8 January, 2012
Belgian beef stew
2 lbs beef stew
2 large onions
1 bottle of dark Belgian beer
2 tbsp sugar syrup (or dark brown sugar)
2 bay leaves
2 cloves
2 tbsp sharp mustard
1 slice whole wheat bread
fresh thyme
vinegar
butter
Chop the onion (coarse). Melt about a table spoon of butter in a Dutch oven and saute the onion over a medium heat. Make sure they do not brown. In the meantime, in a non-stick frying pan, sear the beef with a little a bit of oil in batches until they are nice and brown. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Don’t clean the pan between searing the meat in batches.
Add the meat to the Dutch oven and add the beer to the frying pan and dissolve all the left overs from frying the meat (deglacer). Bring to a boil and add it to the Dutch oven. Tie the bay leaves and thyme together and add to the Dutch oven. Add the cloves and sugar syrup (or brown sugar).
Spread the mustard on one side of the bread and put bread with the mustard side on top of the stew.
Stew for about 2 to 3 hours (depending on the meat) without the lit. After 1 hour stir it once in a while. Once the sauce has the desired thickness, put the lit on and continue stewing. When the stew is finished, finish it of with a splash of vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Best served over thick cut fries with mayonnaise on a side.
