Recipe: Steak & Ale Stew

4th March 2019 | Words by Jack Hart @ WildBounds HQ

About The Expert

Harrison Ward, aka Fell Foodie, has created this stew recipe to get you started cooking outdoors. "I’ve always been a keen cook," says Harrison, "and with a recent love of the fells being ignited, it seemed only right to take the pots and pans outdoors. There is something primal about cooking over a real fire in the wilderness, often quite simply with a stove, a pan and your respective ingredients. The homage to ancestors of old is certainly not lost on me."

Ingredients

• Cubed steak (Chuck works well)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 sticks of celery, diced
• 1 bottle of ale
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh rosemary and thyme
• Cornflour
• Veg oil

Equipment

• Chopping board
• Knife
• Spatula
• Stock pan
• Camping stove
• Bottle opener

Dice all the veg (or dice it at home and pack it ready). Dust the steak in seasoned plain flour. Heat your pan on your stove and fry all the steak in some veg oil until seared all over. Remove it from the pan and add the veg. Sauté until softened and return the beef to the pan. Add your fresh herbs; I recommend that you finely chop the rosemary but you can get away with leaving the thyme leaves whole. Stir through and then add a bottle of ale to the pan. Bring to a simmer and cook for an hour (3 hours is best to really soften the meat but beggars can’t be choosers in the wild). The stew should have reduced and thickened but if not add 1 tbsp of flour, stir and cook on a simmer for 5-10 to remove the raw flour taste. Repeat until consistency is reached(alternatively you could use gravy granules). Serve the stew alongside a nice chunk of torn fresh bread and/or some boiled fresh veg.