This is a humdinger of a stew. It is easy to forget stews and use beef for roasts, steaks and mince. I did, but not anymore. The recipe calls for Tracklements Beer Mustard but I used their Urchfont Mustard, which, with its touch of chilli, worked well.

Ingredients - serves 6

1.5 kg chuck steak in large cubes
50g butter
330ml strong ale
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
125 ml beef stock (or strong chicken stock)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp vinegar (cheap balsamic is good)
2 tbsp flour
salt and pepper
bouquet garni of celery leaf/3 bay leaves/sprig of thyme/parsley tied together
stale French stick, cut into diagonal slices
Tracklements Beer Mustard, or similar

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180°C

Melt the butter in a heavy casserole and fry off the onions and garlic to lightly golden over a medium heat. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Toss the steak in seasoned flour and fry off to brown in the remaining butter - you may have to do this in batches. When all steak is browned, return the onions and previously browned batches of beef to the casserole. Pour over the beer and stock and scrape around the pan to incorporate the meat juices and flour into the sauce.

Now add the vinegar, sugar 1 tbsp of mustard and the bouquet garni, cover and cook in a medium oven for around 2 hours, or the bottom oven of the Aga for four, stirring occasionally throughout cooking time to prevent the flour cooking to the bottom of the casserole.

Remove the lid and cover with slices of French bread that have been spead sparingly with mustard. Return to the oven without the lid until the bread crisps. Serve in warmed bowls with mustard croutons and robust greens like savoy cabbage or cavolo nero.