National Dishes of the World

EN PL

Carbonade flamande
Photo: Jiel Beaumadier, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

main dish

Carbonade flamande

carbonade flamande / stoofvlees

Beef stewed in dark Belgian beer with onions and a slice of mustard-spread bread, served with chips.

Eaten in: Belgium

Prep
25 min
Cooking
3 h
Total
3 h 25 min
Servings
6

Jump to recipe

About the dish

Carbonade flamande is a Belgian beef stew in which dark, slightly sour beer, such as Flemish oud bruin, takes the place of wine. The meat is browned and braised slowly with plenty of onions, thyme and bay, and the sauce is thickened with a slice of bread spread with mustard, which falls apart as it cooks. A little brown sugar or sugar-beet syrup and vinegar give it a characteristic sweet-and-sour taste. It is a classic of Belgian home cooking and brasseries, and its usual partner is chips, though it is also served with mashed potato.

Main ingredients

  • beef
  • dark beer
  • onions
  • bread
  • mustard
  • brown sugar

Belgium: Called stoofvlees or stoverij in Flanders and carbonnade in Wallonia.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Carbonade flamande

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/carbonade-flamande

Ingredients

6 servings

6 servings

Method

  1. Pat the beef dry, season with salt and pepper and toss in the flour. Brown it in batches in the butter and oil in a heavy casserole, then set aside.

  2. In the same fat cook the onions for 10–15 minutes until soft and golden.

  3. Return the beef, pour in the beer, scrape up the browned bits from the bottom and add the thyme, bay leaves, sugar and vinegar.

  4. Spread the bread thickly with mustard and lay it on top, mustard side down.

  5. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer very gently for 2½–3 hours, stirring now and then, until the beef is very tender and the bread has dissolved into the sauce.

  6. Remove the herbs, adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and a little sugar or vinegar, and serve with chips.

From the same kitchen