Guinness Irish Stew with Beef

Hearty Guinness Irish stew to celebrate St. Patrick’s day! Tender beef and vegetables smothered in a finger-licking Guinness stout gravy.

IRISH BEEF STEW WITH GUINNESS

Have you ever tried cooking with stout or beer? If not, you should definitely start by making this beef Guinness Irish stew. Those tender beef pieces, that amazingly rich and flavorful gravy… you will probably have to cook a double batch because everybody will go for seconds.

What can be more comforting than a rich warming stew? I cook lots and lots of stews, from the famous Hungarian beef goulash to chicken paprikash with dumplings, rabbit stew, sausage stews or vegetable stew.

I must say, that during the cold time of the year, I make one sort of stew or another on an almost weekly basis. Stews are always easy to make, rather cheap (unless you go for lamb stew), and everybody loves a good stew. There is no guessing there, a stew is reliable, every day, comfort food.

INGREDIENTS

Guinness:

• What sets an Irish beef stew apart from the other stew recipes? The inclusion of the well-known dark Guinness, which you can enjoy in any Irish pub around the world. The iconic Irish beer or stout is dark, thick, creamy, and really like no other kind of beer.
• The alcohol will evaporate during the long cooking time, all that’s left of it is the intense flavor and incredible richness in the sauce.
• I can only buy it in liquor stores, in 4 or 6-packs around here, but it keeps for quite a while, so I am sure to make the Irish beef stew at least twice every time I buy a pack of stout.
• You could also make an incredible Guinness chocolate cake. Nigella Lawson’s Guinness cake is a regular in our house as well.

Meat:

• The Guinness Irish stew can be made with lamb or beef. I like both versions, but as beef is usually not as expensive as lamb, I go for beef most of the time and keep the lamb for making Romanian lamb stew, for instance.
• Chuck beef is a part of meat cut from the neck, shoulder blade and upper arm of the beef.
• It has a lot of connective tissues, which make it a very good choice for stews.
• The long cooking process tenderizes this rather tough cut and the fat content ensures flavorful results.

Vegetables:

• Onions, garlic, carrots, and celery.
• Many people add potato cubes to the Irish beef stew as well, but I prefer not to do it, and serve the stew with boiled or mashed potatoes on the side.

TIPS FOR MAKING GUINNESS STEW

The pot:

• Use a thick-bottomed pot to make the beef stew, something like a cast-iron Dutch oven is the best kind of dish to use for a good stew.

Cut the beef:

• Cut the chuck across the grain into relatively large chunks.
• The Guinness stew recipe needs to simmer for a long time in order to develop that incredible rich flavor, and if the pieces of meat are too small, they will cook to soon and kind of disintegrate in the sauce.
• I cut the beef in cubes that are approximately 3 cm/ 1.2 inches large.

Flour the beef cubes:

• Tossing the beef cubes with a small amount of flour before browning has several advantages: it adds depth of flavor to the dish, the beef cubes will have a nice roasted crust and the flour will help thicken the sauce of the stew.

Fry the meat in batches:

• Brown the meat in batches, the more the better. I have a large pan, but I still need 3-4 batches to cook this amount of stewing meat.
• I know that it takes its time, but it is really worth it when making stew or goulash. Just think about the fact that after you’ve done that and added the rest of the ingredients to the pot, there will not be much more for you to do, except a bit of stirring.
• If you overcrowd the pan the beef cubes will never get nicely browned, too much juice will be released and the beef will cook in its own juices rather than being browned.
• Don’t clean the pot after frying the meat, those darker bits will impart more flavor into the stew.

HOW TO SERVE GUINNESS STEW?

• The stew can be made in advance and then reheated. Just like all stews, this Guinness stew tastes even better the next day.
• That means, that you can reheat leftovers for several days in a row.
• The Guinness Irish stew is also suitable for freezing. Place into freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator and reheat slowly.
• As mentioned above, I love to serve the Irish beef stew with boiled or mashed potatoes.
• Another great option is soda bread, a typical Irish bread made without yeast.
• And if you are in the mood for more Irish food for St. Patrick’s Day, you could try this melt-in-mouth Irish lamb stew or these comforting and delicious Colcannon or Irish cabbage and potato dish.

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