We served this Irish Beef Stew at Souper Heroes, a really great event that raises money for local organizations in Columbus, Ohio!
The other night, we had the chance to help out with a souper (so many puns coming) great event at Seventh Son Brewing Co. We volunteered, along with about 15 other local soup lovers, to make a big pot full of a hearty soup for their semi-regular event Soup & Bread.
This marvelous event is pretty simple; bring yourself, a hearty appetite and a few bucks to donate to Donation Slow Cooker. This week, all proceeds from the event benefitted local food pantry Neighborhood Services Inc. and will provide over $6500 worth of food to its families in need! Check out the full recap here and make plans to attend next month’s event on on December 8th from 6-8 at Woodlands Tavern.
Now on to the yummy soup. It’s officially soup weather in Ohio and we wanted to make sure we had the perfect comforting recipe to warm everyone up. Our only requirement for our soup recipe was to include beer, a challenge that we happily welcomed.
We chose the Stone Fort Ale which is a toasty brown ale that Seventh Son routinely has on tap. After taste testing our brew, The Beard picked an Irish Beef Stew to share with everyone at the Souper Heroes event.
I think the best soups are the ones that you can soak up with some crusty bread and make you feel warm and cuddly all over. That’s exactly how this recipe makes me feel.
I think the general rule for making a good soup is time and patience. The longer it simmers, the longer all those flavors can mingle and get more than acquainted in the pot. Sometimes, it’s even better the next day. True story.
This recipe is super simple. Make sure you read the whole recipe before diving in because you don’t want to be halfway through adding your ingredients and then you all the sudden have to open a can of tomato paste. Tricks of the trade, I tell ya.
I’m honestly not a huge parsley fan and mostly added it because it gives the brown soup a little extra pizzazz in pictures. Feel free to mix it up with what kind of brew you use and share in the comments which one you try!
Irish Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs round stew meat cut into 1/2 in cubes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup flour
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 6 cups beef stock
- 2 cups water
- 2 1/2 cups Seventh Son Stone Fort Brown Ale
- 1 1/2 cups red wine
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 pounds potatoes cut into 1/2 in pieces
- 1 large onion chopped
- 6 large carrots peeled and cut into 1/2 in pieces
- black pepper and salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Season flour with salt and pepper. Lightly coat meat with flour mixture.
- Heat olive oil in large pot. Brown meat over medium-high heat, in multiple rounds, careful not to overcrowd the pan. Once you’ve browned all the beef, add it all into the pot together.
- Add garlic to the pot with the beef and saute for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the beef stock, water, beer, red wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves. Stir to combine.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about an hour. Check on it every 15 minutes or so and stir.
- In a separate medium sized pot, melt the butter. Add the onions and carrots. Saute for about 15 minutes until they are soft and golden. Set aside.
- After an hour, add the onions, carrots and potatoes to the stew. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered until veggies and beef are nice and tender, about 45-50 minutes. Discard the bay leaves (don’t forget this!).
- Tilt the pan and spoon off any visible fat off the top layer of the stew. Transfer the stew to a bowl, season with salt and pepper, top with fresh parsley, grab some crusty bread and enjoy.
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