It’s been cool off and on for a few weeks up here in the Great White North, but the last few evenings have been downright chilly. Brisk enough to remind me that brainS and meat have spent much of the past year filling my mind with glorious Crock Pot ambitions. An uncluttered Sunday morning (rare with a newborn) provided ample opportunity to get after it…so I did.

I picked this up from the discount rack at the local booksellers for $4. Paged through it for a recipe that I could make with what I had around the house; “Sweet and Sour Brisket Stew” fit the bill.

1 jar chili sauce
1.5 tbsp. dark brown sugar
1.5 tbsp. lemon juice
¼ cup beef broth
1 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
¼ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. salt, or to taste
¼ tsp. black pepper, or to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 well-trimmed beef brisket, cubed
2 large carrots, cut into ½ inch slices
1 tbsp. flour (optional)

The only thing I was missing in the pantry was something entirely new to me: chili sauce. Oh, and I didn’t have a brisket either, but at least I knew what that was. Fortunately, I did have beef leftover from last fall’s cow. After a bit of research, I found that my package vaguely labeled “roast” could suffice.*

*One of the nice parts about purchasing half a cow from the farmer who raised it is that you can be confident about the quality of the beef. One of the not-so-nice parts, you sometimes get something labeled “roast”…not rump, chuck, etc., just roast. But, for approximately $2.25 a pound for the quarter of beef I receive, I will not complain about packaging.

I did a quick search and found that chili sauce is easily produced in the home…here’s the recipe I used:

1 cup tomato sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar)
¼ tsp. cinnamon
dash of ground cloves
dash of ground allspice

Turns out, I didn’t have tomato sauce either. I found that this is also fairly easily produced in the home…here’s the recipe I used for it:

4 cups tomatoes, diced or 29 ounces tomato puree (I had a bunch of fresh tomatoes leftover from my container garden)
¼ cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup fresh basil, minced (also grown at home...south-facing windows!)
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Heat oil in large pan, add garlic and cook until tender.
2. Add tomatoes and cook until heated.
3. Add Basil, salt, pepper and red pepper, stir well.
4. Add to blender and mix until smooth

Okay. Now that I had the ingredients (finally), all I had to do was combine the chili sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, broth, mustard, paprika, salt and pepper in the Crock. Then I added the cubed beef, garlic, onion and carrots and stirred to coat. Finally, I set the whole mess to low and let it cook. I stirred it occasionally and then, after about 6 hours, I ladled most of the liquid off, thickened it with the flour and returned it to the pot for another 15 minutes.

The final product seemed very Indian to me. I ate it with crusty bread and seasoned it with a Habanero-based hot sauce (El Yucateco). I think cooking it with the hot sauce and then using yogurt or sour cream would have been a better route. No matter, it was pretty tasty and I washed it down with a phenomenal offering from Stone Brewing Co.; Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA.

The beer poured out with a slow intensity - think chocolate milk (made with whole milk and a really high quality dark chocolate). The color was nearly pitch black (see above) and the appearance was very nearly matched by the flavor - coffee, chocolate, toffee and biscuity/malty with a hint of spice and some hops on the front. I disagree with most of the BA reviews, I didn't get a significant alcohol taste - surprising since it weighed in at 10.8% abv. But, any alcohol heat which was present was well hidden (though the bomber seemed near bottomless so slowly did I sip on the product). How was this an IPA? Some hops surely, but, in truth I don't know much about Black IPA's...it seemed more like stout to me. I do know that it worked well with the stew and worked well after the stew was gone too.

I love Crock Pot season!