It has been so long since I posted a diary (8/28/2009) that I've got to figure out a whole new interface! Kidding, I've been lurking for a year and a half, largely disheartened by what hasn't really happened, and greatly terrified by the things that have.
So fuck politics! Today it's about food.
Specifically, I made an Irish stew for a St. Patrick's Day potluck at my new (second) job. I don't want to talk about work, but it is a very large call center for one of the best companies in the world to work for. They have chefs making food for the several hundred employees working there, so I was intimidated to bring my amateur home cooking into the office for everyone I am about to work with (I'm still in training) to sample.
No fear is allowed in the kitchen. The results were terrific so I thought I'd share the recipe. Interested?
Cooking with Kos
I'll get to the recipe in a minute (or longer if you read slowly), but let me tell the success story first:
The end result of the recipe below is that you have a dutch oven in/on low heat for hours. I left mine overnight. Naturally, and raise your hands if you've done this, I awoke somewhere between "it's really dark" and "why am I up already" and panicked my way to the kitchen. I took it out, removed the lid and ...
Okay, needed a moment there.
... and it was awesome! Waves of lamb loveliness and Guinness-y goodness poured up my nostrils. I'm not a breakfast person (at least not in the morning, Comfort Food is Good!). But I tried it and ... Delicious. Rich, deep flavors with sweetness and umami.
I poured it all into a crockpot for transport and rewarming and headed off to work. The training room filled with a wonderful aroma once I had plugged it in on low for about an hour. We moved everything to the potluck area around 10:30a, had some nachos (I know, real Irish, right?), and went back to training. By the time I was back out around 11:30a, it was all gone. I wish I had setup a webcam in order to catch the ravenous vultures that must have descended on this much-anticipated stew.
On first one break, then another, fellow smokers did the, "oh, you're Ryan, you made that stew!" One girl even told me it was the bomb. I'm pretty sure that's a total success!
So anyway, here is your own guide to potluck success. There is no need to wait a full year before rolling this out, of course.
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Smokeymonkey's Guinness Stew
10 oz of Guiness Extra Stout
1 lb lamb shank with bone
1 lb beef (strip or sirloin), cubed
2 medium potatoes
3 carrots
3 ribs of celery
1 medium white onion
1 medium red onion
3 cloves garlic
(Prepare your vegetables first - peeling carrots, removing skins and root ends from onions and garlic, et cetera - and place all the inedible bits except the potato peelings in a pot of salted, simmering water. In less than an hour, you will have your own stock. You won't even need to use all of it for this recipe. Adjust how much water you use to determine how light or heavy the stock will be. You want it heavy for this recipe.)
In a large cast iron dutch oven, brown the (liberally) seasoned lamb shank as much as possible. Add the beef cubes, season, and brown. Stir together occasionally so the beef absorbs the lamb juices. For the shank, you just want to make sure it gets a lot of rendered fat in the pan. For the beef, remove it when it is still rare, but browned well on all sides. Every square millimeter of browned surface is more flavor.
Remove the browned meat and sautee the vegetables. You can add them all at once for convenience, but I prefer to carmelize my onions before adding the rest. Treat your garlic as you would. I prefer to add it last so it doesn't get bitter. You can add it right away if you like that carmelized garlic flavor.
Deglaze with the Guinness and reduce until the alcohol fumes have dissipated and the sugars in the stout have carmelized. Coat the vegetables thoroughly in this glaze.
Add the stock, cover, and cook in a 250 F oven for as long as you want. The lamb meat should fall off the bone and can be shredded into the stew.
Serves at least 6.