Rustic Beef Stew and Bannock

Rustic Beef Stew and Bannock

This is the kind of food that warms a cold winter day, which is a good thing because where I live we have about five straight months of those. The comfort from a bowl of steamy beef stew and a chunk of bannock is always welcome.

The stew itself is pretty straightforward. I call it rustic because I leave the veggies and meat in rather large pieces. If you want things to stew up a little faster, just dice things up into smaller pieces (not too small because the meat will shrink as it cooks). You may loose a little of the distinctive taste of each ingredient, but you will save some cooking time. You can change out the vegetables to suit your taste, just remember that the softer vegetables like mushrooms and peppers won't need to cook as long as the crunchier ones, unless you like them that way like I do.

A word about the beef .... right now the stores I shop in have some pretty high prices on pre-cut stewing beef. I guess it's due to the convenience of having someone do the chopping for you. If you don't want to pay extra for that, or you don't like the look of meat they've chosen or the size of the dice they've used, check out what beef is on sale. Almost any steak or roast can be cut up to make a stew. And it doesn't have to be a pricey cut, because it's going to cook a long time and be tasty and tender.

And about the dried herbs ... please note that I use the same combination and amount of herbs with the flour to season the meat as I do to flavour the sauce. So you will have to measure out the herb combination twice.

This recipe makes a lot of stew, about 8 good-sized servings. Rather than halfing the recipe, I suggest making it all and freezing what you don't want to eat right away.



If you are not familiar with bannock, it's a traditional bread of North America's first peoples. There are lots of regional variations and methods to cook it. This one is baked in a cast iron frying pan. The ingredients are right out of Mme Benoit's The Canadiana Cookbook: A Complete Heritage of Canadian Cooking. My family and I have been enjoying this bannock for years, although I've never tried eating it spread with bacon fat or half bacon fat, half butter as Mme Benoit suggests. Maybe next time.

If you want to read more about bannock, here's an interesting link with a full history and a variety of bannock recipes:  Bannock Awareness

Rustic Beef Stew

Cut steak into stewing meat

3 lbs boneless stewing beef, cut into 2” cubes 

½ cup flour 

½ tsp each dried marjoram, thyme, oregano, basil, savoury
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
3 onions, cut into eighths
1 lb heirloom baby carrots or 2 cups carrots, in large dice
5 stalks celery, in large dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, in large dice
½ to 1 lb whole mushrooms, cleaned
2 sweet peppers, in large pieces
6 tbsp bacon fat and/or olive oil, divided into two 3 tbsp measures
2 bay leaves
½ tsp each dried marjoram, thyme, oregano, basil, savoury
2 cups beef broth

Vegetables for stew

Mix the flour with the first list of herbs, salt and pepper. 

Dredge the beef cubes in the flour-herb mixture until thoroughly coated.

Heat 3 tbsp fat/oil in large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the meat in batches so you have room to move the cubes around while they are browning. Remove the meat and set aside.

Heat 3 tbsp fat/oil in the same Dutch oven. Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic and potatoes. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes or until the onions begin to soften.

Add remaining ingredients, including the second list of herbs. Return the beef to Dutch oven. Mix everything together.

Cover and cook in oven for 1 ½ to 2 hours. 

Printable Recipe for MA's Rustic Beef Stew

Pioneer's Bannock

Preheat oven to 375° F. 

Grease a cast iron frying pan.

Bannock basics

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 to 4 tbsp lard
1 ½ to 2 cups cold water

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Cut in the lard with a pastry blender.

Add as much water as needed to make a soft dough. Knead the dough in the bowl for a few minutes.

Flatten the dough in the greased frying pan. 

Ready to bake

Bake 20 to 35 minutes or until the bannock is a light golden brown.

Serve warm, breaking up the pieces with your hands rather than cutting with a knife.

Printable Recipe for MA's Pioneer's Bannock