The Food: Beef Stew Tacos

I cooked these Tacos on Sunday. I wrote most of this post on Monday morning before work. Now I am coming back after work to edit and stuff, after a fun Monday -3 round in The Backyard – Aka Moir Park Bloomington.

Check The Video!

Good Morning (or afterno… no wait, it’s really like evening) my friends! Normally, this would be the Workout of the Week post. I am taking a break from the workout post this week and instead we are getting a new The Food post. This is The Food – Beef Stew Tacos from GoodAttitudeFood.com.

Pics of the Week

Before we get too far, you know there is a Pics of the Week video! Check it out.

On to the Food!

For this recipe, I used 2lbs of beef. One was a cheap beef shank, the other was a “beef soup bone” cut. They were both $3.99/lbs. The recipe used a mirepoix; onion carrot celery, with a diced thai pepper!! I made a “Pho spice packet” for some good seasoning. Aaaand I used a Surly Oktoberfest Beer to cook it!

Oktoberfest

Surly’s Oktoberfest is a very drinkable beer! It’s an “Octoberfest” flavored Lager with a caramel sweetness to start and a little light dry hoppiness at the end. This beer was a great one to pair with Pho Packet seasoning!

How to Make – Beef Stew Tacos

1. Thaw out 2lbs of beef. I like to use Shank and Soup Bone cuts. They are cheap, come with a marrow bone (which means FLAVOR and goodness), and I pick out the cuts with lots of meat. The cheapest cuts of beef I have When thawed, season the meat with salt and pepper. I let this sit at room temp while doing my prep and sautee.
2. Mirepoix – Chop up an onion, celery, and carrot in close to equal proportion and size. “The trinity of cooking” my friends… Level up your scratch cooking instantly with a mirepoix.
3. Turn the instant pot on to Sautee, More, for 30 minutes. When hot add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pot. Then add the mirepoix. Then sprinkle with a few pinches of sea salt. Stir occasionally.
4. About 15 minutes in, I crack a beer, take a sip or two, then dump about half the beer in and deglaze the pot. At this point, I stir occasionally and add more beer as needed until the whole beer is in and 30 minutes is up.
5. Optional – Thai pepper. I like spice! I also added a Thai pepper that my homie P gave me out of his garden – *follow my boy P @msp2081 on Instagram!* You could add cayenne pepper, or jalapeno, or another spice. Those Thai Peppers got that real fire though! *Don’t worry, in this dish, it balances well! Adjust to your spice level, just remember with an Instant Pot you pack a lot of flavor in a short period of time. I like spicy food. My friends like spicy food. I usually stick to one or two peppers (general rule, any hot pepper) and maybe a tablespoon of cayenne powder.
6. *The Pho Spice packet! The star of this dish. I made a “pho spice packet” for this beef. Coriander, fennel, star anise, clove, half a cinnamon stick, and some cilantro stalks – basically flavors used to create a Pho broth flavor. *Got this idea from making Pho Ga the other day. All of those spices wrapped in a coffee filter and then tied up with a string I pulled off a tea-bag. Works great! I added this to the pot and sat it right on top of the beef when it cooked.
7. Seal the lid, make sure the release valve on the Instant Pot is in the seal position. Select pressure cook, more, for 1 hour and 5 minutes.
8. While that is cooking rinse and wash the mushrooms. Wash and cut the potatoes.
9. Optional: Since there is time to kill while the meat cooks, go disc! I went and played a round of disc golf in “The Backyard”, aka Moir Park while waiting for the meat. When cooking meat like this, I like to slow vent in the Instant Pot for a while. I got back from discing with about 15 minutes of the slow vent left to go.
10. Release the steam. Pop the top off. Add the potatoes and mushrooms. I added a few chunks of butter and about a tablespoon of minced garlic on top of the spuds and shrooms.
11. Pop the top back on, push the valve to the sealed position, then pressure cook for another 7 minutes on the same setting.
12. While that is cooking, I like to heat up the tortillas. Get a pan hot, then heat up a couple of tortillas. **For this, I like to get one side crispier. Since these will have some gravy with them, the crispy side is the outside shell and used to keep the taco in tack despite the soupy gravy.
13. Once the time is up, release the steam valve. When pressure is gone, pop the top. Add a packet of onion gravy mix and stir.
14. Plate and eat! Top it with onion, green onion, and cilantro; add some hots (peppers) if you want. Would be good with some cheese, or any other your favorite other taco toppings!

Thank you!

Thank you so much for checking out this post! I hope you try the recipe. If you do, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

My homie P tried these and said, “Dude, this is almost like a Pho Taco. Bomb!” – Again follow him on Insta @msp2081

Be happy and healthy my friends! Be the hero or heroine in your story; AND EAT GOOD FOOD WHILE YOU DO IT!