• Start the stew meat in a sous vide machine at 144° for 1 hour. Start on the stew after about 45 minutes of sous vide time.

STEW:

• Dice the onion, carrot, and celery to make roughly equal-sized pieces.
• Add oil and butter to the bottom of pan to heat. When hot, add diced vegetables and saute on medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Add garlic, herbs, and tomato paste, and cook for 2 more minutes until tomato paste takes on a deep vibrant color.
• After this is done, sprinkle flour over the vegetables. Cook 1 more minute to cook the flour.
• By this time the meat should be done. Add the meat and juices to the pan and cook for a few minutes to develop added flavor in the meat and fonde on the bottom of the pan.
• Deglaze with the beer, then add beef stock and potatoes, and cook on medium until the potatoes are fork tender, about 15 minutes. While this is happening is a good time to make the dumplings.

DUMPLINGS:

• Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and herbs.
• Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or fork.
• Add the egg and buttermilk and stir to combine until all the flour has absorbed some liquid, but avoid overmixing the dough. If the mixture seems to dry, add a splash of water.
• Roll the dough into 12 equal-sized balls.
• Remove 1/4 cup of broth and stir in the cornstarch to use as a thickener later. Add the kidney beans then put the dumplings into the simmering broth.
• Cover and let the dumplings cook for about 10 minutes until desired consistency is reached.
• Thicken to desired consistency with the cornstarch slurry you created. Only do this now because the dumpliings will absorb liquid and cause the stew to thicken while they cook.