Recipes In Practice: Pork Beer Stew

  • Check refrigerator for ingredients that need something done to them.
  • Glare at remaining beer.
  • Search internet for various permutations of “[meat] beer”
  • Discover that Ludacris recorded an album called “Chicken and Beer”.
  • Discover that there is a very popular recipe for roast whole chicken that involves sticking a can of beer up the chicken’s thoracic cavity.
  • Focus!
  • Find recipe for Pork Beer Stew.
  • Throw 1 lb frozen pork into microwave to thaw.
  • Begin chopping one medium onion (Bambi’s mom *sob*) and 2 apples, and peeling and chopping 3 parsnips and 2 sweet potatoes.
  • Realize you’re not going to be done with the vegetables until well after the pork is done microwaving.
  • Have samonella paranoia.
  • Finish chopping vegetables, and crush and mince 2 cloves garlic.
  • Put apple, parsnips, and sweet potatoesaside in 4 cup measuring cup.
  • No, too small.
  • Get out big bowl and put vegetables in that instead.
  • Chop partially thawed pork into 1 inch cube porksicles.
  • Warm up 1 tablespoon of butter in the big pot over medium-high heat.
  • When butter has turned into bubbly liquid, toss in onion, garlic, and porksicles.
  • Stir and cook until porksicles are brownish white and onion is transparent.
  • Open bottle of beer with can opener in least impressive fashion possible, and pour onto pork and onion.
  • Add 3 cups vegetable broth, or 3 cups water and 3 tablespoons vegetable stock.
  • Taste small dab of vegetable stock.
  • Receive entire day’s RDA of salt.
  • Add 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar, whatever that means.
  • Add 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard. Feel phantom top hat and monocle.
  • Add 1.5 teaspoons of dried thyme. Flagrantly fragrant!
  • Add chopped apples, parsnips, and sweet potatoes, being careful not to splash too much.
  • What did I just say?
  • Clean counter with rag.
  • Stir in 1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes.
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.
  • Simmer partially covered until smell drives you mad (at least 1 hour).
  • Enjoy your stew. Wonder who had the idea to cram a can of beer up a chicken’s butt.