Irish Lamb & Guiness Stew

IRISH LAMB AND GUINNESS STEW

I tasted this recipe when I visited Ireland and have replicated it to cook at home. You can use beef in place of lamb if you prefer.

The great Irish Stew is easy to make but requires patience while it slow cooks! The Guinness Beer is the secret weapon ingredient in this, creating a sauce that has wonderful deep complex flavors. This is great made on the day but even better the day after!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2.5 lb / 1.25 kg lamb or beef chuck ,brisket or any other slow cooking meat
• 3/4 tsp salt
• Black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves , minced
• 2 onions , chopped (brown, white or yellow)
• 6 oz / 180g bacon , speck or pancetta, diced
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 x 440ml / 14.9oz can Guinness Beer (Note 1)
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 cups / 750 ml chicken stock/broth (or beef broth - Note 4)
• 3 carrots , peeled and cut into 1.25 cm / 1/2" thick pieces
• 2 large celery stalks , cut into 2cm / 1" pieces
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 sprigs thyme (or sub with 1 tsp dried thyme leaves)

Instructions

1. Cut the lamb into 5cm/2" chunks. Pat dry then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a heavy based pot over high heat. Add lamb in batches and brown well all over. Remove onto plate. Repeat with remaining meat
3. Remove pot from heat to cool slightly and lower heat to medium. If the pot is looking dry, add oil.
4. Return pot to heat, add garlic and onion. Cook for 3 minutes until softening, then add bacon.
5. Cook until bacon is browned then add flour. Stir flour into the mixture.
6. Add Guinness. Mix well (to ensure flour dissolves well) then add remaining ingredients and return beef into the pot (including any juices).
7. Add enough water so the beef & veggies are almost fully covered
8. Cover, bring to simmer then lower heat so it is bubbling gently. Cook for 2 hours - the lamb should be pretty tender by now. Remove lid then simmer for a further 30 - 45 minutes or until the meat falls apart at a touch and the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
9. Skim off fat on surface. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaves and thyme.
10. Serve with creamy mashed potatoes!!

Recipe Notes

1. Guinness Beer is a dark coloured rich Irish beer and it is the key flavouring for the sauce of this stew. You CANNOT taste it in the finished dish, it just melds into an amazing sauce. In Australia you can get Guinness at all major liquor stores.

There is no non alcoholic substitute unfortunately. If you cannot consume alcohol, substitute the Guinness with 2 cups water + 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce + 2 beef bouillon cubes crumbled. This will make it a classic Irish stew. Taste FAB, it just isn't Irish Guinness Stew!

2. Directions for Oven and Slow Cooker:

- OVEN: Cover and bake for 2 1/2 hours at 160C / 320F. Remove then cook for a further 30 - 45 minutes to reduce sauce, per recipe.
- SLOW COOKER: After you add the Guinness into the pot, bring to simmer and ensure you scrape the bottom of the pot well. Transfer to slow cooker. If there is residual brown bits on the pot, add a splash of water and bring to simmer, scraping the bottom of the pot then transfer into slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients per recipe. Cook on low for 8 hours.
- PRESSURE COOKER: Follow slow cooker instructions, cook on HIGH for 40 minutes (this might seem longer than most but we're using chuck here which needs to be cooked for a long time until tender and also the pieces are large).

3. Most recipes do not use flour or if they do, the recipe says to dust the lamb with flour before browning. I add flour because I like the sauce to be a bit like a thin gravy, not watery. I do not dust the lamb before browning because the flour has a tendency to stick to the pot and it burns, then that burnt flavour permeates throughout the stew.

4. Beef vs Chicken Broth - I use chicken broth because the flavour is slightly more mild which lets the guinness flavour come through more. But beef broth works just as well and you can definitely still taste the Guinness!!