Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 1 pkg bacon
• 1 lb stewing beef, cubed
• 1-2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2-3 carrots (weigh this)
• 1 large onion
• 4-6 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp flour
• 4 cups beef stock, reduced salt
• 1 cup red wine, probably cabernet sauvignon
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp liquid oxo
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 200g mushrooms, quartered
• 2 tbsp butter
• (optional, pick 1) Potatoes, cubed
• (optional, pick 1) 1/2 cup barley

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Bake bacon for 20 minutes
3. Reserve bacon fat in a container and set aside. Crumble bacon and store in fridge.
4. Adjust oven temperature to 300, or preheat the slow cooker.
5. Pat beef dry with paper towel
6. Heat pan over med high heat. When hot, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and cook the beef until browned. DO NOT CROWD the beef. Cook in 2 rounds if needed. Transfer beef to an oven safe pot or slow cooker.
7. Add some bacon fat to the pan, enough to soak up the 2tbsp of flour
8. Add red wine and use to deglaze/capture the flour/bacon fat mixture
9. Add red wine/flour/bacon fat mixture to pot/slow cooker
10. Add beef stock/tomato paste/spices to pot or slow cooker
11. Cook for 2 1/2h. (possibly more with the slow cooker)
12. If using oven, remove the pot at this time. In either case, remove the bay leaves.
13. Take some leftover bacon fat and cook the vegetables until tender crisp. Add garlic during the last minute of cooking, reserving some for the mushrooms. Add this mixture to the slow cooker with 1/2h remaining or 20 minutes on the stove.
14. If using barley, add in 1/2h before the end of cooking. Adjust liquid by an extra 1 1/2 cups to account for absorption.
15. If using potatoes, consider roasting in the oven for the maillard effect and adding at the end.
16. Around 10-15 minutes before the end, cook quartered mushrooms in a pan with butter. Add these as a topping.