Beef in Guinness

We continue our occasional series on the cuisine of the British Isles which is the official term for the UK and Ireland even though some of the area is now independent and even though the polls are closed now (01-05-2003) we'll leave it there. Beef in Guinness and before the residents of Tunbridge Wells jam our inbox with angry complaints we should point out at the start that Guinness was chosen because is is more widely available in Holland but we'll recommend a few alternatives at the end of the story.

Cooking with alchahol is not the preserve of the French and anyway it is stupid to cook something such as Coq au Vin or Boef Bourginion in the UK as for tax reasons the cost of wine is too high though of course vineyards are springing up in sheltered areas of the South even in Latitudes North of London - the current limit being around The South slope of The Chilterns and North Essex. Perhaps a future idea for a clickable map.

Here our our ingredients and a few points. Young chefs always talk about infusing a few ideas from their travels to brighten up traditional dishes so ours are freely available pepper of different colours as presentation is more important when cooking for guests. These add variety of colour texture to the mix which appears bland on first impressions. Note also the two sorts of meat. We included beef heart in our ingredients purely by accident as we had some left over and found that it added variety also the beef is a good cut though it was so cheap it seemed stupid not to buy it. Ordinary stewing steak soepvlees should be fine though we never tried it.

Pathetic really just a few green beans left from our trial run but it is best to leave these to soak for a few hours ideally after picking them from the garden,

Another innovation from our travels is to cook the dish on the hob rather than in the oven making it possible to prepare the ingredients overnight and cook the whole thing in half an hour. Ideal for modern couples who can coordinate this by efficient use of mobile phones and it will at least give fellow train passengers something more interesting to listen to than usual.

This is a Dutch stewepan but I bought it from IKEA so this should be available in the UK. If not there are branches in Dordrecht (for Hull via Europort), Delft (for Harwich via Hoek van Holland) and Amsterdam Zuid Oost (reachable via metro from Centraal station). Check the website for details or consult a friendly ex-Pat.

Due to the longer simmer time this should suit electric hobs better though you could ways use the oven and a casserole dish and use the oven. A tip here by the way is to cook jacket potatoes at the same time so that you can put the lunch on and go back to the Sunday paper. Traditionalists will once again be reaching for their email software in order to fire a salvo of abuse across the North Sea and indeed closer to here but we should point out it is more suited to modern lifestyles where both work and the dish is sufficiently scalable and different to make it suitable for guests.

With regard to cooking with alcohol the conventional wisdom is that as alcohol has a lower boiling point it all boils off but alcohol is not the only ingredient in alcoholic drink so we can give no guarantees and with regard to children the taste is distinctive and the probably wouldn't like it anyway.

You can chop some of the ingredients while the dish is cooking but open the Guinness before you get going or at least have the opener handy. This is the part of the procedure that requires the most self discipline particularly after a hard day maybe at work or after you have come in from watching your favourite football team..

Heat the pan and add the oil as normal

The test to see if the pan is warm. touch a piece of the meat against the oil and see if it sizzles.

Add the meat and the onions though you could brown the onions first, and stir fry on a high heat.

Poor in the entire contents of the bottle of Guinness we had one for every two people and that was perfect. You may like to drain off the fat from the meat beforehand but meat is so lean these days and if you stir fry you can keep the oil to a minimum or like us Internet millionaires cook in olive oil..

Pour in the whole lot resisting the temptation to think that it is a waste. Be patient. Turn down the heat to around a third.

Take the empty bottle and fill it with water roughly to the bottom of the neck. Vary this if you have a larger pan and for more people say with four the whole bottle etc. etc. For more than four you may prefer the oven though you could always do two pans.

Pour in the water slowly stirring as you go. then adjust the heat to a slow simmer.

When you have both hands free give the whole thing a real stir then turn right down until you see just a bit of bubbling up as a final adjustment...

Then put the lid on so there is just a bit sticking out keeping the spoon handy for stirring. Relax a bit and inform your guests of the progress as seductive smells should be wafting from the kitchen by now.

Here we see the other small saucepans note the potatoes are not peeled but washed thoroughly as there is more fibre in the skins.

Ah yes and there time for an arty shot featuring some of the other ingredients. The peppers went in the following day curry by the way.

Around 1-5 minutes into the simmer put the potatoes on. start on a high heat, bring to the boil then simmer but slightly more vigorously than the pan. Use the cover if you have one.

Time for an arty shot of our backup bottle of Guinness.

Boiling potatoes - turn the heat down to around half.

Five minutes or so to go and give a quick stir.

And everything else goes in.

Check the potatoes by putting a knife into them. If it goes in softly but without breaking the potato then they are ready.

The other two are just about ready.

Congratulate yourself on getting the timing right. This was our second attempt and it came together nicely as you can see hardly any liquid when the vegetables have been cooked.

Presentation is very important in cookery but don't waste too much time on it or the food will go cold - most of it was for the camera anyway.

We didn't try it but it occurred to me that the ideal complement to the meal would be a glass or two of "draught" (pron. draft) Guinness available in cans straight from the fridge. Do not cook with the canned variety and to confuse matters further canned Guinness is now available in bottles but for cooking only use the bottles shown in the pictures.

It also occurred to us that you could marinade the meat in the Guinness overnight as this would soften it but we had no problems with the two meat types we chose.

For the English Nationalists and indeed anyone who loves the taste of a full bodied strong ale try the dish with something such as Marston's Pedigree as it is strong and full bodied or dry cider serve with an upmarket version of the alcoholic ingredient.