Kelly and Garry Brown
Kelly and Garry Brown have run Brown’s Brewing Company together since 1990, and remain committed to supporting local farms in their beer, their taprooms and their home kitchen.
Kelly Brown, of Brown's Brewing Company, created this bone-warming Beef Stew using farm-to-table ingredients and Brown's Oatmeal Stout.
About this recipe
Kelly Brown says of the dish: “This recipe is an offshoot of Julia Child’s beef bourguignon, but since we’re brewers, we substitute beer instead of wine. It makes for a hearty, wonderful stew. Oatmeal Stout is a good beer for cooking because it has more malt and less hoppiness. It doesn’t get bitter when you reduce it in cooking. Cherry Rasp- berry Ale is another good cooking beer because it renders down nicely and isn’t overly hopped. The sweetness comes through.”
Instructions
Serves 6
5 strips of quality bacon
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef (I love Berle Farm beef )
5 carrots, sliced lengthwise
4 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 (12-ounce) bottle Brown’s Oatmeal Stout
2–3 cups beef bouillon or stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, mashed
1 bay leaf, crumbled
1⁄2 teaspoon thyme
24 fresh mushrooms, quartered
20 small white pearl onions, parboiled and skins removed (or quartered small onions)
Preheat oven to 400°.
Sauté bacon in olive oil until just lightly brown. Remove to a side dish. Save bacon fat in pan. Cut into 2-inch chunks when cool.
Pat beef chunks dry (if wet, beef will not brown properly). Place chunks in pan with bacon fat and sear on all sides until nicely browned. Remove to side plate.
Cook carrot slices in bacon fat until browned. Remove to side plate. Cut into smaller chunks when cool.
Toss beef with flour, salt and pepper to coat lightly. Set in 8-quart Dutch oven or casserole dish uncovered in middle of preheated oven for 4 minutes. This step browns the flour and covers the beef in a light crust. Remove casserole and reduce oven heat to 325°.
Stir in oatmeal stout and beef stock or bouillon so that meat is covered. Add tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon chunks. Cover Dutch oven or casserole and return to oven. 11⁄2 hours into cooking, add the mushrooms, carrots, par- boiled onions. Cook low and slow for 3 hours or until beef is tender when pierced with a fork.
The stew is delicious served over egg noodles or with good bread to sop up the gravy.
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