We celebrated our fourth Progressive dinner a few weeks ago with our lovely neighbours. During the last dinner the boys dreamed up our next theme: Beer! I was lucky enough to be next up for the main course so I was excited because I don’t often cook with beer and I don’t often make stew; I was thinking Guinness Stew!
We started at house one with a variety of beer cheeses and beer candied bacon (definitely on my list to make!), they also served a delicious Steam Whistle Butternut Squash Soup garnished with bits of the candied bacon and a splash of cream, very tasty indeed. Then of course it was our place and then at the third house we enjoyed dessert which was a fantastic Beer Brownie, it was definitely moist and flavourful. All of the dishes were wonderful and the company was great. We’ve even determined our next theme: Mad Men! We’re going to have fun with that as far as I could tell, all they did was eat cake and drink. Should be an interesting party!
Guinness is by far my favourite beer; thick, creamy, caramel tones and even a little liquorish flavours are a perfect pairing with the hearty, earthy beef. My friend Angela (of Titanic Anniversary, Truman Capote’s Black and White, James Bond 60th Anniversary dinner parties) served up this Beef and Guinness Stew for the Bond party and I knew it would be the recipe I wanted to make. Plus it has Guinness in it. Did I mention it has Guinness in it?
I made this stew the day before because stews always taste better the next day and I would urge you to do the same. JT confessed he likes this stew better than his Bœuff Bourguignon! Make sure you refrigerate overnight and then bring it to room temperature before you reheat. I also added carrots because one of our neighbours is not a mushroom eater so I wanted another vegetable in it and it tastes and looks amazing. I used eye of round which is a rather tough cut of beef, but I wanted to bake it longer at a lower temperature and I wanted a meat that would stand up; it was amazing, totally fork tender keeping its shape for serving. I also added a bit of beef stock when I reheated because the sauce thickened up a bit too much, use your own discretion on how thick or watery you want your sauce to be. Guinness’ website offers up a recipe that looks very watery but it’s entirely up to you.
Guinness Beef Stew
Serves 6-8 (it’s a filling meal, so you may even get 9 out of it!)
(original recipe is by Executive chef John Cordeaux of The Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto as published in Canadian Living) I have altered the original recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 lb (907 g) eye of round beef roast, trimmed and cut into 5-8 cm (2-3″) cubes (I like bigger chunks of meat, serving size is 2-3 per person
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetabIe oil
- 6 slices chopped bacon
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
- 1 medium Vidalia onion, finely sliced
- 4 cups (1 L) small mushrooms, either halved (if large) or whole (if small)
- 2 cups carrots, sliced in 2-3 cm (1.5″) chunks
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) tomato paste
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) all purpose flour
- 1 can (440ml) Guinness draught beer
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) grainy mustard (I made my own here)
- 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
- 1/4 tsp (1 mL) white pepper
- 1 cup of beef stock (to be added when reheating the stew)
- Fresh Rosemary to garnish
Directions:
- In ovenproof Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown the beef in batches, transferring to bowl using slotted spoon (don’t drain, you’ll want the liquid from the beef too).
- Once the meat has been browned and removed, cook the bacon until crisp, 5 to 8 minutes; remove bacon with slotted spoon to a piece of paper towel to drain and then reserve.
- Drain off the pan fat and melt the butter over medium head. Add the onions and sweat until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Reserve the mushrooms (I was concerned that they would over cook over the 3 hours in the oven).
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook continually stirring for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook stirring for another minute. Whisk in Guinness, grainy mustard, salt and pepper until smooth.
- Return beef and bacon and juices to the pan, cover and bake at 250°F (121° C) until beef is tender, about 2.5-3 hours.
- In the meantime, peel and cut carrots into chunks. Roast on a cookie sheet for about 1 hour (not 100% done).
- When beef is cooked, add the carrots and mushrooms and allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until day of serving.
- Remove beef from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature (2-3 hours).
- Pre heat the oven to 200°F (93° C). On the stove top, warm beef slowly to boiling, adding beef stock as required. Fold instead of stirring to avoid breaking apart the meat.
- Cover and put into the oven until ready to serve.
- Serve with Cauliflower Celeriac “Mashed Potatoes” and a Butter Biscuit (recipe).
Note: Don’t be concerned that the stew might be bitter, the long cooking process, sweet tomato paste and onions certainly round out what ever bitterness there may have been. Allowing to rest overnight also helps round out the flavours.
WOW! What an amazing stew! It looks so hearty!
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Thanks Amber.
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Wow! I must make this stew…it sounds amazing!!!
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Thanks Liz, it was fantastic, definitely recommended.
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Eva, I have to agree with JT. Some of those French foods are not AS good as they are cranked up to be. French cuisine would not even exist without the Italian infusion. OK I said it even if I am beaten with a wet noodle it is the truth. Your parties sound REAL fun.
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Thanks so much Zsuzsa, we are indeed very fortunate to have such lovely neighbours that we want to spend more than just a greeting with them. They all love to cook and it’s such a pleasure sharing food with them.
Yes, the French do have some complicated dishes that sometimes are not quite worth the effort, but I wouldn’t beat you with a wet noodle over it ;-)!
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Are your neighbors on the same block? I’d love to have progressive dinners but alas, one of us couldn’t enjoy the wine, we live so far apart. I would love to do this.. there is so much snow here, a big bowl of your Guinness stew would warm this Irish lass’ heart! Do you think it would work as a slow cooker recipe??
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Hi Barbara, yes indeed our neighbours are directly beside and across from us, so drinking is not a problem (well, perhaps only the next day!)
