Cooking with Jack: Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day

By Jack Brummet

• 2 1/2 lb. lean beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes** (Or better yet, 2 1/2 pounds lamb shoulder)
• [a lot of Irish Stew recipes use bacon, I don't, but feel free]
• 3 tablespoons oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons AP flour
• 1 teaspoons salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 healthy pinch cayenne or 1/2 tsp. Tabasco
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups stout 
• 1 sprig fresh thyme (a teaspoon dried is OK)
• 2 1/2 cups carrot, cut in thirds
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1. Toss meat with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. 
2. In another bowl, mix the flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Dredge the beef in the flour.
3. Heat 2 TBS oil oil in a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add the beef, and brown on all sides. 
4. Add onions and garlic and lower the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Pour 1/2 cup of the beer into the pan, and as it begins to boil, use a wooden spoon to loosen the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. 
6. Pour in the other cup and a half of beer and add the thyme, and tomato paste. 
7. Lower heat to a slow simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes (stirring once in a while). 
8. Add the carrots and cook another half hour to 45 minutes.
9. Check seasoning and garnish with chopped parsley.
10. If you want, serve with boiled or roasted potatoes (don't cook them in the stew). 

**Note: With beef, use chuck. Other lean cuts like, say, sirloin, just don't break down right and you end up with these tight little nuggets rather than tender. chunks But your own chuck and cube it yourself rather than buy the unknown cut in generic supermarket "stew meat." For lamb, for the same reasons, use lamb shoulder.

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