Beef Stew and the Beast

moo!

So, for reasons that are only related to living in close proximity a college town, I had about 5 cans of Milwaukee’s Best in my possesion this past weekend. Now, I don’t know if any of my readers have ever had this (If you have, you know how Busch tastes too…), but there’s a reason why it’s nicknamed “The Beast”. I mean, there’s even a section on the Miller Brewing Company wikipedia article about it’s nicknames, “Milwaukee’s Worst”  being one of them.

Everything about this ad should tell you that the beer tastes like garbage. Note that Guinness, Blue Moon, New Belgium, Legend, etc. you know. Decent beers. Don't have ads like this.

Anyway.

So I figure I have to do something with them, because I sure as hell am not going to drink them while dead sober standing in my kitchen. Suggestions from the internet? Bake bread, make a beer float (gross!) or make beef stew. And luckily, I had “beef for stew” in my freezer.

Beef Stew and the Beast
Stew cooked with Beer, Beef, and Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 lb. Chopped Beef
1 lb spinach
2 potatoes
1 cup chopped frozen carrots
1/2 a can of peas
5 cloves of garlic
1 can of The Beast (or decent beer. hopefully decent beer)
4 cups of beef stock
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp Tomato paste
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp sugar
2tsp olive oil
1 tsp rendered bacon fat
2 tbsp butter
1 bay leaf
black pepper
coarse sea salt

Got everything? Ok.

1. Heat butter, rendered bacon fat, and olive oil in a medium pan until warm. Add one garlic clove and cook until fragrant.

2. Add meat (but don’t crowd the pan!) and let cook until browned. Take outta the pan and set aside (but don’t let your cat run away with a piece of it).

3. Add the rest of the garlic to the pan and let cook until fragrant. Add beef stock, beer, fish sauce, tomato paste, tomato sauce, thyme, onion powder, bay leaf, and sugar to the pot. Stir and mix together, then add the beef into the pot.

4. Go watch a movie or something for over an hour (I watched The Saddest Music in the World) and let it cook.

5. Add the spinach, carrots, peas, and potatoes to the mix. And cook until potatoes are soft. Then remove the bay leaf. Add salt and pepper as needed. (or Honey. Because I like honey in my soup sometimes).

6. Enjoy!

I thought the beer added another dimension to the beef stew, which I’m fairly certain is a stock food in most households that have a number of people living there. I’d like to try this with a chocolate ale or something a lot heavier in the future. If anybody else does this with different beer off of this recipe, lemme know how it went!

Beer bread soon to come!

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