lethal frag’s beardy stew [extra chunky beef stew]

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Spending time watching TwitchTV streamers is a great way to learn about new games or get honest game reviews. Sure, you can read some journalist write a review on a fancy gaming news site, but I don’t think that is as immersive as watching someone actually play the game.  With that being said, let me introduce you to one of my favorite streamers of ALL TIME.

He’s a dapper fellow who goes by the name of Lethal Frag. His beard could probably take you in a fight; the darn thing is pretty impressive.

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Figure 1.0: Dapper (image source: www.lethalfrag.com)

Lethal Frag is also the Boshy; a title that can only be obtained by beating one of the most difficult games ever: I wanna be the Boshylol you died. And yet, despite the extreme difficulty of this game, Lethal Frag retained his cool throughout the entire ordeal. He doesn’t ragequit or flip his table or throw his controller through the wall. He just chills, talks to his fans, jiggles his ferrets and dappers it up. He’s also a classically trained chef who teaches gamers how to cook on Saturdays. NOT BAD.

I decided to reach out to LethalFrag to see what kind of food he enjoys. He responded with “mostly rustic things that are not too fancy so the sky is the limit“. When I think rustic, I think stews since stews seem to have a very simple cooking method of throw everything into a pot and leave it alone.

Stew takes a while to cook because everything needs to break down; especially the big ol’ beef chunks. You can speed up the process by adding certain enzymes (such papain, an enzyme found in papaya fruit) to tenderize the beef, but honestly, I think that’s cheating. That’s like using the Konami code in cooking. up up down down left right left right a b …IS THE BEEF TENDER YET?

Naw man, we’re doing this old school. That beef is going to take a super long 2 hour bath. Get ready.

UNIT COMPOSITION

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  1. salt 
  2. pepper
  3. 1 teaspoon of oil
  4. 1 tablespoon of cumin
  5. 2 bay leaves
  6. 2 tablespoons of worschershire sauce
  7. 1 1/2 cup of dried barley
  8. 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
  9. 5 red potatoes, roughly chopped
  10. 3 cups of beef broth
  11. 1/2 lb of baby carrots (you can used chopped carrots if you want to make it prettier)
  12. 1 can of kidney beans, strained
  13. 1 can of peeled whole tomatoes, partially strained
  14. 1 celery heart, chopped (save your celery leaves; they can be added to the stew for extra flavor)
  15. 1 yellow onion, chopped
  16. 2 lbs of stew meat

You will need a very large pot for this recipe. I used at 16 quart pot. Please note that this recipe makes 8 servings; so if you want to downsize it, just cut all the amounts in half.

BUILD ORDER

Total prep time for this dish should be about 45 minutes. Total cook time will be about 2 1/2 hours. This will make about 8 servings.

Calories per serving: ~530 calories

OPENING

  1. Set a large pot on high heat. Add in half of your olive oil.
  2. When the pot is hot, saute chopped garlic and onions.
  3. Remove onions and garlic. Set aside.
  4. Add remaining olive oil into the pot.
  5. When oil becomes hot, add in your beef. Season beef with salt, pepper and cumin.
  6. Add in your worschershire sauce. Allow the beef to brown on each side. When most of the beef has browned, reduce to the heat to medium.

MID GAME

  1. Add your canned tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and garlic to the pot. 
  2. Pour your beef broth into the pot.
  3. Add in your barley.
  4. Add in your bay leaves. If you’ve saved your celery leaves, add those in as well.
  5. Reduce heat to medium low. Cover pot with a lid and cook for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Occasionally stir in order to prevent the stew from burning.

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Once you’ve made it to this part, it’s time to relax. Play a few games, watch some streams and just chill. Your house is about to smell amazing…

LATE GAME

  1. Remove bay leaves (and celery leaves) from the stew.
  2. Add in your kidney beans.
  3. Cook the stew for 10 minutes.
  4. Eat!

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And that’s all you need. GG WP!

At the time I working on this blog, I was actually watching Lethal Frag’s cooking stream. He mentioned that he was going to make beef stew, so if you’re interested in watching a real professional create a legitimate beef stew, check his up coming Cooking with Frag episode next Saturday, 2/27 at 10 PM PST. Otherwise, catch up on his previous cooking and gaming shenanigans on his YouTube channel.

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