No Need To Get All In A Stew � Serve Up A Warming Hot Pot For A Family Feast

Best when prepared well in advance, a chunky beef hot pot will satisfy the biggest appetites, and because vegetables are cooked in the pot, it’s a dish which can be left to cook, and then quickly served up as soon as it’s ready.

By that time, of course, the family is likely to be entranced by the smell of the tender meat which has been slowly cooked until it is falling-apart tender in a rich beef and beer stock, which has been given extra oomph with the addition of a couple of garlic cloves and bay leaves. In times gone by, such meals were seen as an economical way of feeding a large family, and that still holds just as true today, especially when it can be cooked on one day, and left to continue to develop its full, hearty flavour.

It’s also a great dish for putting aside to enjoy later, as any left over portions can be easily and quickly frozen to be enjoyed a few days or so hence when a quicker, filling meal is in order. The real appeal of the dish lies in its hearty, chunky nature. Nothing can beat the warming feel of quality British beef which has been slowly simmered in a pot filled with thickly chopped vegetables, which in turn have, through the slow cooking, become infused with the meaty juices.

It’s also, of course, a British dish steeped in tradition, right down to the half pint of ginger beer added to the stock to give the gravy in which all the ingredients simmer a wonderful extra touch of zing. And while ginger beer is suggested, you could create a really authentic Lancashire dish by substituting this with a bottle of The Co-operative Strong Brown Ale, brewed by the Daniel Thwaites brewery of Blackburn, which will give a deeper, richer flavour to your hot pot. Accompaniments to such a hearty dish are best kept to a minimum, but a generous helping of mashed potato would sit well alongside this most English of dishes, and make the perfect, piled-high plate of comfort food.