clove garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp tomato puree, dissolved in 4 tbsp water
1 1/4 cups Guinness
2 cups carrots, cut into chunks
sprig of thyme
Trim the meat of any fat or gristle, cut into cubes of 2 inches and toss them in a bowl with 1 Tbsp oil. Season the flour with slat, freshly ground pepper and a pinch or two of cayenne. Toss the meat in this mixture.
Heat the remaining oil in a wide frying pan over a high heat. Brown the meat on all sides. Add the onions, crushed garlic and tomato puree to the pan, cover and cook gently for about 5 minutes. Transfer the contents of the pan to a casserole, and pour some of the Guinness into the frying pan. Pour onto the meat with the remaining Guinness; add the carrots and the thyme. Stir, taste, and add a little more salt if necessary. Cover with the lid of the casserole and simmer very gently until the meat is tender--2 to 3 hours. The stew may be cooked on top of the stove or in a low oven at 300 degrees F. Taste and correct the seasoning.
Scatter with lots of chopped parsely and serve with champ [a mashed potato dish], colcannon, or plain boiled potatoes.
Recipe source: "The Complete Book of Irish Country Cooking--Traditional and Wholesome Recipes from Ireland" by Darina Allen (Viking Penguin, 1996).
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