Room with a Stew

I have been mak­ing this for years — a per­fect fall and win­ter dish — and recently refined it to come up with this version.

I do not dredge meat in flour any more before adding it to a braised dish after read­ing in Cook’s mag­a­zine (Cook’s mag and their cook­books are bibles to me) that this inhibits brown­ing and carameliza­tion, both of which are key when deglaz­ing the pan for a sump­tu­ous sauce.

Beef Beer Stew

Using beer in stew makes it a “daube” in French cui­sine and is a bril­liant trick. I like to cut the beef in amor­phous, fairly large chunks rather than neat cubes. For beer, Guin­ness works well. Cook­ing this in the oven seems to add rich­ness and depth — it also eas­ier to keep the slow sim­mer con­stant this way. Use more mush­rooms, if desired.

2 tbsp but­ter
4 tbsp veg­etable oil
3 onions, cut in thin wedges
4 car­rots, cut in chunks
2½ lb (1.25 kg) stew­ing beef, cut in pieces
Salt and pep­per
12-oz (341 mL) bot­tle amber or dark beer
28-oz (796 mL) can toma­toes, undrained, chopped
½ tsp each: dried oregano, dried thyme
Salt and pep­per to taste
8 oz (250 g) mush­rooms, thickly sliced
Chopped fresh pars­ley or cilantro

Heat 1 table­spoon each of but­ter and oil in large oven­proof saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and car­rots. Cook, stir­ring occa­sion­ally, about 15 min­utes or until begin­ning to colour. Reduce heat to low and cook about 10 min­utes more or until ten­der and golden brown. Trans­fer to bowl; wipe saucepan.

Sprin­kle beef lightly with salt and pepper.

Heat 2 table­spoons of oil in saucepan over high heat. Add beef; cook in batches in sin­gle layer until well browned all over. Trans­fer to bowl with onion mixture.

Pre­heat oven to 325F (160C).

Add beer to saucepan. Bring to boil, scrap­ing up any browned bits from bot­tom and sides of saucepan. Boil about 3 min­utes or until slightly thick­ened. Add onion mix­ture and beef along with toma­toes, oregano and thyme. Bring just barely to a boil.

Cover and cook in oven or on very low heat on top of stove about 2 hours or until meat is fork-tender. Taste; add salt and pepper.

Heat remain­ing table­spoon each of but­ter and oil in large skil­let over medium-high heat. Add mush­rooms. Cook, stir­ring occa­sion­ally, about 5 min­utes or until browned. Stir into stew. Gar­nish with parsley.

Makes about 6 servings.