For ➍1 kg chuck beef*, cut in chunks 3x3 cm
1 tbs butter
3 tbs flour******
50 cl of brown beer**, at room temperature
water
beef stock
2 onions, cut roughly
2 sprigs thyme
2 leaves laurel
1 slice white bread, without crust
(Ghent) mustard
a few drops of (red wine) vinegar
a bunch of parsley, chopped
Heat a large skillet***. Heat the butter until brown.
Add the meat and brown it on both sides.
Take away from the heat. (Sprinkle the flour on the meat. Stir.)******
Return to heat. Add the beer. Cover the meat completely in beef broth.***
Add thyme and laurel. Put to medium heat.
In another skillet, slowly sauté the onions. Add 1 tbs of water (or beer) to stop cooking.
Add onions to the meat.
Simmer for 60 m to 90 m****, depending on the meat.
Spread the bread with mustard. Add to the meat by stirring and breaking the bread. (When adding after 60 m, let it dissolve for 30 m.)
Thicken the sauce*****.
Thicken the sauce*****.
Add a few drops of vinegar before adding the meat to the sauce again.
Sprinkle with parsley when served.
Serve with fresh frites, a small salad or braised endives, and a glass of brown beer like Liefmans Gouden Band or Sint-Bernardus Abt 12 from Watou. Or a full-bodied red Rhône wine with a little sweet aftertaste.
*Use pork belly instead. Remove fat.
**The beer should be mildly sweet like Liefmans Gouden Band from Oudenaarde or Sint-Bernardus Abt 12 from Watou. Use a dark ale when Belgian beers cannot be found. Avoid the Dutch Oud Bruin beer, a rather tasteless, sweetened beer. English old brown ales can be great, but are too sweet for this dish.
***Use a deep narrow skillet, so you need less broth to cover up.
****The real recipe goes for completely soft and broken meat and requires at least 90 m of cooking. When chunks in gravy are preferred, cook for 60 m.
*****If necessary, remove some of the sauce and thicken in a separate pan.
Sprinkle with parsley when served.
Serve with fresh frites, a small salad or braised endives, and a glass of brown beer like Liefmans Gouden Band or Sint-Bernardus Abt 12 from Watou. Or a full-bodied red Rhône wine with a little sweet aftertaste.
*Use pork belly instead. Remove fat.
**The beer should be mildly sweet like Liefmans Gouden Band from Oudenaarde or Sint-Bernardus Abt 12 from Watou. Use a dark ale when Belgian beers cannot be found. Avoid the Dutch Oud Bruin beer, a rather tasteless, sweetened beer. English old brown ales can be great, but are too sweet for this dish.
***Use a deep narrow skillet, so you need less broth to cover up.
****The real recipe goes for completely soft and broken meat and requires at least 90 m of cooking. When chunks in gravy are preferred, cook for 60 m.
*****If necessary, remove some of the sauce and thicken in a separate pan.
******Optional.
Vlaamse stoverij, also known as carbonades flamandes, (from the Spanish 'carbonnade' for to grill the meat over hot coals), is a Belgian/Flemish dish, essentially made with meat and beer. It is made with beef around Ghent, and with tender pork deeper to the South. The Liefmans Gouden Band brown beer has been called the best brown ale in the world by beer writing authority Michael Jackson. Use the less expensive Liefmans Oud Bruin instead for the stew or Sint-Bernardus Abt 12 from Watou. A slightly sour beer like the Rodenbach red/brown beer from Roeselare is more suitable for pork and will make it taste sour and sweet. Different versions of the stew are made with other local beers like Brussels' kriek and gueuze or one of the Trappist beers.
