Ward off the chilly weather with this Bison Guinness Stew Recipe from Kayla Fioravanti of Red Cedar Bison Ranch. We absolutely love this premium grass-fed bison at the Franklin Farmers Market and enjoy using in some of our favorite slow-cooker-style recipes. Red Cedar Ranch Bison is raised here in middle Tennessee with no hormones, antibiotics, or GMOs, and is low in fat and calories with high levels of iron. This Bison Guinness Stew is an excellent  recipe for first-time bison buyers since it calls for a low-and-slow cooking method (the preferred method to cook bison), and also because bison has such a similar flavor to beef and can be easily substituted in many traditional beef recipes.

This Bison Guinness Stew recipe begins with a rainbow of fresh vegetables grown by our local farmers. We chose crunchy sweet carrots and red potatoes from Kirkview Farm, and since we have so many wonderful winter vegetables at the Franklin Farmers Market right now, we also decided to beef, er, bison up the veggie content with sweet golden turnips and rutabagas from Paradise Produce and earthy shitakes from Bloomin’ Shrooms, LLC.

Next, we visited the Red Cedar Bison booth to grab a 1lb bag of freshly frozen bison stew meat, plus a jar of Red Cedar Bison Bone Broth to boost the savory flavor of our bison Guinness stew. Once we purchased all our locally raised meat, bone broth, and fresh vegetables from our local farmers at the Franklin Farmers Market, we hurried home to get our stew on the stove.

We began by chopping our vegetables into a medium dice and mincing our herbs and garlic. We also ground mustard seeds into a fine powder to flavor our stew according to Kayla’s recipe.

We drained the bison stew meat and patted it dry with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture before we seared it in a hot pan. But before doing so, we added a hefty sprinkling of flour to our stew meat to ensure a nice brown crust. We added the stew meat to a pan of oil set on medium-high and browned the meat well on all sides. Then we added our vegetables and garlic and sautéed for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Then we added our herbs, spices, and flour, which added a great aroma to our stew before we slowly poured in the Red Cedar Bone Broth, stirring well.

Next came the fun part: the Guinness! We glugged 1 large can of Guinness beer, stirred well, then adjusted our seasonings to taste. We covered our skillet and cook for 45 minutes until the liquid reduced and the bison was tender and delicious.

Bison Guinness Stew by Kayla Fioravanti of Red Cedar Bison Ranch

Ingredients

• 1 tsp thyme finely chopped
• 1 tsp sage finely chopped
• 1 tsp rosemary finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tbsp Hungarian paprika
• 2 tbsp flour
• 14.9 oz Guinness beer can or bottle
• 16 oz Bison Bone Broth
• 1/2 tbsp mustard powder
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 red potatoes cut
• 1 carrot sliced
• 1 small onion
• 1 lb bison stew meat

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Brown the bison, add the onion, carrots, garlic and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Add the herbs, spices, flour and chicken stock and stir well.
3. Slowly add in the Guinness beer.
4. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer. Continue to cook for about 45 minutes.
6. The liquid, when close to finishing, should have reduced in volume by 1/2 of what you started with and the meat should be fork tender.