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Beaters' Beef Stew

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So this stew is something I cooked for many years and one that was regularly enjoyed by the local shoots' Beaters all through the shooting season.

Beaters' are the people country folk who are used to drive game birds for those doing the shooting. It is often a cold and tiring job so you need a substantial hot lunch. But as the lunch was free to around 20 to 30 people — it had to be low in cost — so it's perfect in the current crisis.

Packed with vegetables the only change (as this is for a dinner and I am only feeding us) is that I have used ale, but you can simply use water — it will still be wonderful.

Keep your slices and dices fairly large as we are going to cook this for 4 hrs low and slow. Lentils are added purely to thicken the stew and will disappear completely. You can of course use a slow cooker for 8 hours or Pressure cooker for 45 minutes.

Click the Method tab below to see a step-by-step guide on how to make Beaters' Beef Stew along with some pictures as a guide.

Beaters beef stew and Yorkshie pudding

ingredients

Here's what you need :¬)

serves ?

  • 1 tsp sea salt crushed
  • 1 tsp black pepper crushed
  • 1 Beef OXO™ cube crumbled
  • 1 vegetable OXO™ stock cube crumbled
  • 2 tsp dried thyme
  • 350g Whole Braising Steak diced 2cm cubes
  • 1 Tbsp plain flour
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 large bay leaves
  • 140g shallots peeled & whole
  • 140g carrots sliced
  • 2 medium leeks sliced
  • 1 medium onion finely diced
  • 130g mushrooms quatered
  • 550g tin of new potatoes sliced
  • 110g Moong Dhal lentils
  • 500 ml bottle of Ale (I used Bishops Finger)
  • 300ml water
  • A good dash of Hendersons Relish or Worschester sauce

method

I buy my Braising beef as whole steaks as you have full control over the dice.

If you do not have moong dhal please use small yellow or red split lentils.

Take time to slice and dice everything in advance — as evenly as you can. I have used tinned new potatoes as they hold their shape well and will not dissolve into the stew, but feel free to use fresh if you choose.

Once everything is prepared, chopped and weighed — this is simple to fry off, just combine and cover and you will be free for 4 hours to do as you wish! I of course wrote up this recipe to share with you all, as Nutty often does! Once that job is done I may simply have a nice cup of tea ;-).

ingredients ready to go!
ingredients for beaters beef stew

let's cook!

  1. Crush your 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper in a pestle & mortar add your Beef & vegetable OXO™ stock cubes crumbled add Thyme and set aside
  2. Pre-heat your large pan with 3 Tbsp of oil and two bay leaves on a high setting
  3. Place your diced beef into 1 Tbsp of plain flour and coat well add in 1 Tsp of Dijon mustard mix through.
  4. Add half the beef to your searing hot pan, stir-fry, then add the other half and allow to brown for 10 minutes — stir occasionally.
  5. Add in your shallots stir-fry through, now add the sliced carrots & combine.
  6. Add the sliced leeks stir-fry through, now add the finely diced onion & combine.
add finely diced onions
onions added to beef and veg
  1. Push everything to one side of the pan & add your quartered mushrooms — allow to fry slightly.
add quartered mushrooms
mushrooms added to beef and veg
  1. Combine everything in the pan & add in all your seasoning & herbs
add seasoning & herbs
seasoning added to beef and veg in pan
  1. Combine everything in the pan, add new potatoes & 110g Moong Dhal lentils.
add new potatoes
potatoes added to beef and veg
then add moong dhal lentils
mushrooms added to beef and veg

*See below if not cooking on the hob.

  1. Now add your 550ml Ale & 300ml water stir to combine.
add 500ml ale
adding beer to stew in pan
add 300ml water
adding water to stew in pan
  1. Cover with a lid and allow it to just come to a boil then turn the ring to very low. I'm using a large ring — so it was set to level 2 heat for 4 hours on a timer.
4 hours later....
Beaters' beef stew cooked in pan

Four hours later... and we have my delicious Beater's Beef Stew. Look at those potatoes! — no longer white, but soaked through with gravy and tasty as tasty can be! Absolutely packed full of flavour from all that beef, veg' and seasoning.

I know you are gong to love this, so are your kids, family and any friends who are lucky enough to share this with you :¬)

*Slow cooker

Method once all is browned & ready — set into slow cooker, add liquids, then set on to low for 8 hours.

*Pressure cooker

Method once all is browned & ready — set into pressure cooker and add liquids, then set on to stew for 45 minutes.

Serving suggestion

Beef Beaters' Stew

Served with a simple homemade Yorkshire pudding to soak up that scrumptious, delectable gravy. Simple & delicious, but, with 4 hours to ponder dumplings...hmm!

4 hours 30 seconds later.... we're eating :-)
Beaters' beef stew and Yorkshie pudding

The perfect comfort food for those dark, cold nights.

Nutty's Tip: Now, if we were going to serve this with dumplings I would advise reducing the potatoes by half. The Beaters' got it served with a bread roll — which is of course an excellent idea.

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