Twenty-Four-Hour Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. beef stew meat cubed
For marinade:
- 2 onions thinly sliced
- 1 carrot peeled and chopped
- 2 stalks celery chunked
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 2 whole cloves
- 2 cups apple juice or cider
- ½ cup vegetable oil
For stew:
- 1 cup bacon pieces or cut-up salt pork
- 1 large onion chunked
- 2 carrots peeled and chopped
- 2 T. brown sugar
- 3 T. oil
- 3 T. flour
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ⅔ cup apple juice or cider
- 2 stalks celery sliced or chopped
- 4 sprigs parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ tsp. thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
- cooked rice for serving optional
Instructions
24 hours before:
- Place the cubed meat in a large baking dish.
- Mix together all marinade ingredients and pour over the meat, making sure that meat cubes are covered with marinade.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, remove the meat from the marinade and pat dry on paper towels; strain and reserve the strained marinade.
To cook stew:
- In a Dutch oven or heavy pot, brown bacon and onion together.
- When lightly browned, add the carrots and sprinkle with brown sugar.
- Cook until the meat is completely browned; remove bacon and vegetables and set aside.
- Drain the bacon grease and use the same pan to continue.
- Add oil and brown the stew meat.
- Sprinkle meat with flour and cook until the flour is golden.
- Add minced garlic, apple juice, celery, parsley sprigs, bay leaf, and thyme.
- Add reserved marinade and enough water to cover the meat.
- Add the bacon and vegetables; simmer, covered, 1½ hours, stirring occasionally and checking to be sure it doesn’t get too dry.
- If there is too much liquid, remove the lid for the last 15-20 minutes.
- Ladle into individual bowls and serve either as is or over some cooked rice.