Mar 17, 2009
I really like the taste of this stew. It has a different flavor than the stews most of us are used to so this may not taste good to everyone. For me it was nice to taste something different, especially when it tastes good. I did take heed to other reviewers comments and added and subtracted some things to make the taste more "palatable", but nothing that would turn it into a different recipe. It still has that "special" taste which comes from the beer. NOTE: I doubled the recipe. I used 9 cloves of garlic 3 large potatoes, almost 4 lbs of stew meat, 3/4 of a 2lb bag of baby carrots (cause I didn't want to cut carrots), 2 small onions, 2 12oz bottles of Guinness, as much oil and flour as needed to brown the meat, 2 6oz cans of tomato paste, 3 cups of Mushrooms and 4 cups of beef broth. ADDED: My additions were a result of reading the reviews. I added twice the meat and more potatoes than carrots. I added sea salt and pepper to the flour that I used to brown the meat. I have found in my limited cooking experience that seasoning meat before it is cooked is never a bad idea. I also added a little sea salt to the stew. To bring in a familiar taste, a little thyme, a little basil and a couple of bay leaves. To curb the bitterness of the Guinness, two teaspoons of brown sugar. SUBTRACTED: Corn starch and water as I had planned to cook it all day and others mentioned that the sauce would reduce/thicken over time.
—kray
