Beer Stew

Well now that I have a freezer full of moose meat I'll be making lots of stews. I made a Belgium Beer Stew many, many years ago, and fell in love with it. I've always baked the stew but this recipe will taste just as good cooked in a slow cooker and Belgium Beer is not necessary but a dark beer works best. And of course you can substitute the beef with game meat.

As I sit at my computer the luscious smell of meat, onions and garlic are permeating throughout the house. I can hardly wait for dinner.

This is how I make it.

Dredge about 3 pounds of stewing meat in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Shake off the excess flour and brown in a dutch oven in batches. Don't crowd the pan, you want a the meat to brown not boil. After each batch place the browned meat in a bowl or large dish.

While the meat is browning slice two large onions and roughly chop about 10 cloves of garlic, you can use more or less onion and garlic if you wish. Once the meat has browned lower the heat and add the onions to the pot, stir for a few minutes until soft, then add the garlic. Stir for a few more minutes taking care not to burn the garlic. Add a bottle of dark beer to the onions and garlic and stir scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add a tablespoon of chopped sage and rosemary and about 3 bay leaves, salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Carefully place the meat in the liquid, cover with the lid and place in a preheated oven, about 325F, for about 3 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes and veggies.



I had every intention of taking a picture of the stew before eating but again I forgot so instead of beer stew here is a picture of pears and apples from my backyard. I'll be canning pear mincemeat and making some type of desert with the apples, maybe apple pie for Thanksgiving.

And the grapes are not mine but ...they were hanging over the fence, soooo...they were very good.