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EggSperiment-Beef & Guinness Stew & Irish Soda Bread

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jfm0830
jfm0830 Posts: 987
edited April 2014 in EggHead Forum
I love it when I unexpectedly find myself home alone with nothing on my schedule. Such was the case recently and I decided to make Guinness Beef Stew and Irish Soda Bread from recipes I saw on Cook's Country TV. I had intended to make them for St. Patrick's Day but that didn't happen. When I suddenly found myself with the afternoon free I knew it was time to EggSperiment. After a quick trip to the market for a Chuck Roast I began. This recipe was interesting on several counts. It used chuck roast instead of some of the cuts sold as stew beef. It didn't brown the beef. Instead it browned the aromatics and let the beef braise partially covered which served to brown the beef on the fly as the stew cooked. Lastly they added 2/3 of the Guinness at the start and 1/3 at the end which they said prevented the Guinness lending a excessively bitter flavor to the stew. 

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The 4 pound chuck roast was cut into 1 1/2" cubes.





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The ingredients are gathered out by Egg #1 which has been preheated to 325 with the s/s grill grid and the BGE Dutch oven inside. We have the Guinness Draught, flour,chicken broth, diced onions, tomato paste, veggie oil, garlic, brown sugar and thyme.





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The onions were sautéed for about 8 minutes.





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The tomato paste & garlic were added in and cooked briefly.





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The flour was added & stirred briskly for several minutes.





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The chicken broth, brown sugar, thyme and 2/3 of the Guinness being used were added in and simmered for an 30 minutes or so to thicken the broth.





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The chunks of beef were added in and cooked at 325 for 2 hours with the lid off the Dutch oven. At this point I added some Jack Daniel's oak wood chips.



At this point it was time to get to work on the Irish Soda Bread. This was a quick bread (no yeast, no rise time). The folks at ATK had made some tweaks to the traditional recipe to keep it from being too hard and dry. I preheated my second Egg to 375 while I went hunting and gathering for the ingredients.

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The dough used a blend of All-Purpose flour, Wheat Flour, and toasted wheat germ to simulate a version of the Irish flour typically used. In addition it used buttermilk, butter, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and sugar.





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The wet ingredients were mixed together in a measuring cup and the dry ingredients were whisked together in a bowl.





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The wet ingredients were added into the bowl with the dry ingredients.





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The wet and dry ingredients were mixed together with a spatula until they just clung together. At this point they were turned out onto a counter and formed into the disc shaped loaf. Dough recipes don't get much quicker or easier than this.





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The dough is on Egg #2 which has been set up using the AR for indirect grilling. The oval pizza stone is at Level 3 and a sliding oval rack is at level 4.5. You'll notice the formed loaf has had an X-shaped relief cut made on it's top surface.





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Meanwhile back at Egg #1, the stew beef has been cooking for an hour. It got stirred after this and then cooked for another hour.





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Back in the Kitchen I cut up the carrots and potatoes.





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The bread is midway through it's bake and the pan got rotated 180 degrees.





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The potatoes & carrots are added in for the final hour.





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The bread is done. It went back to the Kitchen where it was placed on a cooling rack and the top was brushed with melted butter. After cooling it was sliced and served with the stew.





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The stew is done. You will noticed the beef chunks are browned from their exposure to the warm air while braising. They had a tasty crispy outer skin and were fork tender.





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The remaining 1/3 of the Guinness is added just before serving, together with some fresh chopped parsley.





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I had arranged for four last minute guests to share this stew with me. Every one of them said it was the best beef stew they had ever had. I must admit I had to agree. Despite being a simple recipe with not a lot of ingredients in the stew, it was extremely tasty. The hint of smoke flavor was a really nice touch. The beef had great flavor and melted in your mouth. I had been worried about some of the fat running through the meat, but it had cooked off nicely. The liquid was thick and hearty. The veggies were cooked just right. Guinness Beef Stew is a personal favorite of mine and living in the Boston area, there is no shortage of Guinness Stew for me to try in local restaurants and bars. This Cook's Country recipe tops them all. This was the best Guinness Stew I've ever had. That statement remained true for only 24 hours. That was when I reheated some for leftovers.....WOW!

Jim
Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
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Comments

  • GrannyX4
    GrannyX4 Posts: 1,491
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    As always, looks great! Love your posts. ;;)
    Every day is a bonus day and every meal is a banquet in Winter Springs, Fl !
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  • Philly35
    Philly35 Posts: 858
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    Nice cook!
    NW IOWA
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  • hapster
    hapster Posts: 7,503
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    Looks amazing as always!!!

    Are any of the neighbors homes up for sale?
    MSV Chill Spot
    Chester County, PA

    http://egginwithedward.blogspot.com/

    http://edwardhardingphotography.zenfolio.com/
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  • GeorgeS
    GeorgeS Posts: 955
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    Wow! Damn nice lookin stew brother!
    Bristow Virginia XL&Mini One of the best feelings in life is watching other people enjoy the food I cooked!
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  • boostfed
    boostfed Posts: 63
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    my goodness, that looks awesome!
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  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,731
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    Bravo! I could probably plow through the whole pot myself.

    The soda bread looks terrific. Can you share the recipe?

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
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    Another excellent write-up Jim. Looks and sounds fantastic. I've made something similar using a Jamie Oliver recipe where the stew is covered with a flake pastry crust. Going to give your's a try next time we decide to have beef stew.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
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  • buzd504
    buzd504 Posts: 3,824
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    dayum, that looks great.

    will definitely try that.
    NOLA
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  • CPARKTX
    CPARKTX Posts: 2,095
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    Very nice cook and great write-up.
    LBGE & SBGE.  Central Texas.  
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  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
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    Thanks for looking and commenting! 

    @hapster Funny you should mention that. 5 weeks ago the husband living in the house to the right of mine died. 4 weeks ago the wife living in the house to my left died. Where they say things happen in threes, I wasn't liking my position on the chessboard there for a while. But I am still here and no For Sale signs in the neighbors yards yet.

    @caliking That recipe is on the cookscountrytv.com website and is behind a paywall, so I regret I can't share it. I am a member of all of the ATK family of websites and it is money well spent. However they have a deal where you can become a trial member of their website for 2 weeks. You give them an email address and a charge card number. Your card doesn't get charged for 2 weeks and as long as you remember to opt out before the 2 weeks is up, you get access to the recipes and videos there.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
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  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
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    Wow that looks amazing!  I like how the meat is sticking out of the liquid a bit.  In addition to browning, I imagine you got some great smoke flavor that you might not get if it is completely submerged.  


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

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  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    edited April 2014
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    SmokeyPitt said:
    Wow that looks amazing!  I like how the meat is sticking out of the liquid a bit.  In addition to browning, I imagine you got some great smoke flavor that you might not get if it is completely submerged.  


    Having the meat partially exposed like that was the only reason I attempted to add a little bit of smoke. I went on the light side with it, but the meat did have this nice hint of oak smoke that really put it over-the-top for me. A couple other folks had noticed it too and asked me if I use woodsmoke to cook any of it. They figured I chopped up a pre-cooked and pre-smoked piece of beef from another cook.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
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  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,731
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    @jfm0830 - I must have missed that you said it was a Cooks Country recipe. I have a cooks illustrated subscription, so will probably find it on their website - they cross-list a lot of their recipes between their different sites.

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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