• Preheat oven to 500°F/260°C.
• Trim off any excessive fat from the center of the chuck. Cut the rest of the meat into cubes. You should be left with about 3½ lb/1½ kg of meat.
• Add meat cubes to a bowl and drizzle with generous amount of olive oil and 2 large pinches of salt. Toss to coat and spread beef onto a half sheet tray and load into 500°F/260°C oven to sear for about 20-25 minutes until well browned.
• Reduce oven temperature to 300℉/150℃.
• Preheat a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add a generous glug of olive oil followed by mushrooms, carrots, onions, and a pinch of salt.
• Sweat the veggies to par-cook for 3-5minutes until it's beginning to soften and caramelize. Transfer veg into a bowl and set aside.
• Return pot to stove over medium heat and add 1 stick/115g butter.
• When the butter is melted, add 100g/¾ cup of flour. Stir to cook, scraping up brown bits from bottom of the pot. Fry for 60-90 seconds until smooth and taking on color.
• Pour in beef stock and beer. Bring the pot to a simmer, stirring and scraping frequently. Once simmering, add in the chunks of beef.
• Add a splash of water to the beef cooking tray, scraping up any beef fond with a wooden spoon. Marry the fond water into the pot with the beef. Stir to combine.
• Load pot, uncovered, into a 300°F/150°C oven and cook for 2 hours, stirring halfway through.
• Toss potatoes into a mixing bowl with the par-cooked vegetables and mix with 25g/3tbsp flour. Toss to combine. (NOTE: if your stew is relatively thick at this point, omit tossing the veg in the flour or add less flour here).
• Remove stew pot from oven and carefully add the potatoes/veggies into the stew. Gently stir and add in bay and thyme.
• Return stew pot to the oven uncovered to cook for 1 more hour.
• At this point, check the beef and potato for doneness. Beef should be tender and shreddable, but not shredded. Potato should be fork tender, but not mushy.
• Ladle off excess fat from top of stew (or allow to cool slightly, refridgerate, then scrape off fat from top once cooled). Stir peas into hot stew.
• Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed.
• Ladle into bowl, top with fresh cracked black pepper, and serve with a piece of rustic sourdough bread.

BEEF STOCK DUPE / FLAVORFUL COOKING LIQUID

• Stir ingredients to combine and dissolve gelatin.