Unlock the Magic: Dragon’s Milk Stout Irish Beef Stew Recipe – A Flavor Explosion!

Welcome to our culinary journey where tradition meets innovation! Get ready to tantalize your taste buds with our Dragon’s Milk Stout Irish Beef Stew recipe. Infused with the rich flavors of Dragon’s Milk Stout and inspired by the hearty traditions of Irish cuisine, this savory dish is a true masterpiece. Follow along as we guide you through the process of creating a flavor-packed stew that will leave you craving more. Let’s dive into the magic of crafting this extraordinary culinary delight!

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With last Sunday being St. Patrick’s Day, we decided that this week’s meal should of course be Irish. We considered Corned Beef and Cabbage, but my Sous Chef, ie my sister, quickly vetoed that. Here in Okinawa it is still cold (you know…like 60ºF) and “soup weather”. So an Irish Stew seemed like the logical conclusion.

Ingredients

Meat

I don’t have quick access to goat or lamb so beef was the next logical conclusion. I wanted large hunks of meat slowly simmered (or in our case pressure cooked) so I found a beautiful roast with amazing marbling. We only need about 1.5 pounds, but you can of course use as much or as little as your prefer. I made about 14 gallons of this stew over the last week. I did not add bacon in the first few batches. But every time I tasted it, I knew something was missing. So I added some bacon. The smokiness of the bacon adds a layer of flavor that is just amazing. I added 5 slices of chopped bacon.

Vegetables

Onion, Carrot, Celery and of course potato are all essential in this recipe. The aromatics of the onion and celery add a lovely layer of flavor that can’t be replicated elsewhere. The carrot adds a touch of sweetness. The potato adds structure and a delightful texture.

Aromatics

Garlic, bay leaf and rosemary used in this recipe adds a herbaceous layer of flavor. I would have added thyme to this as well but I couldn’t find it here on island. So feel free to add a sprig or two of thyme as well.

I am not a huge fan of dried rosemary or thyme. Mostly because dried rosemary tends to be tough and I don’t like biting into a tough rosemary leaf while I’m enjoying a delicious stew. Dried thyme tends to have a lot stems. However, if you want to use dried herbs in this recipe, it may be best to make a herb sachet so the flavors can infuse without the risk of biting into a tough stem. If you are using fresh, there is no need for a sachet. Save the cheesecloth. But if you make one, go ahead and add the bay leaf to it as well.

Spices

I didn’t originally put paprika in this recipe. But the spicy, smokiness of the paprika definitely lends a great flavor profile to this stew. Of course we use garlic and onion powder to mirror the fresh onion and garlic.

Thickeners

The broth in this stew will be very thin if there are no thickeners The easiest way to do this is to add some flour and allow it to cook for a few minutes. I started with 1/4 cup of flour, but the stew was still a little thin. 1/2 cup was the magic number.

Broth

For this stew I used a double broth. First, I made a homemade stock. You can make a beef stock, chicken stock or even veggie stock. For this recipe, I used the ends and pieces of the vegetables and the trimmed beef pieces to make the stock. I will make a separate blog post on how to make this stock in the future. I like using this stock but I also feel like the stew needed a bit of a punch. So I added some Better Than Bullion to enhance the flavor of the broth.

A component of beef broth is actually tomato product. When most beef broths are being made, beef knuckles are smeared with tomato paste before being roasted. To mirror that flavor here, I add 3 oz of tomato paste.

Beer

When I started trying to develop this recipe, I really wanted a Guinness. But alas, Camp Courtney doesn’t believe in Guinness apparently. So we found an alternative. Dragon’s Milk Stout. I’m not a huge fan of dark stouts in general. But this one is pretty good. The back of the bottle says:

it’s actually pretty accurate. The deep flavors of coffee, chocolate and oak all added a great flavor to this stew.

Process

I like to do almost all of my soups and stews in an Instant Pot. I used to make them all in a slow cooker, but I like having an Instant Pot because I can do much more in it. When I’m doing 14 gallons of this recipe, an Instant Pot makes quick work of it.

First, I push sauté function on the Instant Pot. Chop the bacon into small pieces and sauté it for about 5 minutes. This will render the fat and crisp up the bacon.

Trim the roast and then cut into 1-1 1/2 inch chunks.

Add the cubed roast to the Instant Pot with the cooked bacon. Season with salt and pepper. Remember…Season. As. You. Go.

Every time I did this recipe, the beef released a lot of water. Once the beef starts to look brown, remove the beef, bacon and all the juices from the Instant Pot and place in a bowl. Set aside.

This is a wonderfully chunky stew so cut everything in nice big chunks. If you cut it too small, the pieces will break down and won’t have any structure. So be sure the onion, carrot and celery are cut into large chunks.

Place the insert back into the Instant Pot and allow it to heat. Add 1-2 tbs of olive oil and allow the oil to heat. Add the minced garlic, onion, carrot and celery.

Sprinkle on paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Add the meat along with all the juices back into the pot. At this point, sprinkle the flour evenly over the mixture so that it can absorb any excess oil and will evenly distribute into the broth and thicken it properly. Once the flour is stirred in and the oil has been absorbed, allow the roux to cook for 3-4 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. In all my batches I started with adding the tomato paste in with the flour and the vegetable only. By the end of the week however I discovered that adding the flour after adding the meat back in and BEFORE the tomato paste and rosemary is best

After you have cooked off the raw flour taste, add the beer. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pot to ensure there isn’t too much flour on the bottom and it won’t burn. At this point, add the tomato paste, beef base, potatoes, bay leaf and rosemary sprig. Lastly, add the water or beef stock to the “max fill” line.

Place the lid on the Instant Pot and cook at High pressure for 10 minutes with pulse release or quick release.

Once the cycle is complete, stir the soup, scraping the bottom to ensure the thickened flour at the bottom is evenly distributed. TASTE THE SOUP! Always taste it. If needed, add more salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder or paprika.

Remove the rosemary and/or thyme stems and the bay leaf before serving.