Porter Stew

Porter is a dark beer - somewhat similar to a stout, but not the same. A stout was originally called a stout porter - an extra strong porter. (You can read more about it on Wikipedia.)

I'm not much of a beer drinker, and porter is particularly dark and heavy - not my style at all. However, it's brilliant for cooking! I used Mariestad's Porter for this stew, but if you can't find that, any porter will do. Or in a pinch, I suppose any dark beer. But then it wouldn't really be a porter stew anymore, would it?

Porter Stew
Serves 5-6

1 kilo stewing meat, cubed
2 large yellow onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
4 shallots, halved
4-5 carrots, thinly sliced
neutral oil for frying
3 tbsp flour
330 ml porter
200 ml water
3 tbsp black currant cordial
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp concentrated veal stock (other concentrated stock is fine, or just omit.)
1 tbsp dried chanterelles, or other dried mushrooms
1 tsp dried thyme

Heat some oil in two large pans. In one of them, fry the onions and garlic on very low heat for about an hour, until they're lightly caramelized. (Skip this step if you must - it's not necessary, but it does add to the flavour.)



In the other pot, brown the meat over high heat. You can do it in batches, or all at once if you have a large pot. Add the flour, and turn to coat evenly. Add porter, water, black currant cordial, balsamic vinegar, concentrated stock and thyme. Let it cook, covered, for a total of three hours. Add the onions when they're caramelized. (Or if you're skipping the caramelizing - just add them before the flour.)

Add the carrots and the halved shallots after half the time has passed - about an hour and a half. Crumble in the dried chanterelles at this time, too.

Serve with boiled potatoes, and if you have some black currant jelly, or some pickled beets, they'd be lovely with this.

Recipe in Swedish:
Portergryta