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View Full Version : Recipe: Flemish Carbonades



Philds
05-13-2010, 03:48 AM
Hi all, been lurking around a bit an I thought it was time to get involved in the forum.

Here is an old school stew that contains both beef and beer. It's one of the "national" dishes of Belgium.

It's the kind of food that farmhands used to eat after a days work. Both tasty and easy to make.

The beef used is the same cut as cutlets are to pork, but without any bone though. I don't know if they sell that cut in the US so you can use another. The main thing is that the beef is quite sinewy. The slow cooking process makes it tender. Whatever you do, don't use lean beef because it will be too dry.

For about 1kg (2.2 lb) of meat you'll need.


You need:
1 onions
50gr (1.something lb) butter
a bay leaf
thyme (just a pinch)
Beef cut in quite large cubes.
a slice of bread spread with mustard. (preferably French mustard)
Beer: One deciliter of dark ale. If you have a choice, go with the sweetest tasting one.
some dried prunes
1 tablespoon of vinegar.


Cut up the onions, and fry them together with the beef in the butter so that the meat is sealed. Add the bay leaf, thyme and vinegar and let it simmer for about an hour with the lid on. After an hour add the beer and the slice of bread. The bread should thicken the sauce some but you can add some other thickner like arrowroot at the end if you want.
Then let it lightly stew without a lit until the meat is very tender and the fluid evaporated quite a lot. About 15 min before you eat put in the dried prunes.


It tastes even better after a night in the fridge. So make larger portions if you can.

Serve with fries and there you go: an easy to make dish that makes you 7th century big.

brianb
05-13-2010, 04:12 AM
Thanks for this. Beef stews are great. I was actually planning on doing this recipe this weekend:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/carbonnade_beef_and_beer_stew/

Philds
05-13-2010, 04:54 AM
That recipe looks good to me. I use a sweet brown table beer (which I don't think you can buy outside of Belgium), so I wouldn't use sugar.
But like all old school dishes, everyone does his or her own variation of the basic template.

Of course, my mom's version is the best in the whole wide word. That goes without saying. :-)

Rorschach
05-13-2010, 05:49 AM
Mmm... belgian beer...