Flemish Beef And Beer Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 170C, 340F, gas mark 3.
• Make sure the pieces of beef are thoroughly dry, using paper towels.
• In a flame-proof casserole, heat the butter and olive oil. Add the bacon cubes and fry them until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon. Reserve.
• Make sure your flame-proof casserole is thoroughly heated. Place the pieces of beef and brown them on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon. Keep warm.
• Place the onions and garlic on the bottom of the casserole dish and cook until transparent (lightly golden). Season well with salt and pepper.
• Add the sugar and mix thoroughly. Cook until a light caramelisation appears then add the red wine vinegar. Mix thoroughly then cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the cooked beef and bacon to the dish. Mix carefully to make sure there is a full marriage of the flavours of the meat with the onions.
• Pour the beer then the beef stock until the meat is entirely covered with liquid. Add the bouquet garni.
• Cut the slices of bread then spread Dijon mustard on the bread. Cover the meat with the bread.
• Place in the oven. The carbonade should cook slowly between 2 and 3 hours, or in a crockpot for up to 5 hours on high.
• When cooked mix the bread thoroughly by breaking it up in the dish, the bread works as a thickener for the sauce. Taste then adjust the seasoning. Serve hot.
• In Belgium the carbonade will be served with chips/fries/frites. In Northern France, it will be served with either braised chicory in butter or red cabbage.

Steps:

• Season the beef cubes with the salt and pepper and dredge with the flour. Shake off any excess.
• Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large heavy skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the beef cubes and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Work in batches so as not to crowed the beef cubes, or they will steam instead of sauté. Add 1 tablespoon of butter, if necessary. Transfer the beef cubes to a heavy Dutch oven.
• Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet and melt over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 15 minutes. If necessary, raise the heat toward the end of the cooking time. It is important to brown the meat and onions evenly to give the stew its deep brown color. The trick is to stir the onions just enough to avoid burning them but not so often as to interrupt the browning process. Combine the onions with the meat in the Dutch oven.
• Deglaze the skillet with the beer, scraping with a wooden spoon to loosen any brown bits, and bring to a boil. Pour the beer over the meat. Add the thyme and bay leaves.
• Simmer, covered, over low heat until the meat is very tender, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Before serving, stir in the red currant jelly and vinegar; simmer for 5 minutes. This sweet-and-sour combination will give this hearty stew its authentic Flemish flavor. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Taste and adjust the seasoning and serve.

Steps:

• Blanch salt pork in boiling water 5 minutes.
• Drain and rinse well; pat dry.
• Transfer to heavy large skillet and cook over medium flame until lightly browned.
• Remove from skillet using slotted spoon and reserve for use in salads or other dished.
• Increase heat to medium high.
• Add beef to skillet in batches (do not crowd) and cook until well browned on all sides, turning with spatula.
• Transfer meat to heavy 2 to 3 quart saucepan.
• Add onions to skillet reduce heat slightly and cook until deep golden brown about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Blend in flour and cook about 30 seconds, watching carefully so flour does not burn.
• Add stout and stir, scraping up any browned bits.
• Bring mixture to boil.
• Pour over beef.
• Blend in vinegar, sugar, parsley, bay leaf and thyme.
• Cover saucepan and simmer mixture for 30 minutes.
• Spread mustard over bread.
• Press bread into stew.
• Cover and cook until meat is tender, about 1 hour.
• Remove bay leaf and discard.
• Serve immediately.
• Serve with boiled potatoes, green salad and beer.

Steps:

• Fry bacon in 5-quart Dutch Oven until crisp.
• Remove with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
• Cook beef in bacon fat over medium heat, turning occasionally, until brown; drain.
• Add brown sugar, salt, garlic powder, pepper, thyme, bacon, water and beer.
• Heat to boiling; reduce heat.
• Cover and simmer just until beef is tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
• (OR transfer to crock pot after boiling and cook on LOW setting for 4 to 6 hours until beef is tender).
• If serving that evening, continue onto"TO SERVE" or cover and refrigerate beef and broth separately.
• (Store no longer than 48 hours).
• TO SERVE:.
• About 45 minutes before serving, remove fat from broth.
• (If using crock pot, add vegetables for the last 1 1/2 hours).
• Heat beef and broth to boiling.
• Add vegetables; cover and simmer until beef is hot and vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
• Remove beef and vegetables to warm platter.
• Shake water and flour in covered container; stir into broth.
• Heat to boiling, stirring or whisking constantly.
• Boil and stir for 1 minute.
• Serve with beef and vegetables.

Steps:

• Pat beef dry and sprinkle with pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Heat oil and butter in a wide 6- to 8-quart heavy pot over high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown beef in 2 to 3 batches (without crowding), turning over once, until dark brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• Add onions and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt to pot and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally and scraping up brown bits from bottom of pot, until pale golden, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to moderately low and cover pot, then cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden, about 10 minutes more.
• Add beef along with any juices on plate, bay leaves, and beer and bring to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, spread 1 tablespoon mustard on each side of bread slices, then place bread on top of stew. Simmer stew, covered, until beef is very tender, about 2 hours.
• Just before serving, stir bread into stew, breaking it up with a spoon, until it is incorporated and stew is thickened. Season with salt.

Steps:

• dry beef cubes with a paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper. let sit 15-20 minutes at room temperature.
• coat beef cubes in flour on all side, tossing to coat.
• heat 2 tablespoons butter in a 6-quart dutch oven over medium high heat. Working in batches, brown beef cubes on all sides, turning -- this should take 8-16 minutes.
• transfer beef cubes to a plate and set aside.
• Add bacon to dutch oven and cook until its fat renders, about 8 minutes.
• add remainig butter, garlic and onions; cook until caramelized, about 30 minutes.
• Add half the beer; cook, scraping the bottom of the pot, until slightly reduced - about 4 minutes.
• return the beef cubes to the pot with the remaining beer, beef stock, sugar, cider vinegar, thyme, parsley, tarragon, bay lead and salt and pepper. bring to a boil.
• reduce heat to medium-low.
• cook, covered, until the beef is tender -- about an hour and a half.
• serve with bread.

Steps:

• Peel and roughly dice the onions.
• Melt a knob of butter and about 1 tbsp of oil in a large (preferably cast-iron) casserole over medium heat. Sauté the onions until soft and just starting to brown. Remove from the casserole and put into a large container.
• Add 1 to 2 more tbsp of oil to the casserole. Season the beef and add the meat to the casserole. Brown the beef cubes over medium heat in batches. (About 7 to 8 pieces of meat per batch should do the trick.) Once browned, add each batch to the onions.
• Add the Loonse stroop/syrup and beer to the casserole and turn up the heat. Bring to a boil and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the casserole.
• Once the stewing liquid comes to a boil, add the onion and beef cubes back to the casserole, along with the cloves and bouquet garni. Give the stew-to-be a good stir and bring to a simmer.
• Next, spread 1 tbsp of mustard on each slice of bread and place both slices (mustard side down) on top of the stew. (They'll disintegrate completely, adding flavour to the stew and thickening the sauce.)
• Let the stew simmer (uncovered!) for 1.5 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Then pop a lid on and simmer for another 15 minutes. This adds a touch more moisture back to the casserole, which the dish will need. Remove from the heat.
• Remove the bouquet garni (and cloves, if you can find them). Add the tablespoon of vinegar, and give your stoofvlees a good stir.
• Now comes the most difficult part. Leave it alone for at least 12 hours (with the lid on). The flavours will build up even more. It can be eaten straight away as well, but it will always taste better the day after.