Paul’s Guinness Beef Stew
I’m excited to have my second ever Guest Chef on BeatsEats, my husband Paul. Although he has Souz Chef’ed many of my recipes, this one is all his own. A favorite slow cooked meal, rich and savory, Paul’s Guinness Beef Stew is comfort food to the max. He serves it over roasted potatoes for a crunchy contrast to the tender beef, vegetables, and silky gravy.
The recipe takes all day to slow cook but overall a relatively easy meal to make. He’s made it on low heat over the stove (ready in 3-4 hours), or in the crock-pot as shown here (more like 5-6 hours).
Alright, lets get started! For today’s meal, Paul uses a grass fed beef chuck roast. It’s a nice 4 pound piece of meat and beautifully marbled.
He trimmed off some of the excess fat with a sharp knife and cut the beef into about 2 inch cubes.
The meat was then seasoned with salt and ground pepper, and coated with a light dusting of flour.
Now we’re really ready to get cooking! He seared each piece of beef on a hot pan with oil. It’s important to get a nice char of each side for the flavors to really come out in the slow cooker. Make sure you have enough room in the pot so that the meat browns instead of just steaming.
Once the meat has been charred all around, set them aside, dump out the extra oil from the pan, and add diced onions, celery, and carrots.
Season with salt and crushed peppers, and allow to caramelize for a few minutes before adding finely chopped garlic.
Since the garlic cooks faster than the other vegetables, it’s a good idea to wait to add so they don’t burn.
Next, Paul added some tomato paste to the pan for another flavor punch. After a few minutes of stirring and melding of flavors, the vegetables are ready to go!
Paul combined the vegetables and beef in the slow cooker.
Gave it a can of Guinness (my favorite part!)…
Nestled in some bay leaves and thyme….
…and put a lid on it. And turned the temperature to high! For 5-6 hours!
After a few hours, the whole house starts smelling like the amazing stew. Every 30 minutes or so, we’d come and take a look at the meat, anxious for it to finish cooking. Careful not to leave the top off for too long as it will just increase the cooking time!
About 45 minutes before serving time, is a good time to start on the potatoes. Paul loves roasted potatoes with this dish. Another favorite is mashed potatoes. Or even a big chunk of crusty bread works too. Whatever you like!
Paul roasted diced potatoes with salt, pepper, olive oil and rosemary, until they were nice and golden. “Crunchy on the outside, yet soft in the inside to soak up the stew.” Direct quote from the chef himself! 🙂
After about 6 hours of cooking in the crock-pot, the beef was super tender and moist, and starting to fall apart when poked at. The vegetables still held their shape and color, and the liquids were silky and smooth.
Paul served the Guinness Stew and Potatoes separately and allowed the guests to help themselves to individual bowls. This way the potatoes stayed crunchy and everyone could customize their own ratio.
Paul’s Guinness Stew is a cold weather (or really any weather!) comfort food and he enjoys making it from friends, family, and Irish holidays.
Thanks Paul for sharing the recipe!