BEEF IN BEER WITH CHEESY POTATO BAKE & GREEN VEGETABLES

As with most of the other recipes in this book, you don’t have to
worry about exact quantities, especially with the meat, and you
really only need one bottle of beer, but it’s a good idea to have an
extra bottle on standby so if you find your casserole drying out
near the end of the cooking time you can just add more. If you run
out of beer, add more beef stock. And if, like me, you don’t know
the difference between brown ale and bitter – or are they the same
thing? – look for the words lager or pale ale somewhere on the
label and you won’t go far wrong.
Although the method is short and straightforward the cooking
time is quite long so you’ll have to make this in advance unless
you’ve got the whole afternoon. In fact, keeping any sauce-based
dish in the fridge for a few hours – or even a couple of days – is a
great way to concentrate the flavours, so it pays to make this
casserole long before you need it in any case.
Serves 4–6
2 lb+ (1.5 kg) stewing steak
1⁄2 lb (225 g) back bacon
1 large or 2 medium onions
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp flour
1⁄2 pint (300 ml) beef stock (1 stock cube)
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp sugar (preferably brown)
1⁄2 tsp nutmeg
Oil or lard
Salt & pepper
Small French stick
Mustard (English, French or Dijon)
1–2 bottles of beer
Method
1. Warm the fat or oil in a large pan while you trim any excess fat
off the meat (stewing steak and bacon). Season with a little salt
and pepper if you like.
2. Fry the onions and garlic on high for a couple of minutes till
slightly golden then add all the meat to the pan and brown
quickly on all sides.
3. Sift the flour into the pan and stir well to coat the meat.
4. Turn the heat right down for a minute – or take the pan off
the hob altogether to stop the meat sticking – while you make
up the stock.
5. Mix the beef stock, beer, vinegar, sugar and nutmeg together in
a large measuring jug and pour slowly into the pan with the
meat, stirring constantly for a couple of minutes until the gravy
thickens slightly.
6. Transfer everything from the pan into a very large casserole
dish with a lid and cook in a very low oven, approximately Gas
Mark 2 (160ºC), or even lower if you have a fan oven, for about
two hours.
7. Skim any fat from the top of the casserole and check that the
beef is tender.
8. Thinly slice into rings enough French bread to cover the top of
the casserole, spread one side of each piece of bread with
mustard and layer the bread, mustard side down, across the top
of the casserole.
9. Turn the oven up to Gas Mark 6 (200ºC) and cook for another
20–30 minutes until the bread is crisp and golden.