Irish Canadian Beef Stew - February 26, 2009

This recipe is named this way because Haitian or Chinese Canadians would
probably have a different idea and recipe for their beef stew. This is not a
gourmet recipe. This recipe is designed to be inexpensive while still tasting
good. My family would usually eat stew once per week. This is not my family's
recipe. This is a recipe I developed myself over time, but it still reminds me
of eating supper on Sunday night with my family. This is an adaptation of
Irish stew made with lamb. In Ireland lamb was cheap, and in Canada beef is
much cheaper than lamb. I'm aware of a French Canadian version that uses pork.

A gourmet version of this would use three colours of pearl onions, three
colors of baby potatoes, and more expensive meat. The flavor would be almost
identical. A lamb version would use lamb or chicken stock instead of beef
stock.

Ingredients:

1kg beef, cut in bite size pieces
	Get the least expensive cut you can find. I found french inside round
	steak was less expensive than stewing meat, and had less fat, however
	this cut loses a lot of water during frying, and so I think stewing
	beef is more economical. The meat will not be tough after cooking for
	2 hours.
1oz of beef fat, or 1oz bacon fat, or 2 tablespoons olive oil.
1/4 cup flour
2 cups beef stock
3 cups vegetable stock
1 medium white (or yellow, or brown) onion, peeled and diced
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in bite size pieces
4 carrots, peeled and cut in bite size pieces
1 medium turnip, peeled and cut in bite size pieces
1/2 cup pearl barley, or dry vegetable soup mix (split peas, lentils, beans)
1 can/bottle Guinness beer (optional)
	Do _not_ substitute with wine or Budweiser. Substitute with 1 1/2 cups
	of vegetable stock.
1 piece of garlic, diced
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or a 1/2 teaspoon dry thyme)
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Remove the fat from the beef. In a large pot melt 1 ounce of the fat on low
heat for 5 minutes, or until it has liquefied. Do not cover the pot, and be
careful not to burn the fat. If the fat burns, wash the pot and start over.
Remove any solid pieces that remain. I freeze leftover fat, and bones, for
future use. If you do not have beef fat, then use bacon fat or olive oil.

Heat the beef and vegetable stock. While the stock is heating, increase heat
on the pot with the beef fat to medium, and add the beef cubes to the pot.
Brown the beef on all sides, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. If you find
the meat is losing a lot of water, increase the heat to high and boil off the
water. When almost all the water is gone, reduce heat back to medium. The
purpose in browning the meat is to fry it, which adds flavor. Then add the
onions, stir, and fry the onions for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots,
turnip, salt and pepper. Stir the pot, add the flour in small batches,
stirring between, and distribute the flour evenly on all the meat and
vegetables. The flour will thicken the stock, but must be cooked first so it
loses it's starchy flavor. Add the garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.

Add the stock, Guinness, thyme, bay leaves, and pearl barley. Bring to boil,
then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Stir every 30
minutes. After one hour, taste and adjust the salt as needed. The cover can be
removed in the last 30 minutes if you want a thicker stew.

Serve with bread.

Robert