This is my version of Carbonnade a la Flamande or Belgian Beef Stew.\u00a0 It was one of my favorite meals when my family and I visited Belgium in the summer of 2009.\u00a0 It’s a hearty beef stew that in its native form consists mainly of beef and onions cooked in a beer broth.\u00a0 The best ones I had in Belgium were made with either Kriek or Framboise – a cherry or raspberry flavored Lambic beer.<\/p>\n
This recipe is based primarily on what appeared in The New Best Recipes from Cook’s Illustrated, but adapted for the slow cooker and made with the addition of carrots like Beef Bourguignon.\u00a0 I also changed the meat to boneless short ribs and used the “correct” Belgian beer.<\/p>\n
Ingredients 3-3.5 pounds of boneless short ribs, well trimmed and\u00a0sliced into 3\/4″ pieces Brown the meat well on the two flat sides in a lightly oiled dutch oven.\u00a0 You’ll have to do this in several batches if you’re only using one pan.\u00a0 I find that I don’t need to any any oil for successive batches or the onions as plenty of fat comes off the meat.\u00a0 While the meat is browning, I make the broth (using Better Than Bullion) and also stir in the sugar, vinegar, molasses\u00a0and caramel coloring.\u00a0 Set the meat aside and add the onions to the skillet and saute them until they are translucent.\u00a0 Add the garlic and cook for one minute.\u00a0 Then add the\u00a0flour to the onions and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring to coat the onions well.\u00a0 Add the chicken broth mixture and deglaze the pan and stir to make sure all the flour is wetted and there are no lumps.\u00a0 Slowly add the beer and then bring the mixture to the boil.\u00a0 \u00a0Put the browned beef and the carrots into the slow cooker and then add the onions and liquid, thyme, bay leaf and pepper.\u00a0 Stir well, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Serve with mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.<\/p>\n Notes:\u00a0 The caramel coloring makes the gravy nice and dark.\u00a0 If you can’t find it, substitute Kitchen Bouquet or the equivalent.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you can’t find Kriek or Framboise, other lambics will do, but if they are light on flavor (like Pomme or Geueze) then also add in 3 tablespoons of cherry preserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is my version of Carbonnade a la Flamande or Belgian Beef Stew.\u00a0 It was one of my favorite meals when my family and I visited Belgium in the summer of 2009.\u00a0 It’s a hearty beef stew that in its native form consists mainly of beef and onions cooked in a beer broth.\u00a0 The best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[162,164,20,163,18],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104,"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markiscooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>(serves 6-8)<\/p>\n
\n1 small bottle (375 ml) of Kriek or Framboise
\n1.5 cups low sodium chicken broth
\n2 pounds of yellow onions, halved and sliced thin
\n1 pound of carrots, \u00a0julienned
\n6 tablespoons flour
\n1\/2 tsp pepper
\n2 medium garlic cloves, crushed
\n2 tablespoons sugar
\n1 tablespoon cider vinegar
\n1 teaspoon caramel coloring
\n1\/4 teaspoon dark molasses
\n1\/2 teaspoon dried thyme
\n1 large or two medium bay leaves<\/p>\n