Wylie’s Winter Ale Bison Stew

Thanks to justasmidgen.wordpress.com for this. I wonder if WinnCo carries bison?

Wylie's Winter Ale Bison Stew.

Wylie’s Winter Ale Bison Stew

Ingredients
1/4 lb bacon
2 lge onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 cloves garlic, diced

200 gm crimini mushrooms

1 cup flour
1 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
3 lbs stewing meat cut in cubes (I used 1 lb bison and 2 lbs beef)
olive oil as needed
12 oz Granville Island Winter Ale Beer
12 oz beef broth
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
4-6 medium potatoes, cubed
4-6 carrots, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 325° F.
Coarsely chop bacon and fry in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon and leave the drippings in the pan. Add the onion and reduce heat to medium low. Sprinkle sugar over and continue to stir over low heat until the onion browns and is caramelized and soft, adding garlic cloves in the last few minutes of cooking.

Remove onions and place in a strainer over a bowl to catch the drippings if there are any (depending on the amount of fat in the bacon, I didn’t have any). Add olive oil as needed and toss in the mushrooms, cooking until browned. Remove mushrooms from skillet.

Mix the flour, thyme, salt and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Add a splash of olive oil to the skillet and turn on medium high heat. Dredge, to coat, all pieces of beef and add them to the skillet and brown. Stir and turn the meat cubes to brown all sides. Take care not to overcrowd the skillet so that beef cubes can brown properly. Repeat for each batch, adding olive oil as needed to the skillet. As each batch of meat is browned, place in an oven-proof skillet.

When all the beef is in the casserole dish, add some of the winter ale to the skillet. Add back the bacon bits and bring the heat to medium high to deglaze the pan.

Add the onions to the meat in the casserole dish, then pour the beer and bacon mixture over top. Add the remaining winter ale and the rest of the ingredients, from the beef broth through to the carrots. If needed, add additional broth if more liquid is required.

Cover and bake at 325° F for about 1 hour and 30 minutes until beef is cooked and vegetables are tender.

Serve with a hearty loaf of bread to mop up the sauce and remove bay leaves and cloves, if possible.

Adapted from Cooking with Guinness

Hillbilly Stew: The Proud Military Moms Recipe

Here you go PMM. Can two or more varmint meats be used?

Possums- nasty vile disease carrying pests. My dog kills them on sight. along with woodchucks and the odd raccoon.

One pot campfire (or grill) Hillbilly stew
One pound meat of your choice- chuck steak is my preference- but you could use varmint. Cut into bite sized cubes
Four good sized potatoes
Six carrots
Two onions- more if you like them
Couple of cloves of garlic- more if you like
Flour for dredging
Salt and pepper
bacon grease or other oil or fat
Spices that you like- if you want hot and spicy- add a habanero or two. Or chili powder. I like cumin and chili powder
Salt and pepper the meat. Mix your ground spices with the flour. Dredge meat lightly in flour mixture.
In a sturdy stew pot or dutch oven, heat the fat or oil. Toss the meat in and brown on all sides. Might have to do this in batches- the meat pieces should not be crowded in the bottom of the pan.
Once all the meat is nicely browned- add onions and garlic- and peppers if you are using them- cook until onions are translucent. Do not burn garlic! Add liquid to just cover the meat. You can use water, stock- or for a really dark and rich gravy- use a dark beer. Bring to a simmer- DO NOT boil. (makes the meat tough) Cover and allow to simmer slowly- for about an hour.
While meat is simmering, prepare carrots and potatoes. After an hour check the meat with a fork- if it is coming on to tender, add the carrots. After 15 minutes add the potatoes. Continue simmering until vegetables are fork tender.
I serve this with biscuits- but that is another lesson.