Name: Grandmother’s Flemish beef stew
Total time: 3 h
Cuisine: Flemish
Ingredients: 2 tbsp butter; 1 kg stewing meat (beef); pepper (to taste); salt (to taste); 1 packet stew seasoning (optional); 2 tbsp flour; 2 onions (large, cut into half-rings); 250 g mushrooms; 4 carrots; 2 tbsp mustard; 3/4 l beer (dark PiedBoeuf); 2 bay leaves; 2 sprigs fresh thyme; 1 clove; 1 tbsp maple syrup (or sugar); 2 slices bread (dark); 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (optional)

Preparation

Cut the 1 kg stewing beef into cubes approximately 3 cm across. Put the meat in a bowl and season generously with salt, pepper and, if desired, 1 sachet of stew seasoning. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp flour and mix well.
Chop the 2 onions. Clean the 250 g mushrooms and cut into wedges. Scrape the 4 carrots and cut into slices.

Method

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large casserole over a medium-high heat. Brown the meat until crisp on all sides in batches. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Deglaze the bottom with a little butter and/or beer. Cook the onions over a low heat until soft and golden brown, approximately 10 minutes.
Return the meat to the pan on top of the onions. Add 1 clove, 2 bay leaves and 2 sprigs of fresh thyme. Add the chopped carrots and mushrooms. Pour over 0.75 l beer.
Spread one side of the 2 slices of bread with 2 tbsp mustard and place them mustard-side down on the stew.
Add 1 tbsp maple syrup and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar.
Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer gently with the lid on for 2 to 2.5 hours, or until the meat is meltingly tender.
Stir the stew and remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
Taste and finish with extra pepper, salt, sweetness (maple syrup) or acidity (apple cider vinegar).
Serve the stew with chips, mashed potatoes or a piece of crusty bread.

Background

Tips Sauce thickness: The flour, a slice of bread and reduction thicken the sauce. Still not thick enough? Add cold dark roux, bought or homemade. Sauce sweetness: Make the sauce sweeter with dark sugar or maple syrup. Choice of beer: This recipe used PiedBoeuf dark table beer, which already provides a sweet note. Other dark beers are suitable too, but bear in mind that each beer gives the sauce its own particular sweet or bitter flavour!

Grandmother’s Flemish beef stew

Ingredients

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Sauce

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Preparation

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