Variation on Irish Stew

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

I love corned beef and cabbage as much as anyone, but I hate feeling like I'm obliged to make it on St. Patrick's Day. I decided that it wasn't going to happen yesterday, and made an all-day oven stew instead.

This serves 4, with plenty for leftovers. I used a big-assed (6 quart) saucier:

Set your oven to 250 degrees. Yes, you read that right.


1 large corned beef brisket, rinsed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 pound baby carrots
2 parsnips, peeled, split lengthwise, then cut into half inch pieces
1 large turnip, peeled, cut into half inch chunks
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
10 - 12 baby red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon allspice
1 bottle of Guinness
1 cup water
3 tablespoons flour

Over medium heat, cover the bottom of a large, shallow pan with oil. When it's hot, drop in the corned beef and cook until half done (about 5 minutes). Add the onions, cook until translucent, then turn off the heat.

Stir in the pepper and allspice, then the vegetables. Add the Guinness, give the whole mess another good stir, then cover and stick it in the oven. After about two hours, whisk the water and flour together, then stir it into the liquid in the pan. Stir the whole thing well, cover, and pop it back into the oven until you're ready to serve it.

You really can leave it in there all day. I started mine at 10AM, we had supper at 6PM. I did reduce the heat to 200 degrees after about 4 hours of cooking time to slow down the evaporation. This was thick without being pasty, the meat fell apart if you looked at it funny, and the whole thing was just divine with soda bread and a bottle of Guinness.

Crossposted to df_recipes, real_cooking and my journal.