For the meat, you can use whatever cheap stew meat you like. I like the pre-cut stew meat that they have ready-packaged in the store, but if you like to buy your meat in bulk you can use some long-cooking meat like brisket or ribs. Believe me, you want a lot of collagen in there because that's what makes meat all tender and delicious when you cook it all day.
Ingredients
1 lb beef brisket, rib or plate, cut into 1" chunks
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
12 oz beer (I like to use a wheat beer like Blue Moon. Just don't use any lite beer!)
2 c. water or beef stock/broth
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 1/2 c. RED potatoes, cut into 1" pieces (if you use the baking potatoes, they'll fall apart. Use waxy!)
1/4 tsp of each: thyme, sage, parsley (no rosemary, Garfunkel fans... it tastes a little woody)
salt and pepper
Directions
- Get out your pressure cooker (make sure to check the seals before you use it) and pour vegetable oil in the bottom, heating on medium until oil spits a little when you drop water on it.
- Sprinkle some salt on the meat and add to the pan, stirring until there's a nice brown sear on all or most of the meat. You can skip this if you're in a real hurry, but it's absolutely worth the extra flavor and deliciousness. The meat doesn't have to be fully cooked, just a little brown.
- Evacuate meat into a separate dish for a moment; you should have some nice crispy bits on the bottom after cooking. We'll use this, but first let's cook the onions.
- Add a little extra oil if you need to, and throw in the onions and garlic. You may want to turn the heat down a little; you want to caramelize the onions and garlic without having them burn.
- When the onions are a little brown and the garlic is soft, carefully pour in the beer and stir to get all the crispy bits off the bottom. Return beef to the pot, and add the herbs.
- Add beef stock or water. Pressure cookers can stew meat with only a little water, but we want to have a good amount of liquid for the other ingredients, which we'll add later.
- We're just cooking the beef for now, otherwise the veggies would get too soggy.
- According to your pressure cooker's instructions, close the cooker and bring up to pressure. Mine has two settings, high and low pressure. I like to use the low pressure setting, which will take about 45 minutes to finish cooking. You may have to just check your individual cooking times in your manual or online. Bring up to desired pressure and turn heat down just to keep a thin whistle coming out of the pot.
- Set a timer for 45 minutes, and check periodically to make sure that your pressure cooker is still letting a little steam out.
- After 45 minutes, turn off the heat and let the pressure release according to your instructions. When the pot unlocks, open and make sure the beef is super tender. After this much time it should fall apart pretty easily and the onions should be translucent and very soft.
- Take a taste of the broth and add salt/pepper if you like.
- Add carrots and potatoes and return lid to pressure cooker. Bring to low pressure and simmer for only five minutes, using the quick-release method to release the pressure. You really don't want these to overcook, I'm telling you.
- Check potatoes and carrots to make sure they're soft to your liking. If they're still a little crunchy, just cook the pot uncovered for another few minutes to soften them up. It's much better to undercook than overcook.
- Add a little fresh parsley just before serving to add some freshness to the dish, and serve with biscuits, cornbread, or over rice.
For the crockpot version, brown the meat and onions/garlic in a skillet until brown, add beer to deglaze and move the entire thing to your crock pot. Add liquid and cook on low for about six hours (or until the meat is nice and soft.) Add potatoes and carrots and cook for another two hours until those are soft, and enjoy!
OMNOMNOMNOM!!
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