Family Ties to Beef

My great-grandfather on my mom’s side of the family was a butcher in Jelgava, Latvia. 

Me at the piano with my super-talented pianist grandmother Olga

My Auntie Laima told me that my grandma actually left school for a while to work at the butcher shop and learned a ton about cooking with meat. 

My mom said that her grandfather would just shake his head at the ladies who would come into the shop and order the super lean (eye of round) beef thinking they were getting a tender steak when he knew better. No one enjoyed beef more than my mom. She would often have it for breakfast!

Reg and I both love a mean beef stew like the one he enjoyed at The Stormcrow for his birthday. For a weekend treat I made him this recipe by Canada Beef last night. A beef stew finished off with sour cream does this Latvian foodie proud.

I made mine in my Instant Pot pressure cooker but it is written for the slow cooker. Don’t have either? I would let it simmer on the stovetop for two to three hours until the beef is super tender.

The Video 

I wanted to capture Reg’s reaction to the beef stew live on camera so I made this short video tutorial and reveal. (He loved it BTW!)

The Recipe

You need 2 lb (1 kg) beef stewing cubes.

In a plastic bag add ¼ cup flour, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp dried thyme, ½ tsp marjoram leaves and ½ tsp black pepper.

You want to dredge the meat in batches. FYI, next time I will season the meat directly with salt and pepper. 

Sauté the beef in batches in a generous amount of oil. 

Make sure not to crowd the pan and do this until all the meat is nice and brown. 

You will also need 1 large chopped onion, 4 cloves minced garlic, 2 cups baby carrots and 2 cups quartered mushrooms.

Sauté the onions for five minutes. Then add the garlic for around 30 seconds. 

Deglaze the pan with 1 cup flat dark beer and 1 cup beef stock. Then add 2 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar and 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce.

Add the veggies and beef to the pot and stir. 

For those with a pressure cooker put on meat/stew setting and set it for 75 minutes. For those with a slow cooker cook, covered, on low for 8 to 10 hours or high for 4 to 6 hours.

Once done, add 1/4 cup of sour cream and serve.

Foodie Results

Mind-blowingly delicious! Seriously, this was so good. The only thing missing was the fresh bread. Next time! 

As I said before, next time I will season the meat directly and make sure to bake a fresh batch of bread to go with this stunning stew. There is nothing like celebrating the weekend with food, the ones you love and cooking with beef and beer.

Watch Reg’s reaction live!

Thank you Canada Beef for the food and family inspiration!

Some Stats and Facts:

Team approach
– Canada Beef heads up a league of farmers and ranchers from each and every province that work together. They are greater than the sum of the parts as they continue to work towards a common goal.

Economy
– The beef industry contributes almost $25 billion to the Canadian economy annually.
– Canada is the 8th largest exporter of beef in the world.
– 35% of Canada’s beef is exported.

Sustainable Farming
– In Canada, 1 in 3 acres of agricultural land is not suitable for growing crops but is suitable for grazing cattle.
– Canadians enjoy around 930K tonnes of beef a year
– Feeding high energy grains lowers the environmental footprint of finishing cattle.

Connect with Canada Beef here:

Twitter – @loveCDNbeef and #makeitCDNbeef
Facebook – facebook.com/ILoveCanadianBeef
Youtube – youtube.com/user/LoveCDNBeef
Instagram –  instagram.com/lovecdnbeef/

[yumprint-recipe id=’44’]Ingredients

¼ cup (50 mL) all-purpose flour

1 tsp (5 mL) salt

½ tsp (2 mL) dried thyme

½ tsp (2 mL) marjoram leaves

½ tsp (2 mL) black pepper

2 lb (1 kg) Beef Stewing Cubes

2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil

1 cup (250 mL) dark beer, flat

1 cup (250 mL) beef stock

2 tbsp (30 mL) tomato paste

1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard

1 tbsp (15 mL) red wine vinegar

2 tsp (10 mL) Worcestershire sauce

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cup (500 mL) baby carrots

8 oz (250 g) button mushrooms

¼ cup (125 mL) sour cream

Directions

Combine flour, salt, thyme, marjoram and pepper in a large heavy-duty plastic bag. In batches, add beef cubes to flour mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to plate. In large nonstick skillet, heat half the oil over medium-high heat. Cook beef, in batches and adding more oil as needed, for 8 to 10 minutes or until browned on all sides. With slotted spoon, transfer to 3-1/2 to 6-quart (3.5 to 6 L) slow cooker.

Add beer and stock to skillet and bring to boil, stirring to scrape up any brown bits. Transfer to slow cooker. Add tomato paste, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, onion, garlic, carrots and mushrooms to slow cooker, mix well.

Cook, covered, on LOW for 8 to 10 hours or HIGH for 4 to 6 hours or until vegetables are tender and stew is bubbling. Of you can use your pressure cooker and cook it under the “stew” setting for 75 minutes.

Stir in sour cream just before serving. Serve with red wine and a French baguette.