Irish Beef and Guinness Stew

I'm not one to make New Year resolutions. Not necessarily because I think that self improvement should be a year-round thing. Maybe I agree with Tyler Durden's line from Fight Club, "Self-improvement is masturbation." (I joke, of course)

But I did promise to myself that I would try to experiment more frequently and get more content on this thing. I've been falling into a recipe-rut, where I make the same things pretty frequently. Granted I was trying out a pretty strict workout schedule for the past few months that didn't leave me much time when I get home from work. But that's over with, and I'm ready to get creative again.

That being said, this is a recipe that I spent some time on over the past few months, working from a recipe posted by a more established Austin food/recipe blogger. It was great because I could get it started before working out and let it simmer during the workout. And remember that I'm a big fan of braising/stewing.

Things that I learned while trying to get this recipe down pat:

1. Fattier pieces of stew-cut beef are ideal. If it's too lean, the meat gets too dry in the end. Some time I'll try some cut of beef that's not pre-diced and experiment with some chuck vs. round. I also want to try this with a more traditional Irish meat: lamb.
2. The more time you have, the better.
3. Parsnips are freaking delicious. It's like a cross between a carrot, a potato, and a turnip. They're especially great when roasted.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb beef. Stew cut, preferably not too lean
• All-purpose flour, to dredge the beef
• salt and black pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion chopped (large dice)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 pint of Guinness Extra Stout*
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 large carrots, cut into ~1/4" slices
• 3 parsnips, cut into ~1/4" slices
• 1 medium Russet potato. Scrubbed, peeled, diced to the same size as the carrots and parsnips

* I'm sure Guinness Draught works fine, but I always prefer drinking Extra Stout. I haven't tried cooking with the newly available Foreign Extra Stout, but it's a bit more hoppy and bitter than regular Extra Stout.


Procedure:


1. Season the beef with salt and pepper, and bring the olive oil up to medium-high heat in a Dutch oven. Take 1/3 of the seasoned beef, lightly coat the chunks with the flour, and brown them in the pot on both sides. When it's all browned, remove the meat from the pot and set aside. Continue with the next 1/3, and again until all of the beef is browned. Add more oil between batches, if necessary.

You break it up into 1/3 portions so that you don't overload the pot, dropping the surface temperature and screwing up the browning process.

2. Add the chopped onion, and more oil if you need it. Once the onion gets softer and more translucent, maybe 2 minutes, bring the beef back to the pot, and stir in the tomato paste. Let it all cook for 1 minute.

3. Pour in the Guinness and beef broth, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Add the caraway seeds and bay leaf, and more salt to taste. Turn the heat to high and bring the pot to a boil. Once it's boiling, turn the heat to low, cover it, and let it simmer for 1 hour.

4. Uncover the Dutch oven, bring the pot back to a boil on medium, and let it boil for 45 minutes.

5. Add the carrots, parsnips, and potato to the pot. Stir it well, and once the pot's back to a boil, cover it and bring the heat back to low. Let it simmer for 30 minutes, or however long it takes to get the root vegetables to your desired softness. I like my parsnips to still have a bit of firmness within.

Yields about 4 servings.