Irish Stew

mahamageehad

Hi All!!

I'm just looking for some quick advice. It's my turn to host the dinner party on Tuesday this week. Every week someone takes a turn cooking food from their country for the group. So far we've had indian, african, jamacian, brazilian, french, spanish... It's a great idea!

Or it was a great idea.... until it became my turn!

Some background info- I'm an erasmus student in Germany. And I'm not a great cook- I'll eat what I make but I don't know if anyone else will! So any recipes for traditional Irish food? All I can think of is Beef and Guinness Stew.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tried and tested recipes? The group is about 15 people and I don't have a hell of a lot of money to spend. Also bear in mind that the meat here isn't great. And the last time I made stew I couldn't find proper stock cubes, just bouillon so it didn't actually thicken up. Every recipe I've looked up online involves covering the meat in flour and browning it then putting it in a casserole dish in the oven, but I always thought it was cooked from raw on the hob??

Many thanks in advance guys!

Kimia

If you can find shin of beef (ask your butcher) you should be able to get loads for very very cheap. It's an excellent cut for stews if slow cooked, it just falls apart in your mouth.

For me, beef and guinness stew is very simple. Sear the seasoned meat, set it aside. Sweat some onions in a big pan, pop in the meat, pour over the guinness and let it simmer away for hours. Throw in whatever else you want - potatoes (a must, but get waxy ones as the floury ones will fall apart), carrots, etc.

Enjoy!

Mellor

Kimia wrote: »

- potatoes (a must, but get waxy ones as the floury ones will fall apart), !

The secret is to use both, waxy ones to stay together, and some really floury ones so that fall apart and thicken up the stew

syklops

Im not in Germany, Im across the border in the Czech republic and I know what you mean about the beef meat not being great. As well as being poor quality, its also extremely expensive. I love to cook for people and host parties but even I would shy away from feeding 15 people based solely on the cost of the beef. Plus, if your german is anything like my Czech, I wouldn't relish the idea of going into a butchers looking for shin beef.

I have had success making the below dish with very lean pork which is very good quality and very cheap here.

I have attached my mothers recipe for guinness stew. I have used this recipe dozens of times and it works out great.

mahamageehad

Ok thanks all for the replies!

@Kimia-my German isn't great and I would be wary of going to a butchers simply as they're so ridiculously expensive here! But a very good idea and maybe worth a try if I can find a decent butchers- they are few and far between here, most people use supermarkets.

@Mellor thanks, thickening is the part that causes me the most problems!!!

@syklops Thanks for the recipe. Yes the beef is expensive but I thought that with a stew I could get away with really beefing it up with vegetables. :P The pork however is a really good idea. Normally I stay away from pork but a stew would sort the problem of its toughness. Just another question for you- how many does that recipe usually feed? Can dried herbs be subbed in for the bouquet garni- i have no idea where i'd get that! Instead of cooking it in the oven could it be cooked on the stove (student oven is tiny!!)? ANd finally I'm a little confused that there's no beef stock in it!! Would it not be very dry??
Any stew I've ever made of seen made kinda involved peeling all the veg and putting them, the meat, salt, pepper and parsley in a pot with oxtail soup and beef stock for about 3 hours. I'm guessing this was not a great way of doing it??

syklops

mahamageehad wrote: »

Ok thanks all for the replies!



@Mellor thanks, thickening is the part that causes me the most problems!!!

@syklops Thanks for the recipe. Yes the beef is expensive but I thought that with a stew I could get away with really beefing it up with vegetables. :P The pork however is a really good idea. Normally I stay away from pork but a stew would sort the problem of its toughness. Just another question for you- how many does that recipe usually feed? Can dried herbs be subbed in for the bouquet garni- i have no idea where i'd get that! Instead of cooking it in the oven could it be cooked on the stove (student oven is tiny!!)? ANd finally I'm a little confused that there's no beef stock in it!! Would it not be very dry??
Any stew I've ever made of seen made kinda involved peeling all the veg and putting them, the meat, salt, pepper and parsley in a pot with oxtail soup and beef stock for about 3 hours. I'm guessing this was not a great way of doing it??

