Beef And Guinness Stew

Ingredients

• stewing beef (chuck) 1.5 kg
• onions, chopped 2
• celery sticks, roughly chopped 2
• medium carrots, roughly chopped 4
• garlic cloves, minced 3
• tomato paste 3 tbsp
• bacon lardons
• light soy sauce 1 tbsp
• Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp
• fish sauce 1 tsp
• beef/chicken stock 300 ml
• olive oil 2 tbsp
• flour 3 tbsp
• sprigs thyme 3
• bay leaves 2
• Liquid Smoke, optional .25 tsp
• Salt and Pepper 1 tsp
• Guinness, can 500 ml

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot and brown meat in batches. Add all your meat to a large bowl. Sprinkle with the flour and mix thoroughly. Put to one side.
2. Turn down the heat and add some more oil to your pot and add the bacon. Cook for a minute or two and then add the onions and garlic. Cook for about 4-5 minutes until onions have softened, taking care not to burn the garlic.
3. Add the Guinness and scrape all those lovely bits off the bottom of the pot.
4. Add to your stock, the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, tomato paste and liquid smoke if you have it. Give it a good whisk, so everything is blended nicely.
5. Add the carrots, celery, your stock mixture and thyme and bay leafs to your pot.
6. Add your reserved beef including all the juices that have gathered in the bottom of the bowl. Be sure and scrape all that floury paste into the pot.
7. Put the lid on the pot and put in a preheated oven (150 fan) for about 2-3 hours. Check on it a couple of times to make sure it is not drying out.
8. When done remove bay leaves and thyme and serve immediately with mashed potato.