Beef stew & Crispy Dumplings

hello again my name is John and welcome to my latest video before I get started on this recipe I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the well wishes for their kind comments after my recent surgery I really do appreciate it okay let's get started on this recipe this time I'm gonna show you how we make our delicious beef stew and crispy dumplings this is a list of the ingredients you'll need for the beef stew and this is what you'll need for the dumplings I hope in making my stew in this five liter Dutch oven alternatively you can use a ceramic casserole dish like this one or even an ordinary similar size pan as long as it has a lid what beef to use obviously you can use one kilogram that's 2.2 pounds of ordinary lean stewing stick just get your butcher to cut it into large pieces like you'll see in the video but what I'm using is half of this two kilogram top side roasting joint that my local supermarket was selling off at half-price just after Christmas as trim as much fat as I can't offer it and then dice half of it and freeze the other half I'm no butcher by the way or hold back on the comments please [Music] what I do know is more accidents are caused in commercial kitchens by using blunt knives so always keep your knives as sharp as you can that way you don't have to put so much pressure on the knife when you cut in something and in turn reducing the risk of slipping okay after dicing the beef caught the chunks in approximately 100 grams not three and a half ounces of plain or all-purpose flour this does a couple of things it helps brown the beef off in the frying pan as you'll see a little later and it helps thicken missed you in the oven [Music] preparing the vegetables for this recipe you'll need 2 large carrots 1 large onion 4 cloves of garlic one small turnip or sweet and one large leak I'll just let you watch how I prepare the veg for this to this stage can be done well beforehand [Music] not apart from the garlic everything is cut into fairly large chunky pieces for this to [Applause] if you haven't prepared a turnip or a Swede before this is how we have always done it first top until the turnip in my case then cut it in half straight down the middle and then sliced each half into four slabs this makes it a lot easier to peel and dice and by the way the difference between a turnip in a Swede is that the turnip has a slightly stronger flavor [Music] [Music] right and finally cook the large leek into chunks are shown in the video and don't forget the sea of about a hundred grams that's three and a half ounces of the outer leaves to add to the dumpling mix a little later now that everything for the stew is prepared it's time to start browning or sealing the floured beef chunks add about one and a half tablespoons of vegetable oil to a large frying pan and start to fry the beef until it's sealed or browned on all sides this looks in the flavor of the mate and like I said earlier the flour helps Brown the beef and adds a little thickening to the finished stew but it will need extra thickening later on when I add the dumplings using corn flour or you may know that as cornstarch do this step in two or three batches if you tried to fry off the beef all at once the meat will just end up boiling in an overcrowded pan instead of frying once all the beef is browned off deeply is the pan with a little of the beef stock from the recipe and pour it back into the stock jug there's a lot of flavor and thickening in the frying pan and you don't want to waste any of it pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius that's 325 height or gas mark 3 I'm set in mind a 140 as Maya and his fan assisted and runs about 20 degrees Celsius hotter than indicated on the dial let's get going on putting the stood together I start by heating up the Dutch oven on a medium flame it has about a teaspoon of oil caught in the bottom of the pot if you use in a ceramic dish like the one on screen do not put this on an open flame just add everything to the pot called but add an extra 15 minutes to the cooking time in the oven [Music] okay start by adding the vegetables and meat to the pot and give them a good mix [Music] now I can start adding the seasoning first is a quarter teaspoon of freshly ground pepper next is half a teaspoon of table or kosher salt then the four cloves of garlic [Music] and finally half a teaspoon of dried thyme thyme goes beautifully with beef stew the next ingredient to hurt is the 500 mils or 1 pint of beef stock I'm using some stock I had left from a roast joint I did at the weekend along with a little of the beef gravy that was left but you can use stock cubes for this because they are pretty good these days and now to the good part of this recipe which is 1 pint of strong brown ale or stout just pour it into the pot straight from the bottle I'm using our local brew which is very well-known in the northeast of England and has a bit of a reputation of making people fall down a lot personally I'm a teetotaler so don't worry the cooking process eliminates all of the alcohol from this beer [Music] and that's all of the stew ingredients together in the pot now I'll just bring the