St. Patrick’s Day is around the corner. If your thoughts travel to corned beef and cabbage, we’ve got great recipes for you. If you’re looking for something a bit different, consider this very Irish beef and stout stew.
You’ll have most of these ingredients on hand: onions, carrots, garlic, leeks. You might need to pick up beef broth and stout (we used Guinness here), and of course, beef. And then you’re off to the kitchen.
Oftentimes, stew beef comes out tough and chewy, no matter how long you simmer it. Here, boneless chuck cooks down to soft, tender and yielding. It’s how every stew meat ought to taste.
Spend a few minutes the night before prepping the meat to marinate overnight in the beer. Then, when you’re ready to cook, drain the meat, reserving the liquid. I love the frugality and waste-nothing aesthetic of this stew; the stout in which the beef spends the night adds depth of flavor to the stew later, so don’t pour it down the drain.
Searing the meat in batches to brown it will be the fussiest thing you’ll have to do here. Once all the ingredients come together, you simmer the stew uncovered for a few hours, until the sauce is thick and flavorful.
Feel free to improvise and add vegetables of your choosing: parsnips, potatoes, rutabaga — whatever you’re craving come this March 17 holiday.
If you can, let the stew sleep in the fridge overnight — the flavors will deepen and develop, and the result will be even more delicious. And, while buttered egg noodles are not a traditional accompaniment, they complement the quiet yet rich flavors of tender beef and warming sauce as if to whisper, “We were born for this.”