CROCKPOT COOKIN’: Pumpkin Beer N' Beef

Taco Tuesday

E loves beer.  He is ALWAYS sending me recipes that include beer but never one that really spoke to me. This past weekend we were at Total Wine picking up some of E’s favorite beer, Founders Backwoods Bastard (only available from the end of October through November), and I decided to pick up some Guinness and Redhook Out of Your Gourd Pumpkin Porter to cook with. We had just picked up a great looking steak that I was planning on throwing into the Crockpot that night. I thought that beef and beer would be the perfect marriage. E wanted to use the Redhook Out of Your Gourd Pumpkin Porter. I wasn’t sure what to pair with it until I remembered that we had some Hill Farmstead Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup in the refrigerator. HOLY COW was it delicious. I will definitely be cooking with beer again some time soon!

Ingredients:

Beef, steak or brisket will work

Beer, 1 bottle, preferably something dark beer

Maple Syrup, 2 1/2 tablespoons

Onion, 1, chopped

Fresh Ginger, 1 teaspoon, grated

Sea Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Sweet Potatoes, 2, diced

Directions:

1. Place the beef, onion, and sweet potatoes into the bottom of your Crockpot.
2. Pour the beer over the beef and lift the beef to make sure the beer gets under it.
3. Drizzle the maple syrup over the beef.
4. Add the ginger, sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
5. Set the Crockpot to low and allow to cook for 6 1/2 hours.
6. Once the timer has gone off, shred the beef inside the Crockpot and allow to stew in its juices for an additional 30 minutes on warm.
7. Serve in a tortilla and top with some of Bobby Flay’s famous carrot slaw.

Carrot Slaw Substitutions:

I used apple cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar because that is what I had in the house. I also used colorful carrots and added some sliced red onion. It was such a bright topping for our tacos!