pot to a boil put the lid on and get it into the middle of the oven and set the timer for two hours don't forget if he used a ceramic casserole dish where everything is still cold add an extra 15 minutes to the cooking time in the oven [Music] okay vilest you is cooking I can get on with making the dumpling mix and this is a list of the ingredients you'll need for these leek dumplings 300 grams that's ten and a half ounces of self-raising flour two teaspoons of baking powder if he using plain or all-purpose flour use four teaspoons of baking powder a hundred and seventy-five grams at 6 ounces of milk 60 grams that's 2 ounces of butter 100 grams that's three and a half ounces of beef suet 1 large egg and 100 grams as three and a half ounces of finely chopped leeks start by finely chopping the 100 grams of leek leaves you saved from the main recipe first at the self raising flour to the ball followed by the 2 teaspoons of baking powder and like I said earlier if all you have is plain or all purpose flour add 4 teaspoons of baking powder don't get confuse with baking soda it has to be baking powder next up is the 60 grams or 2 ounces of butter and gently rub it into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs this took me about 3 minutes [Music] at the leaks and once again gently mix them into the flour separating any leaks that are stuck together [Music] now at the beef or vegetable suet do this step fairly quickly as the heat from your hands could melt the suet time to add the wet ingredients mix the one large egg with 175 grams that's six ounces of full or half fat milk now add it to the mix and gently cut it in using an ordinary dinner knife until it all comes together in a sticky mass like you see in the video [Music] this should only take about two to three minutes if all your measurements are correct it will all come together just like mine [Music] once it all comes together cover the ball with a tea towel and let it rest at room temperature until it's needed time to me a cup of thickening agent I use corn flour for this so you may know that as corn starch in a jug add two heaped teaspoons of corn flour and approximately 150 grams that's 5 ounces of cold water and give it a good whisk and I'll set that aside until I need it ok the two hours are up and it's time to start adding the dumplings if you're using a metal pan or a Dutch oven like me turn your hob on to a low heat if you're using a ceramic dish don't like the hob just do these next steps as quickly as possible once you take the lid off the pot you get a fantastic aroma of the hops from the beer mixed with the beef it really is quite wonderful as you can see the shoes already slightly thick that's from the flour we used when we courted the meat at the start place the pot on the heat and add all of the thickening this will also help the dumplings float a lot better [Music] [Music] now using a dessert spoon start adding the dumpling mix to the pot keep tip in a spoon in the gravy to prevent the dumpling mix from sticking to the spoon [Music] [Music] should be enough mixed to do about 10 dumplings before this demonstration I'm only gonna add seven if like my first dumpling here looks a bit small just add an extra bit on the top once the dumplings have been added to the pot they need to cook for 30 minutes for crispy dumplings like our making leave the lid off in the oven if you want soft topped dumplings put the lid back on now I need to raise the heat a little in the oven so I'll turn it up to 180 degrees Celsius at 356 Fahrenheit or gas mark 4 and set the timer for 30 minutes I've set my oven 260 allowing for the Fond assist and there you go folks the dumplings have doubled in size with a crispy top and golden-brown on the meat and vegetables are tender and delicious in this thick rich beer gravy the smell is absolutely wonderful this is what I call proper comfort food especially on a cold winter's night I let it rest for a couple of minutes and let you see what it looks like served up in a ball [Music] [Music] as you can see the meat is tender and just falls apart and the dumplings are soft and extremely light on the inside and wonderfully crispy on the top soon as you cut into these dumplings the first thing you notice is the god.you seroma of the leeks [Music] [Music] well that's just about it for this one I really do hope you give it a try as there's nothing too difficult about it if you follow all the instructions and measurements carefully my safety tip of the day is never used to dump a tea towel or cloth to remove hot items from the oven as the water in the material instantly turns to steam Armel travel very quickly through the cloth to your fingers so thanks again for watching I'll be back with another recipe very soon please like share comment and maybe subscribe by hitting the circle above in the meantime here's some of my other videos you may want to watch bye for now

Channel: John Kirkwood

Views: 256,039

Rating: 4.942966 out of 5

Keywords: Beef, Beefstew, Dumplings, flour, Dutch oven, Casserole, oven, cook, stew, vegetables, crispy dumplings

Id: H4SYCyIZYpA

Length: 17min 11sec (1031 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 31 2018