What I do, is I dont put potatoes in it, instead I make mashed potatoes, and that means it goes a lot further, as when you are getting low on it you can give a bit more mash and be more frugal with the stew. With those measurements, it should feed 4-6.

Yes a sprinkle of herbs will do instead of a bouquet garni.

Using oxtail soup or beef stock is a grand way of making stew, but this is beef and guinness stew so the guinness, gives you the extra flavour you need so there is no need for stock.

You can cook it on the stove but I get the best results in the oven. If you do cook on the stove I recommend doing so at a low heat for a long time or the meat will become tough.

EDIT: You said thickening is often your problem, that wont be in this case. Thats why I put a half pint of water in, to stop it thickening too much.

mahamageehad

syklops wrote: »

What I do, is I dont put potatoes in it, instead I make mashed potatoes, and that means it goes a lot further, as when you are getting low on it you can give a bit more mash and be more frugal with the stew. With those measurements, it should feed 4-6.

Yes a sprinkle of herbs will do instead of a bouquet garni.

Using oxtail soup or beef stock is a grand way of making stew, but this is beef and guinness stew so the guinness, gives you the extra flavour you need so there is no need for stock.

You can cook it on the stove but I get the best results in the oven. If you do cook on the stove I recommend doing so at a low heat for a long time or the meat will become tough.

EDIT: You said thickening is often your problem, that wont be in this case. Thats why I put a half pint of water in, to stop it thickening too much.

Yes I had planned on making mash anyways! :P Ok perfect. So like rosemary, thyme and parsley. Like a spoon of each is it?? (You may have underestimated how clueless I actually am!! :P) Ok that's great thanks a million for your help! I'll be back to say if it was a disaster or not tomorow night!!!

irish_goat

Use Guinness Extra Stout and not draught Guinness as well. It'll taste better.

mahamageehad

irish_goat wrote: »

Use Guinness Extra Stout and not draught Guinness as well. It'll taste better.

Haha thanks Irish goat but tbh i'll be lucky if I even get cans of Guinness here!!! o.O

irish_goat

You should find it in one of the big supermarkets over there or at least find some sort of stout or porter. Failing that, an English ale would work. Or a bottle of dopplebock.

mahamageehad

Result!! After traipsing through about 12 different supermarkets I finally git 6 bottles of guiness extra stout!! Which leaves me with load of left over guinness but whats a girl to do!! :P

the beer revolu

BTW while beef and guinness stew may be a stew made with Irish (sort of) beer it is not Irish Stew

MissFlitworth

mahamageehad wrote: »

German isn't great and I would be wary of going to a butchers simply as they're so ridiculously expensive here! But a very good idea and maybe worth a try if I can find a decent butchers- they are few and far between here, most people use supermarkets.

I worked in an Irish Pub in the north of Germany for a while & we got all our beef & lamb from the local Turkish supermarket, loads of them have halal butchers in the back. Might be worth a gander if you haven't been in there already.

syklops

MissFlitworth wrote: »

I worked in an Irish Pub in the north of Germany for a while & we got all our beef & lamb from the local Turkish supermarket, loads of them have halal butchers in the back. Might be worth a gander if you haven't been in there already.

I wonder would that work for me....

MissFlitworth

syklops wrote: »

I wonder would that work for me....

It could defo be worth a look, we got all our meat from a Turkish butcher & bread from the adjoining Turkish bakery. My bosses were incredibly cheap as well so it must have been reasonably priced or it would have been tins of dog food in the irish stew instead!

Alun

Yes, lamb is not that popular in Germany (or Holland), and can cost a fortune even if you can find somewhere that sells it at all. Halal butchers are a great solution if you can find a good one.

Mellor

The way I've always looked at it

Beef and guinness stew is beef stew from ireland
Irish stew is a lamb stew from ireland

Bus77II

I've found that a couple of cans of peeled tomatoes 'fills out' the stews I do make. Dont tell anyone my secret!!!