We’ve made it to Part 3 of our Overwatch: The Official Cookbook review series! After enjoying a delectable breakfast inspired by Soldier 76 and Ashe, lunchtime Talon style with Sombra and Doomfist, it’s now dinnertime with some of my favorite heroes!

Tonight’s meal includes a hearty stew dish from Moira’s recipes washed down with McCree’s drink and ultimate ability, the Deadeye. 

As you dive into this recipe, be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to prep all the ingredients and simmer the stew, at least a couple of hours. This would be a great meal to prepare over the weekend and have leftovers throughout the week. 

Though stew in general is a fairly easy dish to put together, toss in a pot and let simmer, there is some prep work that needs to be done. Definitely don’t skimp on pre-cooking your meat. The seared, charry bits from this step are essential to the overall flavor. You’ll start with cooking up the bacon. I used turkey bacon that was leftover in my fridge but I definitely suggest using traditional pork bacon as you’ll get a much more flavorful broth. Turkey just doesn’t cut it. 

After the bacon has had time to cook, remove it from the pan and sear your stew meat. You can buy literal “stew meat” from most major supermarkets, just look for small cut chunks, the package will be labeled. Handy!

Once it’s browned on all sides, remove from pan and then cook up your garlic and leeks. Since my bacon nor beef didn’t leave much oil behind I added a bit to my pan and scraped the bottom of it with a wooden spoon (don’t use metal as you’ll scratch your pan!) to deglaze. You’ll definitely want all this fond aka tasty bits to get added to your stew. 

To the stew pot, you’ll add your bacon, stew beef, garlic, leeks, and remaining ingredients. Lastly, you’ll add a can of Guinness, yes the beer, to the pot. You can also drink a can while you cook this if you’re feeling festive. Bring to a boil, turn heat to low, and go play some Overwatch for a couple of hours. After you’ve carried your team to victory you’ll have a delicious dinner to celebrate with!

What better drink to enjoy with a warm, comforting stew than some whiskey? McCree’s Deadeye is a take on an Old Fashioned but instead of straight simple syrup is mixed with sweet tea. Garnished with a bit of lemon and some mint leaves, this was actually surprisingly tasty.

I was expecting to hate this (tea in my...whiskey?) but the sweet tea balanced out the kick of the liquor and was a delightful take on one of my favorite cocktails. You do have to steep the tea and let cool making this a perfect cocktail to create while your stew takes its time to simmer. I’m kicking myself for not making this with Irish Whiskey, but McCree is from the states so...it’s still on theme! 

Moira’s Guinness Stew: 8/10 

McCree’s Deadeye: 8/10 

Again, two delicious recipes from this cookbook. I had to add quite of bit of salt, garlic salt, and pepper to the stew to pack the flavor in, but to be fair I think I can attribute some of that to using turkey bacon. Overall though the textures and flavors were great!

Like I mentioned above, this would be a great meal to prep ahead of time to enjoy as leftovers or pop into a croc pot to have dinner ready at the end of the day. Though the Deadeye had more sugar in it than I’d want to consume on a daily basis, it was a nice treat on a chilly evening.