Beef & Guinness Stew - cooking with conks

Picture shows a white bowl filled with Beef & Guinness Stew. The stew is thick with a brown gravy/broth, chunks of beef, pieces of green cabbage, orange carrots, and pearl onions. A gold spoon sits in the bowl, and two pieces of bread are on top of the stew.

Ingredients

2 pounds beef stew meat, chopped into 1 ½ inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled & sliced
5 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled & cut into large cubes
8 oz 1 ½ cups pearl onions, peeled & halved
¼ green cabbage head, chopped
4 cups beef broth
1 cup Guinness beer, or other dry stout
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
2-4 tbsp oil
2 tbsp flour
Few thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
2 ½ tsp salt, plus more if needed, (divided)
1 tsp pepper
Optional: cornstarch slurry, (1 tbsp cornstarch whisked with 2 tbsp water)
Chopped parsley, for garnish

Instructions

In a bowl or zip top bag, toss beef with 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, and 2 tbsp flour.
2 pounds beef stew meat, 2 tbsp flour, 2 ½ tsp salt, plus more if needed, 1 tsp pepper
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches, brown the meat, cooking for a few minutes on each side (note: meat won’t be cooked through). Once browned, remove from pot and place on plate while browning next batch (may need to add 1 tbsp oil for each batch) until all the meat is browned, removed from the pot, and set aside.
2-4 tbsp oil
In the same pot, add onions and carrots, ½ tsp of salt, and cook for 5-10 min or until starting to soften.
2 carrots, 8 oz 1 ½ cups pearl onions, peeled & halved
Add the meat back to the pot and then deglaze with the Guinness beer and beef broth.
4 cups beef broth, 1 cup Guinness beer
Add the herbs, brown sugar, Worcestershire, and potatoes and cover the pot. Note: cooking the potatoes this way will cause them to thicken the stew a little. If you’d rather have your potatoes less done, you can add them to the stew with the cabbage.
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, Few thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves, 5 large Yukon gold potatoes
Cook for an hour, then add cabbage.
¼ green cabbage head
Taste for seasoning, cover, and cook for another hour.
After 2 hours, it’s time to eat! If you want the stew thinner, add more broth. Thicker? Add the cornstarch slurry, which will cause the stew to thicken up once it comes to a boil.
Optional: cornstarch slurry
Garnish the stew with fresh parsley and serve with crusty bread, if desired.
Chopped parsley