prepare all your vegetables and get your mise en place together.
rinse the fiddleheads with warm water repeatedly to remove any dirt. Then, soak them in cool water to remove dirt that gets in between. Trim the bottoms if they are black. Remove from water, and drain them.
mix flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge the beef in the flour mix. Save the extra flour
Heat the oil in a large heavy duty pot or dutch oven. When it is just below smoking, put the flour coated beef in. Sear each side of the beef until golden brown (about a minute per side depending on the heat from your burners).
In a separate pan heat the beef stock and water mixed together.
Add in the garlic, celery, carrot, and onion, stir occasionally. Cook until some color comes into the vegetables. Add in 1/2 of the butter and melt. Stir in the remainder of the flour mix. Stir and cook for a couple more minutes to make a pan roux. Add in the beer and stir.
Pour the Beef stock mix into the pot with the beef and vegetables. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Then cut back to a simmer. Add in the herbs and bay leaf.
Allow to simmer for about an hour. Check the beef to see if it is tender. Stick a fork in. It should be able to wiggle relatively freely without pulling apart the beef. If it is still tough, but the sauce has thickened, add more stock or water.
When the beef is cooked, remove it from the pot, and, reduce the gravy until it becomes a pour-able, not too thin or thick consistency. Strain the vegetables and herbs out of the gravy and keep it warm for service.
Melt the remaining butter in a separate saute pan, stirring occasionally. Add in the fiddleheads and cook over high heat. Add salt and pepper, and stir it in.
Slice the beef and plate with vegetable hash (see recipe), the fiddleheads, and drizzle with gravy.
