Cats, Sheep, & Penguins

Ever since I first had Guinness stew at The Ginger Man I’ve wanted to know how to make it. Recently I’ve pursued this goal in earnest, and I’ve come close enough to invite some friends over for a tasting. With the stew we’ll be serving fresh bread made with beer and gruyére cheese (baked by my lovely and talented wife, Lysa), and of course Guinness Draught. To help pique the anticipation of tomorrow’s dinner, I’m posting an image of a recipe test I did this week. The Ginger Man version I’ll be attempting has much more liquid, but the ingredients won’t change; the test version was also a bit light on the beer as Lysa favors Guinness not so much as I.

I like thick, hearty soups to the extent that I don’t often make a proper stew; in the interest of full disclosure I’ve begun referring to these soup-stew concoctions as “stoup”. Knowing I have plenty of chicken and an open bottle of red wine, I decided to experiment with a cider & red wine chicken broth, only to discover, as I was heating the broth, that we are out of cider. Undismayed and too hungry to go shopping, I decided to improvise. Sharp readers will note that this was not a significant change from the original plan.

I decided to add barley, one of my favorite stoup ingredients, so I doubled the chicken broth from two to four cups; to this I added one 12oz bottle of lager beer, although next time I will likely add more beer or start with a bit less broth. With the mixture was reducing, I set aside a half cup each of barley and dried shiitake mushrooms.

In my indestructible skillet I sautéed chopped onion, sliced baby bella mushrooms, first in olive oil, then with a healthy splash of red wine; when the wine was mostly evaporated I added about a pound of chopped chicken cutlets.

When the chicken was evenly browned and the stock reduced to about four cups, I added mixed everything into the soup pot, covered, and simmered for about 45 minutes. The result is a hearty mushroom & barley chicken stoup, with a hint of hops and red wine flavors that add savory richness to an earthy body.