Irish Stew Recipe with Lamb & Guinness | Craft Beering (2024)

FAQs

Can you taste the beer in Irish stew? ›

Guinness Beer is a dark coloured rich Irish beer and it is the key flavouring for the sauce of this stew. You CANNOT taste it in the finished dish, it just melds into an amazing sauce.

Naturally sweet ingredients, like onions, carrots, and tomato paste work to balance some of the bitterness.

The meat in traditional Irish stew is typically mutton or lamb. (Mutton comes from a sheep that's a little older than a lamb.) For this recipe I used lamb because it's easier to find in grocery stores. As far as the vegetables, sticklers for tradition only include potatoes, onions, and water.

The main difference between an Irish stew and classic beef stew comes down to the protein. Traditional Irish stew is usually made with lamb, while beef stew is always made with beef.

Soups and Stews

When making stews or soups, make sure to replace the stock with stout or ale. If you're making a seafood soup or chicken soup, you can use wheat beer instead.

Beer adds a rich, earthy flavor to soups and stews that makes them taste like they've been simmering for hours. Beers with a sweet or nutty taste can add depth to desserts. And don't worry about getting drunk – virtually all of the alcohol evaporates during the cooking process.

it is mostly the alcohol making it bitter. Add sugar and/or ketchup to the stew to reduce the bitterness.

A black and tan is a beer co*cktail made by layering a pale beer (usually pale ale) and a dark beer (usually stout). In Ireland, the drink is called a half and half. Black and tan.

Guinness is stout, which of course is naturally bitter. To counteract this, I add a little brown sugar to the stew. I tested this recipe on separate occasions using maple syrup and brown sugar and found the brown sugar worked best.

The best cuts for stewing are shoulder, leg or neck fillet – it needs to quite a hard-working muscle with some fat marbling through it that will break down during the slow cooking to create tender meat. It's also best with economical cuts that are boneless – keep saddle, rack and lamb chops for roasting.

What thickens Irish stew? ›

If it's too thin, simmer it, uncovered, at the end of cooking until thickened to your liking. You can also thicken it with a cornstarch slurry made by combining a small amount of cornstarch with a little water to make a thin paste. Add to the stew and simmer until thickened.

However, the good news is that it is very difficult to actually overcook this dish. Your primary focus should be ensuring that it has cooked adequately rather than worrying about overcooking. A properly cooked Irish Stew should have a slightly thickened deep brown broth and extremely fork-tender meat.

Irish stew (Irish: Stobhach Gaelach) or Stobhach is a stew native to Ireland that is traditionally made with root vegetables and lamb or mutton, but also commonly with beef.

The famous Irish stew made with lamb, carrots, potatoes and onion was frequently featured on menus for third-class passengers on the Titanic. The stew would be consumed as part of the passengers' high tea, which was their second and final meal of the day.

I have found that Yukon Gold potatoes are best for this dish. Red potatoes don't absorb liquids very well and Russets fall apart with prolonged cooking. Yukon Gold are perfect because they don't require peeling, they keep their shape, and they cook to be creamy and flavorful.

Darker beers, such as stouts and porters, are known for their deep, roasted notes. They can infuse your stew with a rich, hearty character. On the other hand, lighter beers like lagers and ales offer a milder influence, making them ideal if you prefer a subtler beer flavor.

Beer can be bitter, which can quickly overpower a dish. It's much harder to reduce a beer's flavor once you've over-poured than to add some more later on. Plus, the longer you cook beer, the stronger the flavor becomes. This is all the more reason to start light and not underestimate a beer's potency.

It's rich in collagen, high in protein and iron and a good source of Vitamin B12. You can't get a more comforting dish than this stew. 350g portion is appropriate for a healthy & active adult with a good appetite or two young kids to share.

A Note on This Beer

As he puts it, “Quilter's Irish Death is about as close to an Irish Stout as a coconut.” Bear with me. Sure, it's dark and chewy and goody-thick. And yeah, it's loaded with a whopping 5 different rich and roasty malts — Crystal, Caramel, Pilsen, Munich, and Chocolate.