Yes, I do think it would work in a slow cooker but I would definitely sear the meat before adding it to the slow cooker. Perhaps the final hour, I would cook it without the lid or half closed so that the liquid really thickens up. I will try this again using the slow cooker and hopefully remember to email you with the results. Do let me know how it works out for you if you try it too.
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Thanks so much, let me know if you do try the slow cooker and I’ll do likewise!
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I agree with Kristy, Eva. Your Progressive Dinners are a wonderful idea. I’ve got a few cans of Guinness and have been thinking of making a stew, now that cooler weather is definitely here to stay. Your recipe looks like a great one to follow. You won me over by using large chunks of beef. One look at that photo and you can see why I prefer them. That is one gorgeous serving of stew. 🙂
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Thank you so much John. The size of the meat is one of the things I’ve picked up from restaurant service, they may only serve two or three pieces but they are substantial. Plus I find that when they are that big the chances of them cooking to falling apart becomes far less, particularly in cases where I am reheating as I did for the day of the dinner.
Yes we are rather fortunate to have such lovely neighbours who enjoy these dinners as much as we do. I really hope you give this stew a try, and please do send me a note of how you enjoyed (or didn’t) it. Like I mentioned, JT has said that he prefers it to his Bœuff Bourguignon which was the standing winner bar none!
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I just love your progressive dinners. It’s such a fun idea. I may use it someday after the kids are older. Your stew looks delicious, but now you know, we’re not big Guinness drinkers. 😉 Still I wouldn’t turn it down! And I do hope you try the beer candied bacon. Yum!
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Hi Kristy, the stew doesn’t have the distinct Guinness flavour but through the slow cooking it concentrates down to a gorgeous, rich, dark broth that is most delicious. I would encourage you to make it, I highly doubt you would be disappointed. Try dunking Miss A’s favourite bread into it!
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[…] « Guinness Beef Stew with Butter Biscuits; Progressive Dinner #4, Beer […]
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Hi Eva, you have succeeded in the elusive skill of making stew look incredibly appetizing on camera. It doesn’t matter how tasty it is, or even how tasty it looks on the plate in “real life”, I find stew a very hard thing to make look good in photos, so well done! It sounds wonderful and I’m definitely a huge fan of guinness (or other stouts) stew. I didn’t try it with biscuits before… usually I serve it with dumplings which is also good!
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Dear Charles, you don’t know how good your comment just made me feel, thank you! I know you’ve been busy with the move and travelling to your new home so I’ll give you a quick recap of what’s been going on and then my response will make more sense!
You knew that I’m a free agent at this time and although I am actively searching for employment in my profession, I am also exploring another option: to be a food stylist! I have been assisting with stylists in Toronto for about a month now (not consistently) and have a seven day gig booked for a prestigious magazine in early December, so you see why your comment put me on top of the world! Thank you! I’m starting to believe that I will be able to make a living from this!
The Guinness stew and similar English stews are often served with puff pastry tops here, so a biscuit wasn’t a far reach.
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Aah, I wish you the best of luck – do keep us posted on how it turns out for you… how exciting! 😀
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Thank you so much Charles.
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i JUST got back from ireland and now you’re making me miss it even more. dammit eve! this looks scrumptious
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Lucky you Jen! You should try this stew, it’s quite delicious!
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This stew looks amazing and I know the Guiness adds such a richness to the stew…really lovely, Eva. I’m intrigued by the beer brownies, too and could see that easily with some of the chocolate/coffee toned craft brews these days. What fun!
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Thank you kindly Betsy. That stew recipe is definitely going on our repertoire list, it’s a keeper!
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I love your progressive dinners. I always get good ideas from you and this Guinness stew is no exception. It sounds terrific.
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Thank you kindly Maureen, I’m very flattered.
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Your beef stew sounds fantastic. Love the slow cook method. Noticed you did not have any butter in your Cauliflower Celeriac “Mashed Potatoes”, very healthy indeed.
P.S. I think you meant 200 F (cooking instruction 9)
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Hi Norma, the stew is rather rich and filling particularly with the butter biscuit so I did indeed leave out butter intentionally. Thank you for catching the error, I’ll fix it right away.
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A Guiness beef stew should definitely be added to my cooking bucket list. I like Guiness but can only drink half a pint before it gets too rich for me but in a stew that shouldn’t be a problem.
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Hi Maria, the long cooking time at a low temperature sure mellowed out the beer and made it a richly flavoured sauce. I can drink a pint but I usually do it over an hour, it is rather filling as you mentioned.
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Oh now this does sound (and looks) delicious!
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Thank you very kindly Lizzy.
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Eva, I am also a big fan of Guinness! Do you know we are very rare women to enjoy it? I have had last week an extraordinary dark beer in Germany that was even better than Guinness…
This stew would be perfect for the weekend when I prepare my Guinness gingerbread 😉 I could make a Guinness party. Frankly it looks delicious.
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That’s rather interesting Sissi, no I was not aware of that. Personally not a fan of the golden beers, my favs are the rich dark ones like Guinness, yet another similarity you and I share. I would love to taste that German beer you mentioned. We have a local brewery that makes a coffee beer that’s quite delightful too.
Do post your Guinness gingerbread, that may have made a rather interesting substitution for the butter biscuit.
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I want that beef stew!!! Looks so flavoursome and tasty.
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Thank you kindly Angie, it sure was tasty.
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I love the sound of these progressive dinners, Eva – what a great social time. And your Guinness stew looks amazing. This must be so rich and full of flavour xx
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Thank you Charlie, I’m always so pleased that we get on so well with our neighbours. It’s a great get together for sure. Indeed the stew was quite rich with flavour,!its definitely going on my list for the future for sure.
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