Comforting Irish Stew - How To Make Irish Beef and Guinness Stew
Considered the national dish of Ireland, the Irish stew is a hearty dish packed full of flavor. It originated from the rural, peasant communities in Ireland but is still popular today as a comfort food.Slow cooking in Ireland has its roots in the old methods of using a bastible over open fire (which is a cast iron pot with three or four legs) and it was a way of cooking down and tenderising cheap, tougher cuts of meat. The traditional version of Irish stew consists of just mutton or lamb, potatoes and onion but we’ve gone with cheap beef cuts and added a few extra ingredients like carrots, a good splash of Guinness for a richer broth, fresh thyme and parsley and pearl barley. If you make your own you can try cooking with game meats or adding dumplings on top for a more filling version.We left our pot on the stove slowly simmering away throughout the afternoon so when it came do dinner, our meat came out nice and tender.
Ingredients
- 800g diced beef/braising steak
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 yellow onions, quartered
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 litre beef broth
- 1 bottle Guinness
- 100g pearl barley
- 3 medium potatoes, roughly chopped into large chunks
- 2 medium carrots, roughly chopped into chunks
- salt & pepper to taste
- fresh parsley for serving
