Did you know that Lá Fhéile Pádraig (lit. The ‘day of the festival of Patrick’) is observed in almost every christian church in the world? But the ones that really give it an effort are of course the Irish and their descendants. For them, it is a national feast with a loth of drink and food, like this traditional Irish Stew with Guinness!

Irish Stew with Guinness

Ingredients for 4 persons

  • 1 kg of beef
  • 200g smoked bacon
  • 2 onions
  • 2 large carrots
  • 2 leeks
  • 800g potatoes
  • 1 bunch of parsley
  • 1 bottle of Guinness
  • 5dl brown stock
  • 3 tbsp brown sugar
  • Butter
  • Thyme
  • Bay Leaf
  • 1 tsp peppercorns
  • 2 cloves
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Preparation

  • Take the beef from the refrigerator and season with salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
  • Melt the butter in a stew pot.
  • Brown the beef all around.
  • Remove the beef from the pan and keep aside. It doesn’t have to be fully cooked yet.
  • Fry the bacon (cut into strips) in the same fat.
  • Dice the onions into fine cubes. Peel the carrots and cut them into fairly large pieces. Rinse the leeks and chop the white parts into rings.
  • Add the onions, carrots and leeks to the bacon and let simmer for a while.
  • Add the beef back to the vegetables and pour in the Guinness. Simmer well so the alcohol evaporates.
  • Add the brown sugar and pour in the brown stock. If necessary, add a little water until everything is covered.
  • Crush the peppercorns in a mortar.
  • Season the stew with thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves and a pinch of salt. Simmer well over high heat.
  • Peel the potatoes and dice them into equal pieces. Do not rinse them because the starch is needed to bind the sauce. Put them in the cooking pot.
  • Put a lid on the cooking pot and cook in the preheated oven for at least 2.5 hours. Check the doneness of the beef. If necessary, crush some potatoes against the edge of the pot with a wooden spoon to get a better binding.
  • Rinse and chop the parsley and sprinkle over the stew.