Belgian beef stew {stoofvlees, carbonnade Flamande}

For this Belgian beef stew (stoofvlees) you'll only need a few simple ingredients. But they do give such a lot of flavor! The roast, which is stewed in beer, melts on your tongue. And you serve this recipe with the traditional Flemish fries. This stew is one of the traditional snack bar recipes in Belgium.

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Stew 3

Total Time 3 20

Ingredients

Instructions

Preparation

Slice the onion finely.
Cut the chuck roast into cubes 1 x 1 inch (2 x 2 cm).
Smear the slices of bread with the mustard (one side)
When preparing in the oven: Preheat the oven to 285 degrees Fahrenheit (140 degrees Celsius).
Put a frying pan on low heat and melt the butter.
Bake the onions for 3 minutes. Take them out of the pan with a slotted spoon
Put an ovenproof Dutch oven on the stove over low heat and melt the butter.
Add the chopped onion to the pan juices and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes.
Fry the meat on all sides brown and remove it with a slotted spoon.
Pour the beer into the pan and use a wooden spatula to scrape all the burnt-offs from the pan.

Preparation in the oven

Put the onions in the casserole and top with the meat.
Mix the beer with apple butter and vinegar and pour that over the meat.
Add sprigs of thyme, clove, and bay leaves.
Top with the slices of bread (mustard side down).
Put the lid on the dish (or cover with aluminum foil) and put it in the oven.
Allow the meat to stew for three hours.
Remove the cover and stir well.
Leave the lid of the pan (so the sauce thickens) and put it back into the oven for an hour. Check in between it it ain't thicken to much. Otherwise put the lid back on the pan.

Slowcooker recipe

Add the onions to the slow cooker and top with the meat.
Pour the beer and vinegar with the meat. Add the apple butter, thyme, and clove. Mix everything well.
Put the bay leaves on top.
Top with the slices of bread (mustard side down).
Put the lid on the crockpot and turn on low heat and let it stew for 6 to 8 hours.
Mix everything and serve.

Serving

In meanwhile deep fry the fries according to the instructions (or use an air fryer).
Serve the stew with French fries and a delicious salad.

NOTES

To get the most flavor fry the onions and meat in a pan. Then add some beer to soak all the flavors that are left behind. Put all of that in the dish.
Use Belgian Ale or Belgian style Ale if you can buy it. Substitute with a dark beer if you can't.
You can use red currant jelly instead of apple butter.
The vinegar is used to tender the meat and give just a tiny bit of sour flavor to the sauce.
You can substitute the butter with oil, but the butter will give a more creamy texture.
The stew is topped with slices of bread. They will soak all the flavors and then fall apart. This will thicken the sauce.

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