Beef and Noodles; this was a new experience for me when I came to Iowa. I guess we were just Beef Stew people over in Indiana. This recipe, also learned from the farmer husband, creates a delicious beefy noodle gravy to be served over mashed potatoes.
If you have been to the Iowa State Fair, perhaps you’ve encountered something similar in the form of a Hot Beef Sundae! This dish has been a staple of the Iowa Cattlemen‘s food stand for years.
The saga continues
This recipe is routinely the star of Night 2 of utilizing a chuck roast. Night 1 is the Classic Pot Roast. I always am sure to have leftovers, otherwise, we don’t get the Beef and Noodles!
So, that’s the first step. Be sure to have enough leftovers from your Pot Roast dinner the night before. Roughly equal parts beef, carrots, potatoes and all the liquid.
The Method
This is really quite simple.
I make my initial Pot Roast in a large roaster pan. Midwest weather allows for use of the “porch fridge” (an enclosed porch when it’s cold outside) at certain times of year, so I leave my leftovers in the large pan to be sorted out later. If you aren’t blessed with a “porch fridge”, obviously, store your leftovers accordingly.
I start by sorting out the beef from yesterday’s Pot Roast leftovers. Skim off any excess fat that solidified, remove any bones and find all the meaty bits. Then, shred it up! You could cut the potatoes and carrots into smaller pieces at this point, too, if you wanted to.
I use my large Dutch oven pot for this recipe. All of the juice, carrots, potatoes and the shredded beef are added into this pot. Heat ‘er up. Medium-low, just a simmer at this point.
I start this process about 3 hours before dinner time. The key is to simmer and cook it down to a nice thick gravy.
Weirdly enough, the potatoes and carrots don’t disintegrate. They actually kind of firm up. Please enlighten me if you know the science behind this phenomenon!
In the meantime, I make my homemade egg noodles. If you’re feeling less ambitious, you can use either dried egg noodles or the frozen Reames egg noodles. I never remember to buy those though, so I’m glad I can fall back on the homemade version!
About an hour before I want to serve dinner, I make the mashed potatoes. However you like them, go for it! I keep it simple, just adding in a half stick of butter, some salt and enough milk to get them into the right mashed consistency.
Almost time to eat!
About 20 minutes prior to dinner is when I add in the noodles. This part will depend on which method you’ve chosen for noodles.
For my homemade noodles, it is important to bring the liquid up to a boil and add the noodles by the handful. Stir and keep it boiling between each addition of noodles. Add in all the extra flour, too. This will help to thicken into a nice gravy consistency.
Allow the noodles to cook for about 20 minutes. Stir often so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
And that’s it! Serve your Beef and Noodles over top of the mashed potatoes. Salt and pepper, to taste.
Enjoy!
