Going Dutch

Did some stew today in a refurbished dutch oven. It is GOOD!

I did the Samurai Tailor thing to a couple of carrots, a half a small onion, and a big 'tater. Opened a bag of stew meat and some baby broccoli, for a bit of broccoli.



Put the meat in the charcoal fired dutch oven...brown baby, brown.



Then poured off the oil after the meat browned and added a can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of cream of celery soup, with water to cover, along with a couple of teaspoons of beef Better than Bouillon. Put it on the fire to warm up.



Started some more coals while the stew was warming up. Time to sit down and grab a cold be...I mean time to slave over a hot fire.



Put in some Kitchen Bouquet for some browning of the gravy.



Put some more coals on to get things warming up. Took a couple of coals off the top after it started getting to get cooking well.



I think we are done.


Had to have some cornbread in the cast iron cornbread maker.





I'm full.

Did I say it was good stuff?

Broke in my newly refurbished 20 year old dutch oven.

It worked great, and the oven looks great after cleaning and an initial oiling after the cook.

What kind I'd stew? Where are the pictures? Did it include mushrooms? What kind of meat did you use? Mike, your wearing me out here.

DoctorShavegood said:

What kind I'd stew? Where are the pictures? Did it include mushrooms? What kind of meat did you use? Mike, your waring me out here.

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don't worry Aaron I'll take over from here.........did it have beer in it, what type of beer.....please tell me it had Guinness in it....

Sorry guys, the puter died on me while I was posting.

I fixed it!

No Chris, no beer in the stew...just in my belly, along with a bowl of Hal O' The Wynd in the pipe.

Oh, food and Wynd is not a real good post.

That looks great. I've never seen a cornbread maker, I like the look of it.

Looks very good Mike. Beer in the belly is the best.
I have been wanting to make a Irish stew for a few weeks now with Guinness, one for the pot and the rest for the cook.

dougydee said:

That looks great. I've never seen a cornbread maker, I like the look of it.

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The ones that look like an ear of corn are all over the place here. They have ones that are shaped like cactus also. I got that one at a hardware store here.

The wife didn't like the taste of the "pre-seasoned" cornbread maker so I stripped it down and re-seasoned it. Today was it's maiden voyage.

Turned out great! SWMBO loved it.

I guess I'm out of the dog house now.

cleanshaved said:

Looks very good Mike. Beer in the belly is the best.
I have been wanting to make a Irish stew for a few weeks now with Guinness, one for the pot and the rest for the cook.

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Gonna have to try that with Guinness next time Chris. May use my 8 inch oven for that. SWMBO doesn't like beer...at all.

Ya think about a half of a bottle would be enough? Gives me an excuse to buy some.

Next time I'm in Beeville I'm on the hunt for a cornbread finger mold.

simon1 said:

Gonna have to try that with Guinness next time Chris. May use my 8 inch oven for that. SWMBO doesn't like beer...at all.

Ya think about a half of a bottle would be enough? Gives me an excuse to buy some.

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I prefer Guinness from a can for drinking. There is a little ball in the can that releases Co2 when you open it, pour in a glass and enjoy.
about half a can is a good amount for the stew.

http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/cooking_beef_stew.aspx

and the Guinness can http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFpK4fj5tRs

That ball in the can freaked me out the first time I had Guinness Draught. I wasn't aware that thing was supposed to be in there and was about to turn green at the horror of what it could be.

Good looking stew Simon1, though "cream of celery" is one of the most unappetizing sounding soup names on the market.

Looks good. I'm more of an everything-from-scratch kind of guy, but your stew looks wonderful.

Brown. The. Meat. The biggest hint I can give to make any braise richer.

Vespasian said:

Looks good. I'm more of an everything-from-scratch kind of guy, but your stew looks wonderful.

Brown. The. Meat. The biggest hint I can give to make any braise richer.

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Everything from scratch is always better, but the taters, onions, and other fresh stuff from the garden this year has already been eaten now. Had to use taters, onion, and carrots from the store. And I wasn't going to make soup just for the stew.

DoctorShavegood said:

What kind of meat did you use?

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The stew meat is from a cow we went in half on last spring, so the only thing packaged was the broccoli, canned soup, better than bouillon, and kitchen bouquet. If I don't have locally raised meat, that has been custom processed, I usually cut up a roast for stew, chili, etc.

Argonaut said:

Good looking stew Simon1, though "cream of celery" is one of the most unappetizing sounding soup names on the market.

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I was only going to use cream of mushroom, like I always do and we always have several cans of it, but when I went to make it we only had one can left. So I just threw in a can of cream of celery. I was a little hesitant, but it turned out great!

Looks really great, this is motivating me to make a chili this weekend! Had to look up Kitchen Bouquet though. Not something I've used before but it's interesting!

I can't wait to make some of these stews and chilli's when I finally get my Lodge Dutch Oven (hopefully this week)

Now you have me eyeing the corn bread pan as I know the kids would LOVE it...as would I.

cleanshaved said:

I have been wanting to make a Irish stew for a few weeks now with Guinness, one for the pot and the rest for the cook.

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I saw a recent Cook's Country episode where they made a great Guinness beef stew and was able to find the recipe online here. The nice thing about is that you don't need to brown the meat, so it saves about 15-20 minutes and (in my experience anyway) airing out the kitchen after the smoke alarms go off!

jpakstis said:

...airing out the kitchen after the smoke alarms go off!

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That's been a running joke at my folks house for years....now every time they come over for supper, both out alarms go off when we are cooking

brucered said:

That's been a running joke at my folks house for years....now every time they come over for supper, both out alarms go off when we are cooking

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Heh, the big problem is that during the week, I'll cook something like a stew or a chili after dinner and after our daughters (age 3 and 5) go to bed. Pro parenting tip: its very difficult for them to stay asleep with the alarms blaring.

Looks awesome. We are Scout camping this weekend and the DO will get a workout.

1. Saturday morning, I am using it like a large frying pan to make a bacon, hash browns, eggs, cheese, onions scramble.

2. Saturday evening, a stew with London Broil, vegetables and some salsa, BBQ sauce, and sprigs of rosemary for seasoning,
2A. DO #2 will yield us a peach cobbler.

3. Sunday morning, back to the DO for a banana coffee cake served piping hot with some Greek yogurt and granola

I'm already hungry.

BSAGuy said:

Looks awesome. We are Scout camping this weekend and the DO will get a workout.

1. Saturday morning, I am using it like a large frying pan to make a bacon, hash browns, eggs, cheese, onions scramble.

2. Saturday evening, a stew with London Broil, vegetables and some salsa, BBQ sauce, and sprigs of rosemary for seasoning,
2A. DO #2 will yield us a peach cobbler.

3. Sunday morning, back to the DO for a banana coffee cake served piping hot with some Greek yogurt and granola

I'm already hungry.

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Man oh man...You're eating better in the field then I do at home.