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German beer beef stew with knödelnAs for the stew, I've used all German typical ingredients although it is my own recipe, not a traditional one. It's basically a "boeuf bourguignon" but I've exchange the wine for a nice German dark wheat beer, add some German aromatics like caraway, juniper, laurel and parsley for my aromatics. Also to make it a touch more creamy, I add a touch of heavy cream to calm down all the strong flavors and make it onctuous.
So let's get to it!
Ingredients
For the stew
- 600g of beef cubes of 5cmGerman beer beef stew with knödeln
- 500 ml of dunkel weissbier (Franziskaner) or a wheat beer of your choice
- 50ml of heavy cream
- 30g of butter
- 1 carrot cut into dices
- 1 onion chopped
- 6 mushrooms (button or else)
- laurel leaf
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 5 juniper
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch (in a bit of cold water to thicken the soup in the final stage)
- salt and pepper
The Knödel
- 1 kg (about 8 medium sized) of "starchy" potato (ex; russet) or if you use a less starchy kind of potato (yukon,kennebec), double the amount of both semolina and starch to the mix
- 80ml of milk
- 1 tbsp of starch (cornstarch)
- 1 tbsp of semolina
- 1 tbsp of butter
- 1 slice of white bread toast cut into small cubes
- salt, pepper, nutmeg *last one optional
Directions
The stew
- Season with salt and pepper the beef dices
- Add the butter to a deep pan and bring to high heat
- Add the pieces of beef and brown them on each side
- Add the onion, carrot and aromatics (juniper, caraway and laurel)
- Add the whole beer
- Let simmer for 2h30 hours, moving it to make sure the bottom doesn't stick
- In the last 30 minutes, add the mushroom
- In the last 5 minutes, add the cornstarch mixed with cold water to thickens the broth
- Check the seasonning and take off the fire
- Add the touch of cream
- Serve
The Knödel (potato dumplings)
- Peel and cut into small cubes the 1/2 of the potatoes
- Cook in salty boiling water until soft
- Reserve
- Peel and grate finely the rest of the potatoes
- Add to a cheesecloth, or kitchen towel and squeeze all the juice out into a bowl (let the starch separate, takes about 10 minutes)
- In a medium size sauce pan, warm up the milk and add the raw grated potato , the semolina, butter, salt, nutmeg and pepper and mix well (take of the fire)
- Make purée with the cooked potatoes and add to the mix
- Eliminate the water from the drained potato juice and keep only the bottom starch
- Add the starch to the mix and the extra cornstarch
- Check for the seasoning a last time
- Toast a piece of white bread and cut it into cubes *optional, add a piece or two in the middle of the dumplings.
- Make a dumpling with wet hands and add to warm (barely simmering) salty water, don't boil or the dumplings will get destroyed
- At this point you make a single Knödel to test your potato mixture (optional but highly recommended)
- Let them in the barely simmering water for 20-25 minutes
- Serve with a pinch of salt and add some chives or parsley as a topping.
- Enjoy!