Brown Ale Beef Stew with Mashed Parsnips and Potatoes made with Watership Brown Ale from Red Hare Brewing Company.
I’m not sure if I’ve shared this story before, but here it goes anyways. I was around 14 or 15 when I started to become interested in food. Well, I was always interested, but it was then that I really started to learn about different foods. I’d come home from school and watch the Food Network. It exposed me to a whole world of food I didn’t even know existed.
During my senior year in high school, I started thinking about going to culinary school. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life {HAHA not much has changed :)}, but I loved food. As my senior year was coming to an end, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, so one night, I planned to make a complete meal from scratch. If it turned out great, I’d go to culinary school. If not, on to my second choice. As you can probably guess that meal did not come out well at all! It’s crazy because I remember exactly what I made that night. I, attempted, to make buffalo chicken salad with a homemade blue cheese and apple crisp. It wasn’t a complicated dish at all, and I was using a recipe! It’s actually something really basic.
I’m not a fan of, what I consider, cheap blue cheese. The stuff you buy in the regular processed cheese aisle. The dressing was tasted like nasty medicine, the chicken was WAY overcooked, and the topping for my apple crisp spilled all over the counter and floor. As I stood there looking at the food on the floor, I decided to pass on culinary school.
That didn’t keep me from cooking though, as you can tell. Shortly after the buffalo chicken nightmare, I made a beef stew from one of my mom’s cookbooks. It came out amazing! It’s actually how I still make beef stew now. I’ve tweaked the recipe over the years, but I still follow the basic steps of browning the meat first and cooking it for a long time.
Now, I wonder how different things would be if I made beef stew that night instead of the buffalo chicken mess. Would I have really decided to go to culinary school or just came up with another excuse? Just one of life’s many unanswered questions.
I made this beef stew recipe over the weekend for a holiday bottle share we hosted at the house. I prepped everything ahead of time and placed it in the crockpot to cook, so when everyone arrived, dinner was ready, and all the dishes were cleaned. Huck’s mom bought me a triple crockpot station last year for Christmas, that came in super handy. I made the this mashed potato and parsnips and placed them in the crockpot on the warm setting. When everyone was hungry, the food was ready.
I decided to go with a Brown Ale for this dish. I thought the roasted, malty, flavor would pair well with the beef. On our recent trip to Georgia, we stocked up on local beers. One of those beers was the Watership Brown Ale. It had a nice sweetness that helped balance out the acid from the tomatoes. You’ll want to use a beer that’s low in bitterness. It could overpower the dish.
Other Beers to Try:
- Brooklyn Brown Ale- Brooklyn Brewery
- Porter- Sierra Nevada
- Pop’s Porter- Wynwood Brewing
Note: The crockpot version did not thicken up as much as the stove top. For my pictures, I reduced the leftover juice on the stove to create a gravy. It condensed the flavors and created a thick gravy for my potatoes. This step is option.
- 2 Tablespoons Oil
- 3 Pounds Beef Stew Meat
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 Large Onion- Diced
- 6 Cloves Garlic- Chopped
- 6 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- ½ Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 3 Cups Beef Stock
- ¾ Cup Beer
- 1 Tablespoon Dried Thyme
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 2-3 Handfuls Baby Carrots- Sliced
- Fresh Chopped Parsley- For Garnish
- *If using a crockpot, preheat to low or high heat.
- Preheat oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Season beef with salt and pepper, and add to pan for a couple minutes each side, to sear the meat. Cook in a few batches to evenly brown each piece. Remove beef from the pan, and add to a bowl.
- Once all the meat is browned, add the Onion and Garlic to the pan. Cook until onions begin to turn translucent. Add the Carrots, Tomato Paste, and Worcestershire Sauce and stir to fully coat the veggies.
- Add the Beef Stock scrapping the bottom of the pan to remove any pan drippings. Add the Beer and continue stirring until the tomato paste is dissolved. Add the Thyme and Bay Leaf.
- Stove Top: Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 2 hours. Add the carrots, and continue cooking for an addition 30 minutes. Add additional beef stock if sauce becomes too thick. Season with Salt and Pepper to Taste.
- Crockpot: Add ingredients into a large crockpot and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Season with Salt and Pepper to taste.
- Serve with Mashed Potato and Parsnips.
This might be what we have for dinner, sorry without the beer though. You know I do marinate my beef in bee, but it’s Bud Light. Have a good day, talk to ya later. Love You, Mom
You would even know there is beer in it!
This looks so good! I have to make this soon, my family is going to love this!
I hope they do!