Delicious, buttery crescent rolls that spread the effort over two days. This yeast-raised dough can be refrigerated and used for up to two weeks! This allows you to prepare them freshly whenever you want.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
- ⅜ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup butter
- 4 onions, diced
- 1 ⅔ cups water
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle brown beer
- 1 slice bread
- 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
- 2 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Dredge the meat in the flour. In a Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Brown meat in butter, then add the onions and fry until glazed. Stir in water and vinegar. Season with thyme, bay leaves, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Mix in the beer. Spread mustard over bread, then add the bread and the carrots to the meat. Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Mix in the brown sugar (two tablespoons is a minimum! A lot of people prefer more).
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 428 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 18 g |
| Cholesterol | 91 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 23 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 164 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 28 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is actually called stoverij or stoofvlees in Flemish or Carbonades a la Flamande in French. It is a fantastic stew but it is important that the correct beer is used in order for this to turn out correctly. A dark beer is necessary. We have found Chimay at BevMo and Grocery Outlet. Even a fruit beer like Lindeman’s Lambic ( cherry or raspberry) is an interesting altnernative, as the strew is kind of a sweet and savory dish anyway. Whatever you choose , select a dark one. One other tip- when browning the meat, do not crowd the pan, as it won’t brown properly. Let the onions carmeliza and don’t rush it. All the brown bits in the pan are like gold and should be deglazed and added to the stew. This is my favorite dish of all time. One last tip- cook it low and slow. I put it in a Dutch oven in and let it cook overnight at 275. The longer it cooks the deeper the flavor. The meat should literally fall apart if you’ve done it correctly. Smakelijk or bon appetite!
Two spoons of brown sugar took it past a little-sweet. I think it would have been fine without. It was not unbearably sweet. I followed the recipe with the exception at the end. I added chopped celery, quartered potatoes, can of stew tomatoes, frozen corn, and pearl onions halved. I did not use the amount of onion this recipe called for knowing I would add the pearl onions. Came out wonderful.
Aside from making this in my instant pot I followed the directions exactly. This was insanely delicious! For the beer I used Abita Turbo dog. To make this in the instant pot I simply coated the meat with the flour, salt and pepper. I then put the butter in the pot and pressed sauté and sautéed the meat for about five minutes then added the onion and sautéed it. I added the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the carrots and brown sugar and pressure cooked this on high for 30 minutes. I did a quick release and placed the carrots in the pot and pressure cooked for five more minutes on high. I allowed it to natural release for 20 minutes. I then tasted it and added some brown sugar to an individual dish. This was amazing!!!!
I am from Belgium, and this is not the way we make it. We don’t use carrots or flour, neither do we add water. To make the sauce thicken, we only use whole wheat bread with mustard on it, and the only liquid we use is beer. The only veggies in there should be onions (and thyme and bay leaves). However, I’m sure this non-traditional version would taste well too, but try to make the real Belgian stew some time to taste the difference! Our famous chef Jeroen Meus has a receipe online. Not sure if you can find it in English but Google Translate would work.
I have made it for years. My wife called it Carbonnade de Flamand. I use regular beer rather than a dark one. I also add a dash of nutmeg.
I’ve made this numerous times and love it. A wonderful balance flavors with the extra tender meat, silky onions and tangy and sweet (depending on your taste) base. I always add more brown sugar, extra mustard and use apple cider vinegar. Fantastic with added potatoes (and veg) or served over them or noodles. My tip: I found it easier to brown the meat first and then only add the flour after caramelizing the onions to create a roué.
We loved this and added it to our recipe box! I followed everything except didn’t have fresh Thyme, tasted fine with dried Thyme. Wanted something without potatoes and this fit the bill!
Was very bland. My family did not enjoy this at all.
We loved this! I followed the recipe to the end, but I did add some small new potatoes. I have been making beef stew for over 40 years, but my husband and I agreed this was the best!! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hands down the best beef stew I’ve ever had! I made this for company and had no leftovers. I added two small potatoes I had on hand, but it would have been fine without.
Made this several times, but added veggies and potatoes. Love it everytime!!
We really liked this recipe. I added a potato and a rutabaga since we had lots of extra root vegetables. I didn’t have the white wine vinegar so used red wine vinegar. I’m sure we will make this again!
Execellent
I took this to a party and it received rave reviews! I was a little worried about how much onion was in the recipe, but it added wonderful flavor! I didn’t have any bread, so I chopped up a potato and added that. Will definitely make again!
Mmmmmm Frietjes Met Stoverij This is a great recipe, We have always had it served with Fries, with a bit of hot mustard on the side.. My moms from Ghent!So when I tried this recipe I found as yummy as my moms.
Good flavor. I added potatoes instead of the bread slice and my family loved it.
i’m from flanders, and i’ve got to say: this tastes pretty authentic. i still made a couple of changes though: – i add the carrots at the same time as the onions – i’ve added 2 cloves for the beer i use “westmalle dubbel”, a red-brown trappist beer, 7% alcohol. i also don’t add as much sugar, the beer is quite sweet and makes it redundant
Doesn’t work for me. Sorry.
Awesome!! Thx, Edda! Only added potatoes. Yum 🙂
I had high hopes for this stew. I visited Belgium once and had the best stew I’ve ever had and hoped this recipe would come close. Not one person in my large family liked it. The one good thing was that the stew beef cooked up VERY tender, which is why we gave it a 2 instead of a 1.
Different, but delicious.