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Beef Carbonade

Beef Carbonade is a strange name for this dish. First, carbonnade is a Spanish word but the dish comes from Belgium. Second, the words means "grilled" or "cooked over coals," but in fact the dish is actually braised. However strange the name, it's a great weekend meal, easy to make, but requiring long slow cooking in Belgium's signature beverage, beer. It can also be made in a slow cooker if you don't have a Dutch oven (casserole).

There are many recipes for the dish which have only slight differences between them...The one I've got is from a cookbook called 'Essential Cooking Series ( meat dishes )' and it happens to be similar to beer and beef stew recipes posted by a few people on bloggang ! So nothing is special..my aim is to just give you another choice for cooking a beef stew...

1 kg.stewing steak,cubed (2.5 cm)
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp oil
1 large onions, sliced
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp light brown sugar
275 ml can stout
500 ml beef stock
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 bouquet garni ( I used mixture of dried rosemary, dried thyme, dried parsley and bay leaves)

Method :

1. Preheat the oevn to 160c. Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole dish. Brown the beef over a high heat until bworned on all sides. Remove and set aside.

2. Lower the heat, add the onion and cook until soft about 5 minutes, then sprinkle in the flour and sugar and stir to a smooth paste. Pour in the stout and stock and bring to the boil, stirring. Return the beef to the dish and add the tomato puree and bouquet garni. Season and stir well.

3. Cover the dish and transfer to the oven and cook for 1.5-2 hours, until the beef is tender. Stir 2-3 times during cooking, adding a little water if necessary. Discard the garni and add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley.