I often cook with wine. Seldom with beer. Lately, I've kept on bumping into different beef carbonnade recipes, so I am finally giving in. The recipe I am going to vent about here is the most basic one, for those who are not familiar with this classic Belgian dish, which basically is a beef and onion stew made with beer (Belgian beer, of course!). There are a lot of different recipes though, some asking for different herbs, types of beer, chocolat (!), ginger bread, different cooking modes.... But they all require a lot of beef, onions and beer.
Classic Beef Carbonnade: (Carbonnade Flamande)
Serves about 6 people
1kg topside of beef - about 2 pounds beef for braciole will do
1kg onions - 2 pounds yellow onions
1tbsp brown sugar
1tbsp white wine vinegar
3 or 4 sprigs of thyme
1 litre beer (Belgian wheat, but a full-bodied lager will do)
Butter, oil and flour
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Cut the beef into thin slices about 12 cm in diameter and no more than 6 mm thick. Put these in a large bag with an ample quantity of well-seasoned (salt and ground white pepper) plain flour and dredge thoroughly. Shake off any excess. Peel and slice the onions thinly.
Heat 1 tbsp oil with an equal quantity of butter in a large frying pan. Once foaming and very hot, lay the pieces in a single layer and brown them well on each side, repeating the operation, changing the fat as necessary, until all the meat is caramelized.
Lay these slices, overlapping, in a large, shallow ovenproof dish.
Heat more oil and butter in the frying pan (without cleaning it) and add the onions. Season and cook on a lively heat, turning regularly for 10 minutes until they are well-browned and have started to wilt. Add the sugar and cook two minutes longer before adding the vinegar. Boil briefly, then add the thyme and beer. Bring to the boil, skim off any surface scum and pour the lot over the beef, mixing meat and onions together.
Cover the dish with foil and bake in a 350F oven for 50 minutes.
Stir in the mustard and check for seasoning.
Serve with garlicky mashed potatoes (and -why not- brussel sprouts!).
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| Frying session |
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| Well-browned beef |
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| Onions sprinkled with sugar |
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| Adding in Stella Artois |
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| Ready for a beer bath! |
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| Here comes the bath! |
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| Bathing |
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| Ready to serve |
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| with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts |
