Guinness Beef Stew

Guinness beef stew is here for you this St. Patrick’s Day.  Like literally here for you: it could be your support system this weekend if you’ve imbibed a little too much and need hearty comfort food STAT.  Make this a day or two early-it only gets better with time-and you have the perfect make-ahead main dish for all your festivities.Truth be told, I really don’t like Guinness as a beverage.  But in this Irish beef stew, it works perfectly.  It adds a slight bitter note, which offsets the overall richness of the dish (there is bacon, bacon fat and rich beef after all!).  Also, have you ever had Guinness mixed with Framboise Lambic beer?  I have no idea what it’s officially called-a quick Internet search yielded quite a few different names-but it’s the only way I will drink Guinness.  It’s so fruity that you almost forget there’s a dark stout beer in there.   Bacon and tender beef chuck roast make this hearty and comforting, while the Guinness adds a yeasty bitter note to the stew.  The beef is tossed in flour before searing, which helps thicken the broth into a luscious, stick-to-your-ribs gravy.  You can add whatever vegetables you like, but I kept it simple with onions, carrots and mushrooms.  Some recipes call for potatoes, peas, and/or celery, so any of those added in would work! Despite the fact that this recipe takes about 2 hours to get on the table, your hands-off time is well over an hour of that so it’s pretty easy to get everything prepped and put together, giving you time to enjoy a glass of wine…or Guinness.  I like to serve this with crusty bread, or even better, a buttery beer bread (like the one I’m going to share tomorrow) to sop up the gravy.  Any recipe that has been braising/cooking for a long time needs something bright and fresh at the end, so add some parsley and green onions (for GREEN, obviously) to finish.  No danger of pinches here!

Also, is that the dumbest tradition or what?! Getting pinched is the worst.

[tasty-recipe id=”35465″]