My name is Stew! How do you do?!

When I walked outside this morning I was greeted with a white blanket of snow covering the ground.  Instead of shedding a tear while missing the warm temps and sunshine I decided to make stew.  I can't think of too many things that make a person smile than hot bowl of homemade beef stew on a cold day.  My stew is less beef than vegetables but I still throw a big ol hunk of beef in there to flavor everything up nice.  If you are a vegetarian, you could easily make this stew sans the beef and still come out on top.

Why are we talking about stew on a blog entitled The Beer Dude?  If you thought beer was just for drinking you are missing out.  Many stews call for a cup or two of wine for added flavor.  And while wine is a great addition to any stew, beer has many complex flavors that add to the taste just as wine.  So, next time you are throwing together a big pot of stew for your family, remember, don't forget the beer. 

Start with a whole mess of veggies.  I use carrots, celery, onion, garlic, shallots, potatoes, and mushrooms.  Use as many veggies as you want.  They add most of the flavor to your stew so don't skimp.  If you want to use something else in your stew go right ahead.  If you like okra in your stew, add it!  Corn?  No problem!  Add whatever you think you might like.  There is no wrong recipe when it comes to your own stew. 

Here's the big piece of meat.  This is a about 1.25lbs of round steak.  For Christ sake DO NOT buy pre cut up stew meat!  Most grocery stores will charge up to $1/lb for simply pretting the meat for you.  Round steak IS stew meat so buy a piece of round steak and cut it up yourself.  It takes about 30 seconds and you will save a couple of bucks.  If you are in an area that has a butcher shop, buy the round steak and have your butcher cut it up for you free of charge.  Also in this pic you will see a jug of beef stock and 1 cold beer.

Dust your meat with about 4 TBS of AP flour as well as ome celery salt, black pepper, salt, onion powder, and garlic powder.  You can buy a seasoning packet for beef stew at the store, but it is basically a lot of salt and the other inggredients listed above.  Plus, they charge you $2 for the seasoning packet and if you have all the stuff to home there is no reason to buy it.  Cover the steak in the mixture and set aside.

In a cast iron pan, add your beef with about 3 TBS of olive oil.  Brown the beef.  Do not cook the beef!  You are just browning the meat and searing it to add the flavor of the spices.  Cook on high heat and let cook for about 8 minutes stirring occasionally. 

Pot is coated with some beefy goodness that looks a little like this.  Don't fret, you did not ruin the pot.  You are now going to get all this scrumptious stuck on stuff into your stew.  This is how you do it.  Take a beer, use a good beer.  Something that you would drink normally.  Don't think you can add garbage beer into your recipes and it will work.  Worng!  Wrong!  For this stew I used an IPA from Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, MI.  It is pretty hoppy and bitter but will hold up with all the ingredients. 

Boil this down and make sure to scrape all the beefy goodness off the sides of the pot.  Should take you about 5 minutes of boil time.  Add the stock to a large bowl and then add the beef.  Let it sit in the solution and soak it up.  You can soak this overnight if you want.  It won't do you any harm.

Onions!  Lots and lots of em.  Chop em thick.  I like texture in my food.  I can eat puree when I'm an old man with no teeth.  For now, I like big chumks of food that I have to tear with my mandibles.  Arrrghh!  In the pot I have all the veggies with about 3 TBS of olive oil.  Sweat these muthas!  Turn the heat up and stir.  Watch as how your vegetables will turn start to turn transparent.  When they get to this point, they are done.  Turn your heat down.  Dice up the taters.  I bought yukon gold B size.  I quarter them.  Lastly, cut up your mushrooms.  I use 3 different types.  Wood, button and portabella.  Slice and dice and add them to the mix.

Put this into a large stew pot, turn on medium heat, cover and walk away.  This should take about 3 hours on med heat.  Stir every once in awhile to make sure you aren't sticking to the bottom of the pot.  While this is cooking, enjoy a beer.  This feeds a HUGE crowd so if you are making it for just a few, be prepared to freeze some or eat leftovers for a week.

After my hard work was done for the day, I chose to reach for a Whitsun Ale from Arcadia Brewing Co. located in Battle Creek, MI.  When I was working in BC, I used to stop in to the pub after work for a few pops before going home.  It's a great little place right in downtown Battle Creek.  Good food, even better beer and usually you can just sit on a stool and be left alone no matter how crowded.  Whitsun is the Arcadia summer beer.  Fortunately, it doesn't go after the taste of Oberon.  It is different, darker and more complex.  Whitsun has tones of citrus and pine as well as some other things that I just like to call summer.  I don't know, it's like a beach day every time you open a bottle.  I am stocking up for the winter so I can have that scent and taste all winter.  I have a lot of good memories from Arcadia Brewing.  My friend John Archer and I used to stop in after work and polish off a few pints.  While we talked about work the conversation always went back to how good the beer was.  I miss those days with John.  He is a good friend that I miss and I hope is doing well.

This Whitsun is for you John.  Hope you are doing well no matter where you are.