Following recipes. A resolution.

I need to learn how to follow recipes better to become a better cook before I decide to wing it.  I'm decent at technique, but by not following recipes, things don't always turn out like expected.  Case in point, our New Years Eve dinner.  I wanted to make a nice beef and stout stew, so it would be hearty enough to handle a night out with friends.  I tried to combine a couple different recipes, which of course now I know doesn't usually work out well.  I can't really cook on the fly...yet.

Here's what I did (and what not to do):

1 lb boneless chuck cubed

1 T butter (I used EarthBalance due to my dairy allergy)

3 large carrots, evenly chopped

10 small fingerling potatoes, cut in half

2 medium onions, quartered

3 large celery stalks, chopped

1 1/3 c. Beef broth

1 1/3 c stout (I grabbed a large bottle of Guinness)

2 pieces of old bread

2 T flour

Spices

Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper, melt butter at high heat and brown beef in a frying pan for 5 minutes. Move beef to the crock pot.  Melt more butter and caramelize onions and celery, dump into crock pot and turn on high for 6 hours.  Add potatoes and carrots to crock pot.  In the frying pan, melt a bit more butter, then add flour and cook into a roux of sorts, scrapping up all the bits left in the pan from the meat.  Then add some broth, about 1/2 c, bubble and then pour into the crock pot.  Pour the rest of the broth and stout in and add spices.  I used thyme, rosemary, parsley and salt and pepper, probably a teaspoon of the first three.  (Again, I need to work on measuring things.). As I had extra broth in the can, and extra stout, I just poured those in as well.  Cook for four hours, then rip up the bread in small pieces and add those, put the lid back on.  That was it.  

The biggest problem was that it was bitter.  I overlooked the part that most recipes called for a little bit of sugar, and once we added some to our bowls it was better, but there was something still not quite right.  However it did smell delicious!

With drop biscuits and some broccolini on the side, we survived!  Happy New Years and on to the next recipe that I will actually try to follow. :)