Talk to any Irish Mama or Grandmother, and she probably has an Irish stew recipe. For the most part, they are all good. Hot, hearty stew on a cold, damp night just can’t be beat. I’m one of those weird people who can eat it in the summer time also. It’s just that good. Besides, that is what air conditioning is for!
But for a stew to really be Irish stew, there is one thing it has to have: Guiness. Otherwise it’s just stew.
Pull 2 pounds of beef cubes out of the fridge and let sit 30 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Heat a large Dutch oven over med-hi and melt a half-stick of butter. Toss in 1 lb peeled and quartered Yukon gold potatoes, 1 lg sweet onion, chopped, and 4 peeled chopped carrots. Cook and stir several minutes until vegetables start to get soft. Spoon them into a bowl and set aside.
Pour 2T vegetable oil into the Dutch oven. When shimmering, add the meat and brown it all over. Add 4 big garlic cloves, minced, to the pot. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Spoon in 2T tomato paste, cooking and stirring until all the meat is coated with it. Add 2t sugar (to offset the acidity), 1T dried thyme and 2t dried Rosemary. Shake in several dashes of Worcestershire Sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour in 2C Guinness (draught) and use it to deglaze the pot, stirring up browned bits from the bottom. Pour in 32 oz beef broth and toss in a couple of bay leaves. Bring to the boil.
Turn heat down to low and simmer for about an hour. Sauce should be reducing and thickening. Add the veggies from earlier, and simmer for 30 minutes more. Fish out the bay leaves and serve it hot. The stew not the bay leaves. Throw the bay leaves out.
Ya know what goes great with this? Irish Soda Bread. Of course!
It’s never too hot for Irish Stew!
Love, Grammy ❤
I am totally going to try this!
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It is really delicious! I know you don’t really do beef; I guess you could try it with pork, although I never have. The Guiness is what makes this authentic!
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I’ll try it with beef and then with pork at a later time!
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When you use the pork remember to add more fat…. olive oil, butter, whatever. It has less fat and is easier to burn than beef.
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