I went to the Niobrara NE NE BEE Social and used a Dutch oven for the first time. We bought a 6 quart 12 inch diameter Dutch oven at Cabelas and took it with us to the BEE Social for making a stew at the potluck dinner. It is the kind with the three legs so it can rest over charcoals and an upturned lip on the lid so you can place more charcoals on top.

The hot stew is the best I remember it from my youth with some modifications. It was reminiscent of the Macedonian hot stew my dad would bring home in West Indianapolis and sometimes make it himself at home. In deference to the other half I didn't make it as hot as I would have liked it. I started out with 2.5 lbs. of beef stew meat and browned it with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. We then added 1 coarsely chopped yellow onion and 4 chopped cloves of garlic. While that browned and simmered we cubed 2 Idaho potatoes, 1 diced and de-seeded Jalapeno hot pepper, 2 cups of chopped okra, 1 tablespoon of paprika and a dash of salt and pepper. Though it was not in my original recipe my other half insisted we add some carrots, so we did. It was already stewing in its own juices but I added 1-1/2 cans of Leinenkugel's Original Lager and then let it simmer at a slow boil for one hour. After one hour we added 4 chopped Minnesota grown vine ripened tomatoes and let it simmer for another hour minimum. As you know the longer the better. Normally I would recommend 2 Jalapeno hot peppers or Hungarian peppers with seeds if you prefer really hot. This recipe could have, should have been hotter in my estimation but it disappeared fast into bowls at the potluck anyway. It is a pretty simple straight forward recipe.