Caribou Stew with Corn Cob Medallions and Sage

Hi Folks. This is my Treaty Day Dish, caribou stew. My sister offered the organic sage. The sage comes from Maria First Nation in Gaspegewaq territory. The caribou, further to the north. Here are the ingredients you will need to make this dish:

1 lb of caribou stewing meat
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp of oil
1 tbsp of worcestorshire sauce
3 liters of stock, beef or wild game
1 bay leave
1/4 cup of barley
1 1/2 -2 cups of celery, chopped medium dice
2 cups of carrots, thin slices
1 medium onion, medium dice
7-9 potatoes, medium diced
2 slices of bacon, cut each slice in half
1-corn on the cob, cut in 7-8 slices, each one about 1 inch in thickness
2 tsp of sage
1 tsp of paprika
1/2 tsp of pepper
1 tsp of salt, to taste(tt)

Flour Paste:
1 tbsp of butter
1 tsp of bacon fat
1 1/2 tbsp of flour
1/2 cup of water

So here we go. Heat up in the oil in a saute pan or pot. Dust the caribou meat in flour. What you want to do is to brown the meat. Not necessary to cook through just enough to get some browning on the outside. When you reached this point which is after about 5 minutes on a medium high pan get ready to transfer it to a larger sized pot. Add your stock along with a bay leaf and bring to a boil. reduce after about 1 minute and keep it on a medium to low simmer. Keep it here for about 2-3 hours. The idea is to slow cook the meat because you want it very tender. Prior to your 2-3 hour time frame add in celery, carrots, onion and barley.
In the meantime cook off the bacon. Set the bacon in the stew once it is crispy. Save the bacon fat. It should be about 1 tsp of fat.
Once the bacon has been placed in the pot add the potatoes and corn along with the remaining ingredients, paprika, pepper and sage. When all items are tender it should almost be ready for service. At this point it may be too thin for a stew. You may want to make a flour paste to thicken the stew. The barley can only make it so thick. This paste will help the thickening process to a texture more suitable for a stew.
Making flour paste is very easy. Take your butter, bacon fat and melt it in a small pot. Add your flour and mix with a spoon until very smooth and no lumps. Now here is the tricky part, make sure the paste is hot but not burning. Add a 1/2 cup of cold water to the paste. The cold liquid will prevent lumping. You may need more than a half cup but not much more. From here pour hot stew stock from stew pot with a ladle and pour it into the paste. After about 1 ladle pour all smooth paste into the stew and mix slowly. The stew should now start to thicken beautifully. Serve hot. It is your prefernce but i offer up a portion to nature. Enjoy.