5 Best Beef Cuts For Irish Stew: What Cuts Of Beef Will Make Your Irish Stew Better?
Irish stew is a traditional dish that has been around for centuries.
I'm an experienced food writer and passionate cook. My website, Cookindocs.com, features accessible, informative, and engaging content with quality recipes and articles that are thoroughly researched and enjoyable to read. You can trust my expertise with 8 years of experience in the field. Learn more about me and my work on this website, and check out my featured articles on TastingTable, Mashed, and 5-Minute Crafts. Read more about me HERE.
It is typically made with lamb or mutton with other vegetables like potatoes, onions, and carrots.
However, if you don’t have lamb or mutton in your area, beef would act as a great substitute.
Accompany us and let’s figure out which cut of beef is best for your Irish stew.
How to choose beef for Irish stew?
An Irish stew consists of cubes of meat and root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, and onions cooked in broth to create a comforting meal.
In case you use beef as the choice of meat for your Irish stew, you should have a good cut of beef to make sure that your stew has the best taste and texture.
Let’s take a look at the following tips that can help you choose the best beef for your Irish stew:
1. Look for a tough and well-marbled cut of beef
Irish stews, like other stew recipes, feature meat that is slow-cooked for hours until very tender.
Therefore, it is best to opt for a tough cut of beef with some marbling fat running throughout the cut.
A tough cut of beef often comes with more flavors and a more affordable price compared to a tender counterpart.
While a lean cut might be dry when overcooked and a fatty cut is relatively greasy, a cut with a sufficient amount of marbling fat will be a good choice in this case.
This will help keep the meat moist and flavorful even when cooked for hours.
2. Choose a package of pre-sliced beef stew for more convenience
The easiest way to choose beef for Irish stew is to buy a package of beef stew.
Beef stew often refers to a tough cut like chuck roast or round roast that is typically used for stewing and pre-sliced into cubes.
You can find a package of beef stew in any grocery store, butcher shop, or supermarket without any fuss.
3. A fresh cut of organic beef is the best choice for an Irish stew
The last thing that you should keep in mind when choosing beef for an Irish stew is that a fresh cut of beef will obviously work better than frozen beef.
It will be even greater if you can buy organic or grass-fed beef because this kind of meat is healthier and tastier.
The cows receive no antibiotics or hormones while being raised so they produce higher-quality meat.
As a result, organic beef is also pricier than regular grain-fed beef.
5 best beef for Irish stew
To make a hearty pot of Irish beef stew, besides knowing some tips to choose the best cut of beef, you should also be aware of what cut of beef to look for among a variety of beef cuts out there on the market:
1. Chuck roast
Chuck roast is what first comes to our minds when thinking of a good cut for stewing.
- 5 Ways To Make Your Beef Goulash Better With Side Dishes
- 5 Best Beef For Jerky: What Is The Best Cut Of Beef For Making Jerky?
- Strange But True: Your Beef Tastes Like Quinoa! How To Fix The Quinoa Taste From Beef?
- 3 Best Side Dishes To Serve With Thai Beef Salad (and Why They’re So Amazing)
- 5 Delicious Side Dish Recipes To Serve With Beef Rouladen
Chuck roast has a tough texture, flavorful taste, good amount of marbling fat, and is very affordable.
It is also the cut that is typically pre-sliced into cubes and sold as “beef stew” on the market.
2. Boneless beef short ribs
You can also opt for boneless beef short ribs for your Irish stew.
This cut actually comes from the chuck area instead of the rib cage of the animal.
It is sold without the bones so it looks like deboned short ribs, hence the name.
Boneless beef short ribs are meaty, well-marbled, and have a strong beefy flavor that is great for stewing.
3. Bone-in short ribs
You can buy bone-in short ribs and use this cut for your Irish stew too.
Bone-in short ribs are actual rib cuts with the bones still intact.
This makes this cut much more flavorful and the meat can fall off the bones after being slow-cooked for hours.
Bone-in short ribs are more expensive than boneless short ribs, but they are worth every penny.
4. Beef shank
Beef shank is another good option for an Irish stew.
This cut is taken from the leg of the cattle.
It contains a lot of connective tissues that will be broken down after being cooked in a liquid for hours.
Beef shank also has a generous amount of collagen which provides body to your Irish stew.
5. Oxtail
An Irish stew can be also perfect if being made from an oxtail cut.
Oxtail is actually a culinary term for the tail of the cow.
It does contain meat, but not too much, along with bones, skin, and joints.
Oxtail turns out to be relatively expensive because it produces the best flavor and texture to your stew.
The bottom line
If you want to create a beef version of the classic Irish stew, hopefully, this article has helped.
There are a variety of beef cuts available that are ideal for an Irish stew so you have a lot of options to choose from.
The only way to figure out which cut works best for your taste buds is to try out all of the aforementioned beef cuts at different times making your Irish stew.
