Your Best Beef Stew

All the veggies get diced into nice small pieces for even distribution.

Amanda gives these dirty little leeks a bath.

Is Merrill making that face because she somehow senses Amanda approaching with that big knife?

A pile o' leeks.

Amanda uses her trusty meat pounder to pulverize several garlic cloves.

SmallKitchCara specifies to brown the meat well for maximum flavor; we cut down a little on the oil and kept the heat at about medium for a slow caramelization.

Teamwork makes it all so much easier.

The veggies go into the pot to soften and catch any of the nice brown bits.

Tomato paste partially obscures the "secret ingredient": anchovies!

Red wine from above.

Nope, it's not cranberry juice, but red wine vinegar!

Amanda squishes the canned tomatoes in her fist before adding them to the stew.

A sad little prisoner who somehow missed the boat.

Last but not least, the herbs go in. Now, everything simmers for a couple of hours.

The brandy politely waiting for the prunes to be measured so it can macerate them.

Nicely marbled beef cubes.

Merrill seasons the beef with salt and pepper, and then we let it sit at room temperature until we were done chopping.

As we were reminded, stews involve a lot of chopping up front, and then a whole lot of nothing once they start simmering. We discovered that we're good at filling up the nothing time with YouTube clips of Lady Gaga.

This, friends, is licorice root. A thicker twig than usual. Scratch 'n sniff -- you'll get a spicy licorice aroma.

Merrill coats the beef in flour. Butter melts in the Dutch oven.

The flour dusting on the meat is perfect -- thanks Merrill! -- it's light and not at all clumpy.

It developed a good nut-brown crust, just as we'd hoped.

If your last batch of meat doesn't cover the base of the pan, it's a good idea to add the vegetables to the other half of the pan so the butter doesn't burn.

In goes lush balsamic vinegar.

Then macerated prunes and rosemary.

Starting to look great and it hasn't even begun stewing!

Amanda has some technical difficulties opening the malt beer. Also, don't you love that brand name?

We don't know *what* is going on here -- and we hadn't even drunk any of the beer yet.

Beef in a beer bath.

Two hours later, spooning out the beef, prunes and vegetables.

Straining the broth, which is a rich, glossy brown.

Separating the beef, prunes and carrots from the rest of the vegetables, which get a little soggy in the stewing process.

Reducing th broth.

Dinner time!