Beef Stew With Buttermilk Dumplings

Total Time: 4 hrs Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 4 lbs stew meat
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 (12 ounce) bottles ale
• 2 large vidalia onions
• 8 ounces mushrooms
• 3 large carrots
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 1/2 tablespoons cold butter (cut into small pieces)
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg

Recipe

• 1 in a large bowl, toss beef with 3 tbsp flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper.
• 2 in a large pot over medium high heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil. add enough beef to pot to form only a single layer (don't overcrowd the pot) brown beef on all sides (takes around 7 mins per batch). transfer to a large bowl. brown remaining batches of beef in 2 batches.
• 3 add 1 bottle of ale to pot scraping brown bits with a wooden spoon. pour ale over reserved beef and return empty pot to med-high heat.
• 4 add remaining tbsp oil to pot. add onions and 2 tsp salt, cook stirring often, until onions are transparent and turn a golden color (takes about 20 mins).
• 5 remove lid, raise heat to med-high heat. stir in 3 tbsp flour, and cook 3 mins stirring often.
• 6 add mushrooms, reserved beef and ale, remaining bottle of ale, and carrots. bring to a boil. cover and lower heat to a gentle simmer. cook stirring occassionally, until the beef is tender (around 3 hours).
• 7 dumplings:.
• 8 start to make these about 40 mins before serving-.
• 9 in a medium bowl stir together remaining 2 cups of flour, 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp baking soda.
• 10 using a pastry blender or your fingers work cold butter into flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal with pea sized pieces. in another bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg.
• 11 gently fold wet ingredients into dry. mix until a very shaggy dough forms. if more liquid is needed, add additional buttermilk 1 tbsp at a time.
• 12 gently form dough into 12 equal balls and drop into bubbling hot stew. cover pot and cook 20-30 mins or until the dumplings are fluffy and cooked through.
• 13 let sit 15 minutes before serving. stew thickens as it cools.