Pub comfort, built on the hardest-working steak in the share

There's a certain kind of dinner that belongs to cold nights — dark, glossy beef, onions gone sweet, a gravy with a gentle bitter edge from a can of stout, all of it draped over creamy mash. Blade steak was made for this pot. The slow braise melts its seam into the sauce, and the beef relaxes into soft folds you can serve with a spoon. Three hours, most of them hands-off, and it tastes like the best thing on a pub menu.

3 hrs 3 servings Prep 20 minsCook 2 hrs 40 minsMain CourseIrish

Ingredients

  • 430g Your Farmer grass-fed blade steak, each steak cut in half
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 brown onions, sliced
  • 2 carrots, thickly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 440ml can stout
  • 250ml beef stock
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 sprigs thyme and 1 bay leaf
  • Salt and pepper to season
  • 800g potatoes, peeled and chopped (for the mash)
  • 50g butter (for the mash)
  • Splash of milk (for the mash)

Instructions

For the braise

Preheat the oven to 160C. Toss the blade pieces in the flour with salt and pepper, then brown them well in the oil in a heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Set aside.

430g blade steak2 tbsp plain flour2 tbsp olive oil

In the same pot, cook the onions and carrots for 8 minutes until softening and picking up colour, then stir in the garlic for a minute.

2 onions2 carrots2 cloves garlic

Pour in the stout and stock, add the sugar, thyme and bay, and scrape every browned bit off the bottom — that's flavour, not mess.

440ml stout250ml beef stock1 tbsp brown sugar

Return the beef and its juices, bring to a simmer, then cover and braise in the oven for 2.5 hours, until the blade gives way to a spoon.

Lift out the thyme stalks and bay leaf. If the gravy is thinner than you'd like, simmer it on the stove, lid off, for 5 to 10 minutes. Taste — stout wants enough salt to round off its bitter edge.

For the mash

In the last half hour, boil the potatoes in well-salted water for 15 to 20 minutes until tender, then drain and mash with the butter and a splash of milk until creamy.

800g potatoes50g buttersplash of milk

Pile the mash into shallow bowls, spoon the beef and dark gravy generously over the top, and serve hot.

Appears in

Pack B & Pack D shares — Blade (~430g)

Your Farmer CSA grass-fed beef share — vacuum-sealed steaks, roasts, mince and sausages, paddock-to-plate NSW & ACT delivery
CSA Grass Fed Beef Share
From $176.67

Why Stout and Blade Belong Together

Stout on its own is bitter — that's the roasted barley talking. What tames it is time, sweetness and gelatine, and this pot supplies all three: the brown sugar and slow-cooked onions round off the edge, and the seam through the middle of every Your Farmer® blade steak melts down into the gravy, giving it that glossy, lip-sticking body that makes pub braises so good. It's an old Irish pairing for a reason — the cheap, hard-working cuts and the dark local beer were what home kitchens had, and it turns out they were made for each other. Blade comes as a ~430g pack in Pack B and Pack D beef shares, and it's exactly the kind of cut we bang on about — modest price, big personality.

Swaps and Variations

Any dark beer works — porter is a touch sweeter, a dark ale gentler again. No beer in the house? Use all stock plus an extra tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and skip the sugar. Diced beef braises identically if blade's already spoken for, and a handful of button mushrooms in with the carrots never goes astray. Spring-onion mash (champ, to the Irish) is the traditional partner and worth the extra chopping; buttered cabbage on the side completes the pub plate properly. And if the low-oven braise wins you over, our slow-cooked beef ribs come from the same share packs and reward the same patience.

Storage and Leftovers

This is a better dinner on day two — the bitterness settles, the gravy deepens, and the beef drinks a little more of the sauce back in overnight. It keeps airtight in the fridge for 3 to 4 days and freezes (without the mash) for up to 3 months; reheat gently on the stove. The leftover move: shred the beef through its gravy and serve it on thick toast with a fried egg on top. Make fresh mash on the night — it never comes back quite the same.

Blade turns up ready for pots like this in a CSA beef share, along with the rest of the animal's best slow-cooking work.

Frequently asked questions

Which stout should I use?

Any Irish-style dry stout or a local craft stout works. Avoid heavily flavoured pastry stouts — coffee and chocolate additions can turn the gravy harsh. You need one 440ml can; the rest of the four-pack is the cook's.

The gravy tastes bitter. Did I ruin it?

Almost certainly not — it just needs balancing. Add salt first, then another half teaspoon of brown sugar, and let it simmer a few more minutes. Bitterness also softens noticeably as it sits.

Can I make it in the slow cooker?

Yes. Do the browning and onion steps in a pan, then cook everything on LOW for 7 to 8 hours with the stock reduced to 125ml — slow cookers barely evaporate, and stout needs to concentrate.

Can I make it a day ahead for guests?

It's the ideal make-ahead dish. Braise it the day before, refrigerate in the pot, then reheat gently on the stove while you make fresh mash. It genuinely improves overnight.

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