Irish Beef Stew

This was a bit of a process.
Ingredients

• ~3.5 to 4 lbs of beef. We used rump roast I think? I don't know. There was NOT much fat on it, but the soup was still quite delicious. So I guess I recommend a leaner cut because the soup is healthier? I don't know. Anyway, trim excess fat and cut into rough 1" cubes.
  
• ~6 cloves garlic
  
• 8c beef stock
  
• 1-2tbsp tomato paste
  
• 1tbsp sugar
  
• 3tbsp fresh thyme
  
• 1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
  
  
• 2tbsp butter
  
• 5-6 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed (1/2")
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
  
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
  
• 2tbsp dried parsley
  
• a little cooking wine
  

Heat a skillet with some high smoke-point oil. Add all the beef and saute until more or less brown on all sides. This could take a while, since there's SO MUCH BEEF. Add the garlic, beef stock, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer.

Meanwhile, throw all the rest of the ingredients (butter, potatoes, onion, carrot, parsley) into a pot. Saute until the potatoes are just starting to get tender.

Here's the fun part. Combine everything. Done that? Now just let it simmer for about an hour. If you can go for 1.5 or 2 hours, that's probably better. After that time, taste the beef. Is it tender enough for you? Maybe let it go even longer. We went about 1 hour until we got sick of waiting, but the beef was just the right texture. We let it cook a little longer after we ate, and I think the flavors DID get a little better. The leftovers are really great.

Thoughts: NEVER MAKE THIS MUCH SOUP. Half the recipe and you'll be eating soup for a week. I swear. Four pounds of beef and 5 potatoes? What the heck? Anyway, I thought the flavors were really pretty good. In the future, I would try to caramelize the beef AND the vegetables a bit more before combining them. Next time we should make it with some bread, too.

Disaster Index: 1/10 - improves with leftovers