Your entire family will adore this Caribbean-inspired slow-cooked beef stew with brown sugar and rum. The majority of the root veggies included in this recipe, which I invented myself, came from the ship’s hold. While you and the team embark on a new adventure, let this cook.
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 7 hrs |
| Total Time: | 7 hrs 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small sweet potato, chopped
- 4 small potatoes, chopped
- 1 celery rib, chopped
- 1 turnip, chopped
- 2 parsnips, chopped
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion, chopped
- ¾ cup pineapple juice
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
- 1 cube beef bouillon
- 3 tablespoons rum
Instructions
- Combine the beef, flour, salt, and pepper in a resealable plastic bag; shake to evenly coat the beef.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Brown the beef in the olive oil. Transfer the meat into the bottom of a slow cooker and return the skillet to the heat. Add the sweet potato, potato, celery, turnip, and parsnip. Pour the vinegar into the hot skillet to deglaze the pan, scraping loose the particles from the bottom with a spatula; empty into the slow cooker. Return the skillet to the heat and melt the butter. Cook and stir the onion in the melted butter until softened; scrape into the slow cooker.
- Combine the pineapple juice, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, garlic, beef bullion, and rum in a small saucepan; cook until the bouillon cube dissolves. Pour into the slow cooker.
- Turn the slow cooker on to High; cook for 1 hour. Switch heat to Low and cook an additional 6 hours.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 733 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 79 g |
| Cholesterol | 84 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 10 g |
| Protein | 27 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 422 mg |
| Sugars | 28 g |
| Fat | 32 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I tried this, and while this stew is sweeter than what people are accustomed to, it was delicious — a traditional stew with a Caribbean twist. My family devoured what was supposed to be three meals worth in a single sitting.
I didn’t originally intend to make this recipe. I was making a beer braised beef stew, but I didn’t have a dark beer. So, I used dark rum instead. I was shocked at how sweet the stew was turning out, so I went looking for other “rum” stews. Found this one and altered mine stew to match. Stew is good, but very sweet with the rum, raisins, brown sugar, and pineapple. I will make again and reduce the brown sugar. Adding some heat to this would probably be ideal, but I’m the only one in the family who can handle the spices. Maybe I’ll sneak a small batch just for myself…shhhh…don’t tell.
I left out the brown sugar and added 6 cloves of garlic. I also added some nutmeg because any meat dish needs nutmeg lol Awesome stew!
Family loves this, so delicious and flavorful!!!
As a pirate, I had to add a little more rum lol. Other than that I stuck with the recipe and I loved it.
I was not crazy about this stew. I felt like I wasted food.
Seeing as the recipe didn’t specify what type of rum to use, I used Appleton Estate. And as such, I found a spiced rum a little too strong of a taste when you use 3 tbsp worth. In the future, I’d probably cut it to two tbsp of spiced rum or substitute White Rum into the mix. Overall though, it was a nice change of pace.
Enjoyed this stew but made a few “minor” additions. Added 1 tsp. of diced, dried ginger root to the liquid and a sprinkling of ancho chile powder (to add a dash of “sweet” heat) once dished up. Will consider adding the ancho pepper to the recipe while it is cooking for a better infusion of flavouring.
Too sweet.
good
This was great ! Thank you
This was great ! Thank you
Ahoy matey – wonderful change from tradition beef stew. We tried with pork and was just as good as the beef. Always in demand at our house. We dress like pirates and can only speak in pirate lingo!
Sorry, I didn’t like it. Just kind of blah. I did omit the sugar as per other reviewers. My company ate it and complimented me but they maybe they were just being polite. Vegetable Beef Stew by Ruth Rodriguez is way better.
I’ll make this again. We didn’t find it too sweet and it’s a nice variation for stew.
My family said this recipe was a ‘keeper’…the best stew they had ever had…and I was amazed that my son ate parsnips and turnips and said they were delicious!
We decided to try this stew based on its name alone. My boys are quite into pirates. After reading Tristan’s mom’s review, I used a very loosely packed 1/4 cup of brown sugar, but otherwise followed the directions. Instead of chopping the veggies (I thought it would never hold up in a stew), I cut them into chunks. My four year old had two helpings of the stew (and this is a kid who would never eat a parsnip or a turnip if he had a choice), as did my husband and myself. My 2 year old said it was too spicy for him. We didn’t find this to be too sweet at all…a nice flavor, with a teeny kick to it. We will probably make it again at some point, but I might increase the sweet potatoes and decrease the parsnip/turnip pairing.
This is VERY VERY VERY sweet. The sauce tasted like something you’d put over a dessert, not stew meat. It’s a great idea and could possibly be redone to be edible, but not in this incarnation. I did get cute pictures of my son eating it in a pirate hat, but even he only ate one bite. Thank God the ingredients were cheap.