Backyard Chef Slow Cooker Beef Stew & Dumplings

Source video by Backyard Chef on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules.

Rick's pitch is British comfort food: a slow cooker beef stew with proper suet dumplings on top. The hob brown stays, 1 kg of cubed beef in two batches with a generous oil, three tablespoons of flour cooked out in the meat juices. Into the slow cooker with onion, carrot, celery, potato, tomato paste and thyme for 8 hours on low. With 25 minutes to go, parsley-flecked suet dumplings (made earlier, kept cool) drop on top and steam-cook above the stew until light and fluffy. Yorkshire pudding optional but encouraged.

Ingredients

• 1 kgbeef stewing steak (chuck or shin), cubed into 3-4 cm chunks
• fine salt and black pepper, for seasoning the meat
• neutral oil
• 3 tbspplain flour
• 2 onionsonion, diced
• 3 carrotscarrots, chunked
• 2 stalkscelery stalks, chunked
• 4 potatoespotatoes, peeled, chunked
• 1 tbsptomato paste
• 1 tspdried thyme
• 2 leavesbay leaves
• 1 tbspapple cider vinegar (deglaze)
• beef stock

• 250 gself-raising flour
• 1 tbspbaking powder
• fine salt (dumpling)
• 125 gshredded beef suet
• 60 gcold unsalted butter
• 2 tbspfresh parsley, finely chopped
• 120 mlcold water

Method

1. Season the cubed beef hard with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

   ~2 min

2. Heat the oil in a wide pan over a high heat. Sear the beef hard in two batches for 3-4 minutes each, don't crowd. Move the seared meat to a bowl as you go.

   ~8 min

3. Return all the meat to the pan. Sprinkle in the 3 tbsp flour and a pinch of black pepper. Stir for 1-2 minutes until the flour has cooked out in the meat juices and the oil.

   ~2 min

4. Optional deglaze: pour in 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and stir to lift any sticking from the bottom of the pan.

   ~1 min

5. Tip the floured meat and its sticky juices into the slow cooker. Add the diced onion, chunked carrot, celery and potato. Stir in the 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp thyme and 2 bay leaves.

   ~5 min

6. Pour in about 500 ml beef stock, just enough to come most of the way up the meat and veg without quite covering. Cover.

   ~2 min

7. Cook on low for 8 hours.

   ~480 min

8. Make the dumplings 30 minutes before serving. In a bowl, mix the self-raising flour, baking powder, salt and suet. Cut in the cold butter with a knife, then rub with light fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.

   ~4 min

9. Mix in the chopped parsley. Pour in 100 ml water and bring together with a knife. Add a splash more if the dough is too dry, aiming for soft and slightly sticky but not gloopy.

   ~3 min

10. Divide the dough into 10 roughly even balls. Sit them on top of the stew, evenly spaced. Replace the lid and cook for 20-25 minutes more.

    ~25 min

11. Fish out the bay leaves. Serve the stew with the dumplings on top, a splash of gravy over, and brown sauce on the side. For full British silliness, ladle a portion into a giant Yorkshire pudding.

    ~2 min

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