Food & Dining
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• Food:  Mamma Louise Reminisces about Motherhood & Food

• Good Eats:  Maple Beef Stew

• Links to Food & Dining Info On-Line:  Recipes with Maple

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Maple Beef Stew

I first stumbled on this dish over twenty years ago, when, one day during sugaring, I was getting ready to make some beef stew and thought, hmmm, what about some maple sap instead of water!?!.  ...

The result was ... well, if I do say so myself, delicious.  ..

Here, then, is the recipe.

Enjoy!  ...

Maple Beef Stew

Ingredients ...

• beef or venison

• barley

• fresh or canned tomatoes

• potatoes

• onions

• carrots

• celery {optional}

• olive oil

• garlic {fresh or prepared}

• parsley

• ginger {fresh or dried}

• cinnamon, and, of course ...

• maple sap or syrup

1. Prepare the meat & vegetables by cleaning and cutting into 'stew-size' pieces.

2. Place a large stew pot over medium heat and cover the bottom with olive oil.

3. Braise the meat first, then set it aside for now.

4. Next, placed the garlic and other spices {to taste} in the remaining oil and fat.  Once the garlic has become slightly browned, add the barley {about 1 cup for a stew that would feed 6-8} and stir, then begin to sauté the vegetables, preferably in this order -- onions, tomatoes {if not canned}, potatoes, carrots, celery.  Be sure each is coated well with oil and par-done before adding the next.  If you need to add olive oil, do so.

5. When all the vegetables have been added, return the meat to the pot, lower the flame, cover, and let simmer for at least 20 minutes, turning occasionally, as needed.

6. Next, turn the flame back up to a medium heat and add the canned tomatoes if that's what you're using, then, enough maple sap to cover everything.  If you don't have maple sap, you can use water, to which you'll add some maple syrup.  The proportion should be the reverse of when you boil down the sap to make syrup, so about 1 part syrup to about 40 parts water.

7. Lower the flame as much as possible, cover, and simmer for at least 3 hours.  {It's actually better if you let it cook slowly overnight.}

That's it.  ...

When you're done, you'll have a delectable stew with a spicy-sweet flavor that'll stick to your ribs.  ...  Enjoy!

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