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eppie
12-29-2005, 12:18 PM
I don't post much, but I do check every day to see what's going on with the "beer friends" (my wife's term). Well to give a little something back, I thought I'd post my recipe for Flemmish Beef Stew. It was given to me by my flemmish mother in law so you know it's authentic.
Disclaimer:
I just hung out with her in kitchen when she made it and she doesn't measure anything, so all the measurements are just approxamations. It is stew after all so you can't go too far wrong.

Flemmish Beef Stew

-1 lb stewing beef
-1 bottle brown beer
-1 med. onion
-butter
- +/- 1Tbls vinegar
-salt, pepper, dried thyme, cloves, sugar
-dijon mustard
-flour (or other thickening agent)


-roughly dice oinion and put in large stewing pot (low heat) with a bit of butter

-In another pan (med-high heat) melt another pat of butter and wait for it to bubble up and settle back down (don't know why) then add about 1/3 of the beef and season with salt and pepper. Sear all sides of the peices and transfer to pot with oinions. Rinse the pan with a little bit of water and pour the brown juice in with the stew.

-Repeat the previous step two more times for the rest of the meat.

-Add the beer, vinegar, thyme (half a Tbls ?), 2-3 bay leaves, cloves and 2-3 tsp sugar

-Bring this up to a simmer and let cook for 1 hr/ lb (or half as long in a pressure cooker)

-Fish out the bay leaves if you can and the cloves at all costs (see notes)

-Add a big spoonful of dijon mustard and some diluted flour or other thickening agent and let simmer for another 10 min


Notes:
-I save 1 of the large outer shell pieces of the oinon and prick it with two cloves. This works as a sort anchor so the I can fish it out at the end

-This is typically served with fries (DON'T CALL THEM FRENCH, THEY'RE BELGIAN) and salad

-Some people leave the mustard out of the stew and eat it with toast coated in mustard.

-I usually use Grimbergan double (I used Leffe tonight). Any typical Belgian Double works.

-smakelijk!
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chazwicke
12-29-2005, 12:25 PM
Any recipes using the Flemish reds? I'd have a hard time sarificing a Rodenback to the cook pot. I love it and dearly miss the Rodenbach Grand Cru of old.

Wilson
12-29-2005, 12:27 PM
Looks awesome! I'm on it!

eppie
12-29-2005, 02:13 PM
Originally posted by chazwicke
Any recipes using the Flemish reds? I'd have a hard time sarificing a Rodenback to the cook pot. I love it and dearly miss the Rodenbach Grand Cru of old.

Yeah, a friend of mine who is a great cook (and lives in Roeslaere, the home of Rodenbach) uses West Flemmish reds in her spaghetti meat sauces instead of red wine. Tastes good too.
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chazwicke
12-29-2005, 02:15 PM
YUM!

mlbrown76
12-30-2005, 07:25 AM
Nice! I need one clarification, though. Are you using a 12 oz. bottle of beer, a 750ml, or other size?
I never would've thought to stir in mustard, I'll bet it's great, and the mustard toast almost sounds better. I'll definitely try this.
Oh, and when the butter calms down, you know it's hot enough to brown the meat.

eppie
12-30-2005, 08:36 AM
That's a 12oz bottle. The important thing is enough to cover the meat (more or less). You can put a bit of water in too if you're a bit low.
Thanks for the info on the butter. Everyone says to do it, and now I know why.
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Seymour
01-03-2006, 11:33 AM
Egad. Pardon the drool. That sounds fantastic. I've got a couple bottles left of some brown ales I wasn't too thrilled with. They're nut brown ales. Does that sound like a suitable substitute? I'm trying your recipe soon regardless!

eppie
01-04-2006, 03:01 PM
Originally posted by Seymour
Egad. Pardon the drool. That sounds fantastic. I've got a couple bottles left of some brown ales I wasn't too thrilled with. They're nut brown ales. Does that sound like a suitable substitute? I'm trying your recipe soon regardless!

Nut brown, sure, why not. The imortant flavors are beef, beer, thyme, and mustard. Mine tastes different from my wive's mother, and her's from, the others I've tasted. Make it your own. It's more a Beef'n sauce than what we know as stew, but I guess there's a fine line. A Belgian fry shack (best translation I can think of) will sell you fries with "stew sauce", or the whole meat stew thrown on top.
Try a few things and a few beers and let us know what works best for you
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corkybstewart
01-12-2006, 04:51 PM
My intro to Belgian cuisine was at Tom's Diner in Brugge. The name threw us a curveball, but the food was excellent. It was recommended by our hotel owner. All in all we were very impressed with the food (and beer)on our Belgian vacation.

Wilson
10-17-2006, 11:27 AM
I gave this a shot last night and was pretty impressed. I used Chimay Red. The only thing I would do differently is perhaps use an even darker beer, maybe one not so sweet, and cut back on the cloves. I used Eppies "cloves in the onion" trick and it worked very well, but I guess I got carried away with the amount of cloves - used about 15-20. Next time I will cut that amount way down. Who knew...I'm not that big a fan of cloves?! Very good after I cut the sweetness with lots of creole mustard.

Payson
10-17-2006, 12:54 PM
I love it and dearly miss the Rodenbach Grand Cru of old.

Have you by chance tried the "Redbach" yet? I saw it recently at a festival. A cherry version of Rodenbach. Rather tasty. My first thought was what it would taste like as a reduction.. maybe drizzled over pork. I've yet to see it commercially though.

chazwicke
10-18-2006, 09:56 AM
I've heard of it buy have yet to taste any.

eppie
10-18-2006, 11:57 AM
Originally posted by Wilson
I gave this a shot last night and was pretty impressed. I used Chimay Red. The only thing I would do differently is perhaps use an even darker beer, maybe one not so sweet, and cut back on the cloves. I used Eppies "cloves in the onion" trick and it worked very well, but I guess I got carried away with the amount of cloves - used about 15-20. Next time I will cut that amount way down. Who knew...I'm not that big a fan of cloves?! Very good after I cut the sweetness with lots of creole mustard.

15-20 cloves!! Good God! I use two for 1lb of beef. I think Chimay Red would be perfect though, but it is all just a matter of taste.

Corky, Tom's Diner is a good place. It's not so much of a tourist trap as many places here in Brugge. Small beer menu, but quality.

"Redbach", haven't heard of it, but there are starting to be more and more beers here that are made overly sweet. Not a traditional cherry lambic, but a regular beer with a bunch of cherry flavour thrown in for example. It's kinda Belguim's answer to the wine cooler.
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