I researched other recipes because I like this base and the flavors added guarantees an amazing turn out, and super easy! I added the following ingredients: 3 red potatoes diced, 1 celery stalk sliced, 6 oz tomato paste, 2 cloves garlic, 2 bay leaves, paprika, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauces, 1 cup organic beef stock, 4 slices bacon and a crock pot. You'll want to warm your crock pot before putting the stew in it. Take 1/3 cup flour (omit the 3 tablespoons vegetable oil) and place in gallon bag with meat, shake to coat and set aside. Cut bacon up and fry in pan with mix of butter and oil (1 tablespoon each). Remove bacon, save bacon fat in pan. Add meat and brown, add onions and saute with meat. Move meat, bacon and onions to crock pot. Deglaze hot pan with 1 can Guinness, 1 cup beef stock, and 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce, add to crock pot. Add all other ingredients and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Check the liquid level, I had to add a total of 2 more cups beef stock while it was stewing. The kicker, serve over Champ (mashed potatoes and green onions), and Irish soda bread (with raisins) to soak up the stew left in the bowl, there's no other way to get the full flavor! Enjoy!
This is a good stew base - the consistency of the gravy was perfect - but it lacked flavor. I would recommend adding your preferred blend of spices as well as a little sugar to balance it out.
This stew was the best! I only added half the beer it called for and added beef broth for the rest of the liquid. I filled the soup bowls with mashed potatoes and poured the stew on top. This will be the only way I make Stew from now on! Thank you so much:)
Awesome!! Made it for an irish-themed dinner and everyone loved it. Served it over Irish Champ and soda bread (both recipies from this site). Excellent! I don't like beer but it just gave it a nice flavor. Will use more beer next time actually. Definitely a keeper!
I make a similar stew to this. i use this entire recipe but Instead of throwing all the meat in at once, brown it in small batches and DON'T add flour until last few minutes of final batch. Then remove meat and brown about 1 cup of very finely chopped onions, carrots, and clove of garlic over medium heat about 5-7 minutes stirring often. Use some guiness to loosen up the brown bits in the pan and add meat back to the stew and continue. The meat will brown way better in small batches (patience) and give more flavor instead of steaming in it's juices when you crown the pan. The idea is: little bit of meat = drier heat & inside doesn't overcook + outside crusty. The roasted veggies add a deep flavor that I love in most stews. I think it's a key step. Vary the amount to your liking.
Great!! Very popular at the pot luck. We used 2 bottles of Guiness stout and a little extra cayenne salt and pepper.
This stew is delicious! Everyone (inlcuding me) raved about how wonderful the flavors were. I had to use dried thyme and a little extra beef but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. I served it in bowls on top of mashed potatoes with "Amazingly Easy Irish Soda Bread" (recipe on this site) to go with it. Incredible!
hey this recipe was great. even if you're not big on dark beer. I added about 2 bottles of guiness plus a can of vegitable stock. then added more root vegitbles turnips in our case. try with boston brown bread for dinner. this is now a permanent addition to my fall/winter menu.
I loved this recipe. I wanted to make my husband something fabulous for St. Paddy's day so I made this. It was so rich and tasty. We didn't have Guinness but had some Michelob AmberBock on hand and it worked so well! Also added fresh basil from the garden. Wonderful! I will definately make it again!
WOW!! I have rated and reviewed about 50 recipes on this site and this was the very first recipe that I have had an extremely negative review. I didn't care for this recipe. Couldn't doctor it up in any way to make it better. This recipe was just a complete waste of my money.