As with most of the other recipes in this book, you don’t have to worry about exact quantities, especially with the meat, and you really only need one bottle of beer, but it’s a good idea to have an extra bottle on standby so if you find your casserole drying out near the end of the cooking time you can just add more. If you run out of beer, add more beef stock. And if, like me, you don’t know the difference between brown ale and bitter – or are they the same thing? – look for the words lager or pale ale somewhere on the label and you won’t go far wrong. Although the method is short and straightforward the cooking time is quite long so you’ll have to make this in advance unless you’ve got the whole afternoon. In fact, keeping any sauce-based dish in the fridge for a few hours – or even a couple of days – is a great way to concentrate the flavours, so it pays to make this casserole long before you need it in any case.
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2 lb+ (1.5 kg) stewing steak
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½ lb (225 g) back bacon
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1 large or 2 medium onions
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1 or 2 cloves of garlic
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3 tbsp flour
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½ pint (300 ml) beef stock (1 stock cube)
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2 tbsp vinegar
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2 tsp sugar (preferably brown)
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½ tsp nutmeg
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Oil or lard
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Salt & pepper
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Small French stick
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Mustard (English, French or Dijon)
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1–2 bottles of beer
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Step 1:
Warm the fat or oil in a large pan while you trim any excess fat off the meat (stewing steak and bacon). Season with a little salt and pepper if you like.
Step 2:
Fry the onions and garlic on high for a couple of minutes till slightly golden then add all the meat to the pan and brown quickly on all sides.
Step 3:
Sift the flour into the pan and stir well to coat the meat.
Step 4:
Turn the heat right down for a minute – or take the pan off the hob altogether to stop the meat sticking – while you make up the stock.
Step 5:
Mix the beef stock, beer, vinegar, sugar and nutmeg together in a large measuring jug and pour slowly into the pan with the meat, stirring constantly for a couple of minutes until the gravy thickens slightly.
Step 6:
Transfer everything from the pan into a very large casserole dish with a lid and cook in a very low oven, approximately Gas Mark 2 (160°C), or even lower if you have a fan oven, for about two hours.
Step 7:
Skim any fat from the top of the casserole and check that the beef is tender.
Step 8:
Thinly slice into rings enough French bread to cover the top of the casserole, spread one side of each piece of bread with mustard and layer the bread, mustard side down, across the top of the casserole.
Step 9:
Turn the oven up to Gas Mark 6 (200°C) and cook for another 20–30 minutes until the bread is crisp and golden.
Like The Article? Buy The Book!This article originally came from the book 'Fish Pies and French Fries, Vegetables, Meat & Something Sweet' at
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