There are three Irish/British dishes that are the ultimate comfort dish for me: bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie, and beef and stout pie. There is something so cozy and warming about those dishes. After a long day or on a rainy, chilly day, any one of those dishes warms you to the bones and leaves you satiated for the rest of the night.
Like any other dish, there are plenty of variations on beef and stout. I am a through and through Guinness devotee. I will not make stout pie with any other brand. I actually am not a huge fan of a pint of Guinness… I mean, I’ve ordered a pint of Guinness before when a pub <gasp> has nothing else decent on tap… and that’s only happened to me once. My son and I went to a restaurant in Kilgore Quay and they had Guinness and two or three weird brands of beef I had never heard of… no Smithwick’s, which is my preferred pint when visiting Ireland.
Guinness is a very heavy beer with flavors that are perfectly suited for accenting food. From Guinness cheese for burgers and fries to Guinness chocolate cake! It is a tried and true stout, and I don’t screw around when making Irish recipes that require a good stout.
Beef and stout is a really straightforward recipe. At times, I’ve added mushrooms, or times I’ve added a can of diced tomatoes. For this recipe, I’ve kept closer to a more classic recipe, with a good douse of Worcestershire sauce and some steak sauce… both of which meld wonderfully with the Guinness and add a fantastic dimension to the gravy.
Like any other dish of mine, the key to tender meat is quickly sautéing the outside of the meat without cooking it through. For this dish, I like to cut smaller pieces of sirloin that are bite size. The last thing you want to do when digging into a pie is having huge chunks of beef that require you to bite in half off of your spoon! But, preparing smaller cuts of beef is trickier to sear to ensure that they’ll remain tender.
The first important key is to cook the beef in small batches… small enough to handle how quickly you will need to flip them from side to side. Then the first thing I always do is sear the fat side. And I always give that side a bit longer of a sear than any other side of the meat. It helps break down the fat so it’s not hard and chewy. After that, work quickly to flip the meat from side to side… with smaller pieces, you don’t need a golden coloring to a darker sear. You just want an even brown sear, which can be as quick as 30 seconds once the pot heats fully up.
As soon as each side is seared, remove the meat from the pot. Don’t add any new pieces until the current batch is done. The last thing you want is to accidentally overcook any piece of meat. Ensuring that you just sear the outside without cooking into the center will give you tender pieces of meat every time.
When the meat is done, I add olive oil and the onions, using a wood spoon to scrape up any bits the meat left stuck to the bottom. Those bits add more flavor to the vegetables and gravy, so you want to get those scraped up before they burn and add a not so good flavor.
The meat gets added back in once the broth, Guinness, Worcestershire sauce, and steak sauce are added. From there, the meat will finish cooking in the sauce, absorbing all those yummy flavors and giving you a perfectly tender piece of beef with every bite.
I use individually sized, ovenproof bowls to dish the stew into. But, before dishing in the stew, I use the bowls to cut out the puff pastry, cutting slightly larger than the size of the bowl. I also cut two vent holes for the steam. After dividing the stew, I lightly wet the edges of the bowl and seal the pastry to them. I use a plain egg wash. I know some people like to use egg yolk with milk or cream, or a whole egg with milk or cream, or just milk or cream. I, personally, am a fan of one large egg, whisked as my egg wash. If you geek out, like I have before, there are different reactions each mixture results in. The sugar from the milk or cream create different affects… yadda, yadda, yadda… bottomline, I like just an egg ~ yolk + white.
I place the bowls on a baking sheet just in case there’s any bubble over. There usually isn’t, but every once in a while, it does happen. Puff pastry cooks pretty quickly. I see recipes call for cooking store bought puff for 40 minutes… that’s just crazy to me. Store bought puff should cook in about 20 minutes.
I serve the bowls of stew immediately, placing them on top of plates because the bowls are HOT! I’ll cut back a bit of the pastry topping to let the steam vent and cool. And then we all carefully and slowly start digging in as the stew cools and our eating speeds up accordingly!
This is one of my favorite Irish dishes to make. And, I generally only make it this time of year. I’m not sure why, to be honest! But, it is a HUGE favorite in our house, so it is kind of funny that I don’t make it more often during the year!
I love this as a Sunday dinner. It takes a kind of Sunday dinner level of effort, if you know what I mean! And the results give you that satisfied Sunday bellyful when it’s all said and done!
Enjoy!
Pub-Style Beef & Guinness Pie
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
- Category: Irish, British, Sunday Dinner
- Cuisine: Dinner
Ingredients
1½ – 2 lbs sirloin, cut into 1” to 1½” cubes
2 TBs olive oil
2 TBs butter
1 medium onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 – 3 TBs fresh rosemary, minced
2 TBs fresh thyme, minced
½ cup flour
6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1” chunks
8 celery stalks, cut in half and then cut into 1” pieces
2 cups beef stock
14.9 oz can of Guinness
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup steak sauce
1 to 2 sheets puff pastry, brought to room temperature (1 pastry sheet should be enough for 4 bowls)
1 large egg, whisked
Instructions
Heat a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, work in batches to quickly sear the beef on all sides ~ NOTE: do not cook the beef through, only lightly brown and flip to the next side. Work in batches to ensure you don’t let any meat overcook. Remove the meat and place in a bowl. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil and add in the onions, scrapping the bottom to kick up any browned bits. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring often. Add the carrots and celery and cook. Lightly sprinkle with salt. Cook 6 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Cook until fragrant ~ about 30 seconds.
Add the butter and melt. Stir then sprinkle the flour over the top. Stir thoroughly to fully saturate the flour. Slowly add the beef stock, stirring constantly, until fully incorporated with the flour. Add the Guinness, Worcestershire sauce, and steak sauce. Return the beef with any juices and stir to combine. Bring the sauce to a simmer and season to taste with salt and pepper. Lower the heat to low and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to about a 13” to 14” square. Prepare single serve Dutch ovens or ovenproof bowls by cutting out puff pastry circles to fit the width of the bowls. Cut 2 steam vents about 1” long in the center of the pastry.
When the sauce has thickened and the beef has cooked through, spoon the stew into the bowls. Brush the edges with water and set the puff pastry circles on top, lightly crimping the edges to the bowl. Brush the whisked egg on top of the puff pastry. Set the bowls on top of a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until the puff pastry has turned golden brown.
Place the bowls on individual serving plates and serve, being careful of the hot bowl edges.
Enjoy!
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