Beef in Guinness with Wild Garlic Dumplings

This Beef in Guinness with Wild Garlic Dumplings is the mother of all stews. It’s rich, comforting and full of delicious flavours.

This recipe for Beef in Guinness with Wild Garlic Dumplings was meant to be made in a Dutch oven over a camp fire on our annual Easter camping trip in the woods, yet life had other plans for me as instead I was laid up in bed poorly :(

So instead it all got rather unceremoniously dumped into the slow cooker and ignored until the house smelt soooo good that it tempted me from my sick bed.

It’s hard to imagine this could have tasted any better than it did, although the romance of cooking in iron over glowing embers does imbue a spirit and scent that could never be matched in an electric slow cooker. That said, this version holds no guesswork or tending so was the perfect meal to have cooking whilst I slept.

Beef in Guinness with Wild Garlic Dumplings

The gravy was utterly divine. The Guinness and garlic team up to make a sauce that is beyond perfect, whilst the fresh & green wild garlic in those dumplings brings the whole thing together. I’m actually drooling over my memories! If you’ve never cooked with wild garlic before, this is a great place to start – just make sure you pick from a place where cars or dogs won’t have left their trace, rinse well, dry with kitchen paper and chop.

If cooking your Beef in Guinness with Wild Garlic Dumplings over an open fire, get the pan nice and hot and sear the pieces of beef before adding the rest of the ingredients. You can still take this extra step if making in the slow cooker if you don’t mind the extra washing up although I promise you won’t be disappointed with the flavour if you don’t bother. Fire cook time will be a little more guesswork depending on the elements, but I reckon things should be looking pretty darn tender and tasty after a good 3 hour simmer.

What to do with leftover Guinness?

If you find yourself with a bottle or two of Guinness left over after making this dish, why not put them to good use in one of these Guinness cocktails? And if you’re left with half a bottle leftover, why not try freezing it and adding it to future beef based dishes, like this Ox Cheek Stew, or this yummy slow cooker Pepperpot Stew.

Enjoy!

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Beef in Guinness with Wild Garlic Dumplings

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

8 hrs

Total Time

8 hrs 30 mins

 

Servings: 4 -6 depending on sides & appetites

Author: Jane Sarchet

Ingredients

Beef in Guinness

• 750 g beef diced
• 1 500 ml bottle Guinness
• 10 small button mushrooms cleaned and quartered
• 2 medium onions diced
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoon cornflour & a splash of cold water

Wild Garlic Dumplings

• 100 g self raising flour
• 50 g suet
• 5 tablespoon cold water
• large handful of wild garlic stem, flowers and leaves, chopped

Instructions

1. Pop the beef, Guinness, mushrooms, onions and garlic into a the slow cooker and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-8 hours or until the meat is fall-apart-tender.
2. 30 (if cooking on high) or 60 (if cooking on low) minutes before the end of the cooking time mix the cornflour with the dash of cold water and tip into the pan. Stir and pop the lid back on the slow cooker.
3. Mix the dumpling ingredients together and using wet hands form the dough into 8 evenly sized balls. Stir the stew once again then pop the dumplings on top of the stew and continue cooking for the rest of the cooking time or until the dumplings have plumped up and cooked through.

Need more wild garlic inspiration before the season comes to an end? Check out my other wild garlic recipes here.