Beer beef stew

Greatly excited by my friend's discovery of the Gourmet Today cookbook, I tried out its Irish beer beef stew recipe.

Recipe: Guinness beef stew (for 4)

Ingredients:
- 2-3 lb beef top round steak, trimmed of fat
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tp salt
- 2 tp pepper
- 2-4 TB oil
- 1-2 TB worcestershire sauce
- 2-3 TB catchup
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 tp dried thyme
- 1 tp garlic powder

- 1 cup beef stock

- 6-8 oz Guinness

Procedure:

1. Cut beef into 1" cubes. Pad dry.

2. Mix flour salt and pepper thoroughly in a bowl.

3. Roll each dried beef cube in the flour mixture to coat lightly. Set aside in a bowl.

4. Heat 2-3 TB oil in a heavy non-stick pan on med-high heat.

5. Brown the beef cubes in 2-3 batches. Brown each side lightly. Turn each side of the beef when it is lightly browned and detached from pan. 

6. Set the browned beef aside in a bowl.

7. Clean pan in water. Then heat 1 TB oil. Add chopped onion and cook on med-high heat. After 2 minutes, add 1 TB water or beef stock. Cook until soft. About 5 minutes. Then add worcestershire sauce and catchup. Cook for another 1 minute.

8. Add in the beef, along with any liquid in the bowl.

9. Add Guiness, beef stock, thyme and garlic powder. Stir. When the liquid starts to boil, transfer to a medium pan. Make sure that the liquid is enough to cover almost all the beef.

10. Cover pan with lid, and let stew cook on lowest heat setting. Allow the liquid to bubble very gently. At least 1 hour.

11. To serve, scoop out the amount of beef to be serve. Then place liquid in a small sauce pan. Stir in 2 TB flour. Heat on medium setting. Stir and remove fine lumps. Cook until the liquid thickens. Add in the beef. Stir and serve right away.

Results:

2:39pm, dusting beef cubes:

2:49pm, to brown beef cubes:

3:18pm, lightly browned beef cubes:

3:19pm, onion softening in pan:

3:23pm, beef added to onion cooked with worcestershire sauce and catchup:

3:26pm, beer and beef stock added:

7:29pm, to serve half the beef stew thickened with 2 TB flour:

Observations:

1. The beef cooked this way is very tender, but not falling apart.

2. The pepper flavor may be a little too strong in this experiment.

3. Hubby likes this dish. But he prefers my regular way of cooking it because of the rich taste of Guinness. He notices some flavor in this recipe that is not in mine. I guess it's probably the thyme. I like both. 

Beef jerky

Beef jerky is expensive! A small pack of 3-4 oz costs $5. Beef round steak only costs $1.99 a pound. So during my free time, I tried out some beef jerky. The result was great.

Recipe: Beef jerky

Ingredients:
- 6-8 oz all lean raw beef round steak
- water
- 1 tp garlic powder
- 1-2 tp brown sugar
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1/2 tp chilly powder

Procedure:
1. Trim off all trace of visible fat from beef. This is important. Fat goes rancid quickly and therefore is no good for storing.
2. Boil beef in water on med-high heat for 20 minutes. Then allow to simmer for 1 hour, or until meat has toughened.
3. Take beef off from liquid. Save liquid as stock for use.
4. Beef may be chilled or frozen until ready for the drying step. If beef has been chilled/frozen before drying, boil it for 15 minutes in water before use.
5. Slice beef very very thinly. Spread in one layer on aluminum foil on baking tray.
6. Mix all seasonings with stock or water. Brush onto beef on all sides.
7. Bake at 150F or lowest setting in toaster oven. About 1 hour. Then flip. Brush more seasonings if needed. Continue baking for about 1-2 hours, until beef turns dark and dry.
8. Allow to cool for 1 hour. Pack in plastic bag.

Turkey drumsticks

I've started getting very good savory turkey drumsticks with a cooking method that is similar to the Persian Khoresh. With turkey drumsticks, I mostly cook the meat with skin on because there is not much fat.

Recipe: Turkey drumsticks spicy stew (2 drumsticks)

Ingredients:
- 2 turkey drumsticks
- 1 small potato, coarsely cubed
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 small carrot, cubed
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1/2 tp garlic powder
- 1 tp turmeric
- 1/4 tp cumin
- 1-2 whole allspice
- 1/4 tp whole mustard
- 1/4 tp hot chilly pepper powder or 1/2 tp flakes
- 1 cup meat stock
- enough water to cover the meat while cooking

Procedure:
1. Wash drumsticks. Then boil drumsticks with onion and all the spices in meat stock or water for about 1 hour. For the first 15 minutes, use med-high heat. Make sure that the liquid is in a rolling boil. Then turn heat down to low-med, cover with lid and let simmer for the remaining 45 minutes. Turn heat off. Allow to sit on stove top, covered.
2. Half an hour before serving, add potato and carrot. Bring back to boil, and allow to boil for 20-30 minutes. Serve hot. Or let chill overnight. Stew tastes even better when left overnight.
3. If cauliflower or other fast-cooking vegetables are used, then boil them separately in the stew's liquid for 5-10 minutes. Remove vegetables from liquid. Then thicken the liquid and pour back onto the vegetables to serve.

How my hubby enjoys this dish! Though cooked vegetables are not his favorite, he often finishes off the vegetables cooked in this savory stew.