I love Martha Stewart and Jacques Pepin because they show their audience how to cook; sharing their knowledge through their video's and tv shows. So many chefs choose to limit their audience by guarding all their recipes, which is understandable because it is the way they earn their money. But I have found my self buying all of Martha Stewarts and Jacques Pepin's books (for Pepin I love his videos), because they choose to teach instead of keeping their recipes a secret. My own young adults have taken to learning to cook because they have and example to work off of. To me, the chefs that choose this path have a win win situation...they teach not just the cook book fan but the family as well. I, myself, have become a better cook because of Julia (the original), Jacques, Martha, Ina, and others.
Well I did make one major mistake on this recipe before I even started... I bought $17.00 worth of chuck roast cut into 2" pieces and tossed it in the freezer. I put the frozen meat in my bottom drawer and was surprised the meat felt frozen two days later - so I let it set another 2 days and the meat still felt frozen... I opened it this morning and the meat was rotten. I had been feeling the center bone all this time... My dear husband had to go out and spend another $16 for replacement meat. So my family meat went from about $25 for a family meal to $41. Maybe this is a sign! (Still cheaper than eating out).
picture from Martha Stewart's website.. you can also find it in cooking school cook book (highly educational)
My review of the recipe for "us". I know I cooked it well... I and most of the family did not like the stout taste in the broth/gravy. The problem with my cooking this recipe could be that the stout I bought was a darker stout by Guinness (the only one I could find at our local store). I have cooked with beer/ale in recipes before that have worked out well and from my take, this recipe should have the regular Guinness not the extra stout. My youngest daughter liked the vegetables and the meat, my other family members and myself like the tender beef but didn't like the after taste that the darker stout gave to the dish.
Will I try it again with regular stout... probably not... but I am sure it will make the taste nicer for someone who wants to try. I love Martha's recipes and I am sure that the stout that was available for me was too "stout" to make the dish enjoyable for my family.
bacon _ she makes 1 inch strip lardons but I like the cubes.
drain the bacon and keep the bacon grease in a bowl - add 2 Tablespoons back to the pan for cooking the onions, garlic and then mushrooms - I ran out of bacon grease when cooking the mushrooms and added extra beef stock as suggested.
remember not to tear the meat off the pan - the meat will seal when browned and should be easy to move - cook the meat in batches and then put them in a bowl (you want the juices from them meat)
She has you add beef stock to the pan to deglaze the pan... let it boil a minute and then pour the liquid from the pan to the bowl of meat. Set aside
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Add 2 Tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan and cook at medium high (I didn't have enough bacon fat so I added a little more oil to make the 2 T required).
Saute the onions then garlic to a translucent (watch your garlic as it can burn)
if the pan gets brown add 1/4 cup of stock so that the veggies don't burn)
After the mushrooms/onions/garlic are tender add the flour and dijon let it cook a minute (or until flour disappears)
When veggies are done, add the beef and juices with stock to the pan and mix... add the remaining stock she suggests and the 2 cups of guinness or other stout.
Bring to boil and then down to simmer for about 1-1/2 hours, then add the potatoes and follow the remainder of the recipe.
My oldest daughter was an Irish Dancer for years - It was always so much fun to see her enjoying dancing... Back then we had to curl her long hair because the competitions didn't allow wigs like they do now. I still can't figure out how she slept with a hundred small plastic curlers in her hair! My dear mom in law has the Irish on her side of the family. Her own mom Angela was an Irish dancer in her youth.
Feis: a traditional Gaelic festival or cultural event..
Gillies: soft shoes (my youngest, then at age 2 wanted her own pair of gillies - I still have a pair of those small shoes. I am not sure how many of those shoes she wore out because she wanted to wear them every day. So cute. I have been blessed with wonderful children - I could relive it all over again but then I would miss the lovely people they have become today.
hard shoes
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