My short term memory has always been craptastic. Sometimes, I can't even remember what I had for dinner the day before. Sometimes...I only know what day it is by what's on TV. How sad is that? *sigh*
BUT I do remember what S said about this meal. "You have my permission to make this once a week." Heh. It was pretty darn good, if I don't say so myself.
I don't drink stout. I'm an embarrassment when it comes to be Irish with beer. I think Guiness is disgusting. Anything that's IPA or even lager I just can't stand. I'm a light beer drinker. Give me a good pilsner and I'm happy. Actually, lately I've been drinking hard ciders. Have ya tried those? Angry Orchard makes a pretty good one. There's a few local brew here in NoVA that are pretty good, too. I've even had a hard pear cider. That was yummy.
Just like this meal. It was YUMMY! There's just enough of the stout flavor to enhance the taste of the beef and the broth. It also does a pretty darn good job of tenderizing the meat, too. Chuck steak really isn't something you want to treat like a regular steak. It's kind of stringy, so you really do want to slow cook it to tenderize the meat and make it all buttery delicious.
This one I cooked on high so I didn't have to wait for the juices to get hot enough to add the cornstarch slurry. The last time I did this, I turned the slow cooker on too soon and it just didn't turn out well. This time, I counted back about 5 hours and turned it on at that time so it was perfectly cooked steak and the broth was bubble just enough for me to thicken it.
Now, slurries aren't the only way to thicken slow cooked items. There's this stuff called quick tapioca that some recipes might call for. Yes, I've tried those. No, I don't like those. Unless you can grind it into a powder to add to your ingredients when you start cooking, you get those - Yup! You guessed it! You get those tapioca beads in your meal. That's a texture you don't really want in a stew or a soup. It just...doesn't feel right in your mouth.
You are more than welcome to look into those or, if you're familiar with using this product, replace the whole slurry process with the tapioca. Personally, I like the slurry. Even if that means I have to put the broth in a pot on the stove for it to heat up enough for the slurry to work. I'd rather that than tapioca bits in my broth. Especially not in this THIS broth.
Stout Braised Chuck Steak
Ingredients
- 1 pound chuck steak, trimmed
- 8 ounces mushrooms, quartered
- 1 1/2 cups stout beer
- 1 1/2 cups fat free beef broth
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 ounces egg noodles
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- Place the trimmed chuck steaks in the bottom of a slow cooker liner coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the garlic salt and pepper. Top with the mushrooms.
- Combine the stout and the beef broth. Pour over chuck steaks and cook on high 4 to 6 hours or until the beef is fork tender.
- Remove and discard the thyme sprigs. Remove the chuck steaks and keep warm.
- Combine the water and cornstarch and add to the juices in the slow cooker. Stir with a whisk to combine and stir occasionally until thickened.
- Divide the noodles evenly between 4 plates. Top with 1 1/2 cups of beef mixture.
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