Beef carbonade (beef in beer)

Beef carbonade is a traditional Belgium dish. It is a casserole of beef cooked in beer.
This is my version (not traditional!)

Like most casseroles, the amounts of ingredients are up to you.
This is a minimal recipe. At the end, I suggest some additional or substitute ingredients.

Cooking process

• Put a little oil in the frying pan for frying. Peel and chop the and fry it for a bit.
  
  
• You can use for this recipe. Remove anything that you don't feel like eating (gristle, fat, etc.) and cut the meat into chunks. If the pan is very dry (it shouldn't be), add more oil. Add the beef into the pan with the onions, and fry until the beef is brown. Cooking the beef may produce some water in the pan. If so, carry on cooking until it's gone.
  
  
• You may wish to add some other ingredients (see below).
  
  
• Put the contents of the frying pan into your casserole dish.
  
  
• the frying pan by adding some beer to dissolve the stuff left over from frying on the bottom of the pan.
  
  
• Carefully pour the result into the casserole dish. You really need to have the liquid covering the beef. The amount of beer should be enough, but if it isn't, or if you prefer to use less beer, then add some water to make up the right level.
  
  
• Put the lid on, and put the casserole dish in the oven. This needs to cook for about two hours. You may need to check on the liquid level during cooking. Beef sticking up above the surface will turn dark, so stir it in, and top up the level with water or beer if necessary.
  
  
• At the end of cooking time, it's ready to eat. This is light on vegetables, so you may need to cook some to go with it. Potatoes are also traditional. On the other hand, you could add some vegetables to the casserole (see below) and eat it with bread, to save extra cooking.
  
  

Other ideas

Some of the following ingredients are traditional and some are possible variations. The recipe above creates a dish with plenty of taste and not too many ingredients. You can try adding some of the below for authenticity, or variation, or personal taste.

• This version of the recipe produces a thin sauce or gravy. You can thicken it with a if you wish.
  
  
• Bay leaf and parsley are traditional herbs for this recipe.
  
  
• You can add if you want.
  
  
• If you look carefully at the photo above, you will see that there are some . They are not a traditional ingredient for beef carbonade, but they are often used in British beef in beer.
  
  
• Chopped can be added to increase the amount of vegetables. Add with (or instead of) the mushrooms.
  
  
• You can add any other vegetable that will survive being cooked in a casserole. Don't get over-excited. It's best to add ingredients sparingly, so you know how each one affects the final taste.
  
  

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© Jo Edkins 2007 -