Good old stout beer. Infused in a gravy stew, it’s hard to beat.
My Englishman is adorable. He’s grateful for every meal served and doesn’t complain (most of the time he has no need to, to be fair)! I’ve been making regular ‘Sunday roast’ type dinners to mark the end of each busy DIY weekend on the section lately, so I am up on brownie points. In fact, I’m quite enjoying the process!
He had been reminiscing about a delicious Irish stew he’d enjoyed many years ago…that taste! So, I did my best to replicate it based on (a) I had bought gravy beef the week before because mince had sold out (b) I had a batch of homemade vegetable stock in the fridge as I wasn’t letting my food scraps go to waste (c) a packet of good old King soup mix was in my lockdown supplies and (d) the local 4 Square seemed to have an eclectic offering of beer and if I was lucky, could find something vaguely English-ish. My luck was in….a bottle of stout (made in Australia, shhh) but thick and dark as all good stout should be.
So, here’s it is.
Stout Beef Stew
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
- 700g gravy beef
- oil, to fry
- onion, finely chopped
- Kings soup mix (I used bacon & corn, but any flavour will do)
- 3/4 litre of vege stock
- 3/4 bottle of stout
- 1 tin of tomatoes including the juice
- 1-2 carrots, grated
- any vegetables you can find in the fridge
- salt & pepper
- 2 Tbsp Hot Chilli Relish
- dough boys
Method
- Cut as much gristle and fat off the gravy beef as you can. It isn’t quality meat but after slow-cooking it will be dreamy and tender. Dice into small pieces, then put in a fry-pan with a little oil to brown the sides.
- Part way through browning, throw in the onions and saute in the oil and juices until soft.
- Remove both and put in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan.
- Add soup mix, pour over vegetable stock, tomatoes, carrot and any vegetables you can find.
- Pour in a generous amount of stout. Season with salt and pepper. Taste, add more stout!
- For extra kick, and Hot Chilli Relish.
- Simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring regularly so the soup mix doesn’t settle, stick and burn on the bottom of the saucepan! Add water if required, depending on the consistency you wish.
- If you are a dumpling-lover, add dough boys half an hour before serving. Submerge them in the stew and cover.
- Enjoy! It’s perfect the day after too as all the flavours just improve with time, and great for freezing leftovers too.
