slow cooker stout stew

I love making stews and soups in the winter. At least once a week I have a big pot of something in the slow cooker. Not only it is great for a warming meal on cold days, but also makes lunch for a few days as well!

With stews and soups I am pretty much a 'whatever you have got, throw it in the pot' kind of person. Sure, I match spices and flavors with ingredients, but if you start with the best tasting freshest produce and meat, it all tastes good. I plan meals in the slow cooker based on what we have dried/frozen/preserved from the summer. I love looking through the freezer and pulling out bags of brightly colored veggies - the flavor still so great and intense since it was frozen straight from the garden at its peak. Nothing like it.

My husband had gotten a bottle of Irish Caramel Cream for Christmas and I immediately made a cake with it (recipe soon!). That reminded me of another favorite irish beverage - Guiness - so I had to make my version of a Guiness Irish Stew. I used Guiness for this stew, but any dark stout would be great! I used fresh stock and stewed tomatoes from the freezer, but you can easily substitute canned...


::slow cooker stout stew::

1 lb. stew meat, cut into 1" cubes
2 med. yellow onions, chopped
5 med. carrots, sliced
5 med. potatoes, cubed
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 cups fresh stock (I used home made duck stock - beef or chicken would be good too)
2 cups stewed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin
pint of stout (guiness, yum)
coconut oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
handful fresh parsley


In a skillet on med-hi, put onions, garlic, and a little coconut oil. Cook until turning translucent. Put into crockpot/slow cooker.

Add a little more coconut oil - add the beef, cooking until brown on the outside. Add the stout to the beef in the skillet, bring to a bubble, pour it all into the crock pot (turned to high). You want all the meat juices and bits on the pan, and this gets that all incorporated so you don't waste a bit!

Add the carrots and potatoes to the crock pot. Add (hot) stock and stewed tomatoes as well as bay leaf and cumin. I like to season with some salt & pepper to start with, but then finish it to taste after it cooks a few hours.

Cook on high for 1 hour, then reduce to low and let cook from 3 hours up to 8 hours. The longer it cooks the richer and darker it becomes. In the last 30 minutes or so, chop up a handful of fresh parsley and stir in to mix.

ingredient tip::
When meat is involved I add most ingredients to the slow cooker either hot or at room temperature. It gets the meat up to temp faster (safer).

With soups and stews I have a range of stock/broth because it all depends on how big your potatoes and carrots are, etc. So just be sure to add enough stock to just cover everything in your crock pot!

home made stock.

We like to make our own stock to use for cooking. Chicken broth, bone broth, even veggie/miso broth...making it from scratch helps us get the maximum flavor and nutrition out of it. And while it takes a little time, it is mostly time on low heat on a stove, not the constant stirring attentions of some foods. I try to make a gallon or more at a time which I then use for everything from soup, stew and chili bases, to brown rice. After you have homemade stock it is hard to use the cube stuff! :)

This week I made a beef stock - bone broth. With a sprained ankle and sore back, I know that the nutritional benefits of bone broth will help with joint support and healing.

For beef bone broth I start with 3-4 pounds of assorted bones from organically raised grass fed beef. This batch I used soup bones (marrow and knuckle bones) and ox tail. I buy this directly from the farmer we get our beef from - I know how the animals were raised, and they select soup bones with stock prep in mind. Vinegar and water is added to the pot - the vinegar works to extract the maximum nutrients (esp. calcium). I also add chopped base vegetables for flavor, as well as herbs and sea salt. The prep takes only minutes, after which it can simmer for 24 hours or more for maximum flavor.

::beef stock - bone broth::

Into a large pot add:
3-4 pounds soup bones
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
8 cups water
4 onions, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 tsp sea salt
1 tsp whole peppercorns
4 cloves garlic, smashed


Bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer. After a few hours you can skim off any residue on the top and toss that. Keep simmering for 24 hours or so for beef stock. In the last 30 minutes, chop and add some herbs. I like thyme and parsley - for parsley, I add a hand full, for thyme, a few teaspoons. Let it simmer for the last half hour. When done, pour through a sieve/strain. There you have it! Let cool in the refrigerator and remove the congealed fat with a spoon. Store in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze in batches to use as needed!


ingredients tip::

"Simply put, bone broth is the liquid that results when bones are cooked in water. The use of stocks and broths has fallen out of practice in many modern households but it is still widely used in professional kitchens. Broths have been used through the ages as-easy to-digest nourishment and were prescribed for the sick and ailing, the very old and the very young as well as a staple in every kitchen.

Broth can be seen as a medicinal tea made from bones, meat and the connective tissues that are often attached. By simmering bones in water you extract many constituents contained in them and make them available to the human body for easy absorption.

Properly made bone broth contains measurable amounts of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium and other minerals, as well as collagen, gelatin and amino acids. These nutrients are beneficial for bone and joint health, for muscle strength and action, and for maintaining connective tissues and the gastrointestinal tract."