Slow-Cooked Beef Shoul­der with Sausages and Mushrooms

Slow-Braised Shoul­der of Beef with Sausages and Mush­rooms in Stout

(serves 4)

2 tbsps olive oil

4 cloves gar­lic, rough­ly chopped

1 large white onion, quartered

4 large sausages (believe it or not, mine were fla­vored with black olives and figs)

4 size­able chunks beef shoulder

1 bot­tle Stout

1 cup beef stock

8 large mush­rooms, quartered

1 cup sour cream

hand­ful chives, chopped fine

Heat the olive oil and throw in the gar­lic, onions and sausages.  Fry till the sausages are cooked through and browned.  Remove them to a plate and throw in the beef shoul­der.  Brown on all sides, nev­er mind­ing that the gar­lic and onions are carameliz­ing.  That’s a good thing.  When the beef is browned, put the sausages back in, pour on the Stout and stock and throw in the mush­rooms.  Turn the heat as low, low, low as you can get it, using a heat dif­fuser or pad of fold­ed-up alu­minum foil on the gas if you must.  Cov­er as tight­ly as you can.  Walk away for 5–7 hours.  Give it a stir once or twice dur­ing this time, turn­ing the beef over to sub­merge each side in turn.

When you’re ready to eat, pour in 1/2 cup sour cream and turn up the heat to get a good sim­mer.  If you find the sauce too thin, pour a bit in a small bowl and mix in 2 tbsps flour, then pour it all back in and mix well.

Serve with egg noo­dles, an extra dol­lop of sour cream for each por­tion, and a sprin­kling of chives.

Again, the virtues of this dish are many!  Butch­ers prac­ti­cal­ly give away shoul­der of beef because it’s unfash­ion­able.  It requires long cook­ing, peas­an­ty cook­ing.  And dear read­ers, the ARO­MA that will fill your entire house as they day goes by.  I wish I could offer smell-a-blog.