Call me mad but the word "casserole" just makes me think of not very pleasant cheap, soupy things. Stew is the word with better connotations
There must be millions of recipes online, there's definitely some on these forums. Slow cooking is very dependant on the meat you buy -- it needs to be the cheaper, fatty cuts and it's always worth while going to the butcher for these. I find "casserole beef" etc you get from the supermarkets to be pretty awful. And cut much too small as well, if you stew bits of meat too small it turns into dog food. Keep them a bit smaller than the size of your fist, I'd say.
Anyway, my go-to stew is ridiculously easy so I'll keep it brief;
- Get 1-1.5kg of beef shin and chop into big hunks (no smaller than 3" across).
- Lightly coat beef in seasoned flour, and brown in beef dripping/lard until edges turn crispy.
- Remove beef once browned.
- Sweat onions in the pan for 5mins, then add diced celery, carrot rounds and chopped garlic.
- Add tablespoon of tomato puree and sweat for another 5-10mins.
- Add beef back to pan, together with a can of draft Guinness and stir.
- Add beef stock cube and top up with hot water (roughly 200ml worth, not too much).
- Add tablespoon of dried thyme and a couple of bay leaves.
- Season with plenty of black pepper and a touch of salt to taste.
- Let cook on low for 3.5hrs or more.
- Serve with mashed potato or preferably homemade dumplings, with horseradish on the side.
- Win at life.
