Belgian · Dinner

Stoofvlees

Beef braised in dark Belgian ale with a slice of mustard-spread bread stirred in to thicken it. Three hours.

2 hr 55 min total Serves 6 servings Easy
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Stoofvlees

Photograph credit: Jielbeaumadier carbonade flamande 2010 (image of carbonade flamande on Wikidata Q138553) by Jiel Beaumadier · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence

Making Stoofvlees

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  1. Season the beef with the salt and pepper and toss it in the flour.

  2. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a heavy pan and brown the beef in three batches, 4 minutes a batch. Lift out.

  3. Add the remaining oil and the onions and cook 12 minutes, until deeply golden.

  4. Return the beef with the ale, stock, sugar, vinegar, bay and thyme.

  5. Bring to a simmer, scraping the base.

  6. Spread the bread thickly with the mustard and lay the slices mustard-side down on top of the stew.

  7. Cover and cook on the lowest heat for 2 hours 30 minutes.

  8. Stir once at the halfway point, breaking the bread up into the sauce.

  9. Uncover for the last 20 minutes to thicken.

  10. Fish out the bay and thyme, taste for salt and vinegar, and serve.

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Small Things That Help

  • Abbey ale, not lager and not stout.
  • The mustard bread is the thickener.
  • Balance it at the end with more vinegar if it is too sweet.

What to Serve with Stoofvlees

  • Frites
  • Buttered noodles
  • The same beer

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Stoemp.

Storing & Reheating Stoofvlees

Better the next day. Keeps 4 days refrigerated, freezes 3 months.

Nutrition per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .