In a good frying pan, cook the bacon, drain and chop it coarsely.
Remove all but 2 tbsp of bacon fat from the pan.
Cut excess fat off beef, and cut into 1 inch pieces.
Toss with flour till coated, then brown the beef in the bacon fat.
Place the browned beef at the bottom of your crockpot.
Peel and chop the shallots in half, from root to stem, and add them to the pan.
Sautee the shallots till they begin to turn brown, and put them on top of the meat in the crockpot.
Add the red wine and garlic to the sautee pan and cook on medium for 3 minutes, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan with a spatula.
Dissolve the boullion cube into a cup of hot water, (or use 1 cup of beef broth or stock) and add to pan, mixing well.
Turn it off and save this mixture for after.
Cut the potatoes into chunks, about twice the size as the meat chunks. Leave skins on scrubbed new white potatoes if you like, and put them on top of the meat in the pot.
Add the chopped carrots, celery, green pepper and bacon to the pot.
Mix the ketchup, worchestershire sauce, oregano, salt, pepper, and pour over the stew.
Pour the wine mixture over the top and add enough water to cover by an inch. Do not stir.
If you’re doing this the night before, you can put everything except the water, store it in the fridge, then in the morning, add the water to cover and start it cooking.
Cook covered on low for 8 - 10 hours, checking potatoes at the end with a fork. Potato should be cooked through, but not falling apart. Stir gently, making sure to mix up all the layers.
If you’re not making dumplings, thicken the stew by mixing 1 or two tablespoon of flour into a cup of the liquid from the stew. Mix it up well and remove any chunks before adding this to the stew.
If you are making dumplings, turn the crockpot to high and wait til it starts to bubble. Then add the dumplings.
