A few days ago, I received an amazing dutch oven from one of my friends and I decided I would use it to make a meal for my valentine. I was going to make beef bourguignon, but I forgot to get bacon. I made beef stew instead. It was the first time I’d made beef stew and I kind of came up with my own recipe. None of the recipes I found online really worked for me, so this is my Smithwick’s Beef Stew.

Smithwick’s Beef Stew

1 1/4 pound stew beef, cut into chunks
4 cups beef broth
2 bottles Smithwick’s beer (pronounced smit-ick’s, lest you order it at an Irish pub and sound like a complete fool)
1 bag baby carrots, cut in half
1.5 pound small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into fourths
palmful thyme
palmful parsley
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes
salt and pepper

Combine flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. Cover the pieces of beef in flour mixture and put into a dutch oven with olives oil, half at a time, on medium-high heat. Brown the pieces and put on a plate. Continue with second half of beef pieces. Once the second half has been browned, place those on the plate as well and pour one bottle of Smithwick’s into the dutch oven to deglaze it. Let simmer for a few minutes.

Pour the four cups of beef broth into a crockpot. Add the browned beef, baby carrots, potatoes, thyme, parsley, and bay leaves to the crockpot.

Once the beer has simmered for a few minutes, pour it into the crockpot. Add one more bottle of beer to the crockpot. Stir and cover.

Cook on low for 7.5 hours. Add the fourth cup of instant mashed potatoes and stir to thicken stew. Cook an additional 30 minutes on high.

Enjoy with homemade french bread.

The first time I had Smithwick’s beer, I called it Smith-wick’s. APPARENTLY, that’s one of the worst things you can do in an Irish pub. It’s pronounced smitt-ick’s. Don’t make my mistake. Smithwick’s is a dark lager, that’s not as heavy as Guinness, but tastes absolutely amazing. I highly recommend it.