Flemish Beef n' Beer Stew

Posted by BBQ Resources at 5/12/2009 11:11 AM
Categories: Beer, Recipes

Comfort Food & A New Twist on Stew


When discussing ideas for bringing the great beer taste of Railway City Brewery's three ales into some recipes for this blog, Big Dog, Sue and I created a pretty good list of things we could make that would be enhanced by the beers.  Some were a bit obscure and some were total naturals and familiar beer recipe ideas.  One of the 'natural' choices was a stew utilizing beer in the gravy.  I took on the task of taking this very familiar application of beer in a stew and giving it the Black Pig treatment, by putting a bit of a spin on the traditional beef-ale stew treatment. 

After looking online and talking to my mom (who makes awesome homemade stew), I pulled bits and pieces of ideas from several sources and came up with a stew that isn't your average beef n' ale English style stew. 

This version is Flemish in origin and what gives it its twist is the combination of both sweet (brown sugar) and sour (red wine vinegar) ingredients to create that push-pull effect in the flavour department.  It's a nice contrast, and the Railway City Amber is the foundation in the stew that lets the other flavours do their bouncing around.  If this stew was the Beatles, the beer would be Ringo, a key player, holding down the beat rock solid, to let the sweet (Paul) and the sour (John) provide their dueling counter notes.  The subtle but flavourful seasoning would be George, I guess (or was he the Walrus?  Man, this analogy is getting way outta hand; let's just get to the stew!.........)

Flemish Beef & Beer Stew

1/4 lb bacon, cut into 1/4" dice
2 lb lean stewing beef, cut into 1/2" X 1" pieces
1/4 cup of flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 carrot, peeled and diced coarse
1 medium onion, rough chop
1 rib of celery, chopped coarse
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon ground bay leaf (or float three whole leaves in stew, removing before service)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2-3 slices bread, preferably a couple days old
1 tbsp dijon mustard
20-24 oz Railway City Amber Ale

Fry the bacon in a dutch oven until it's crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon and reserve.
Dredge the meat chunks in the seasoned flour, shaking off excess, and sear in small batches in the remaining bacon drippings.  When browned all over, remove with slotted spoon and reserve.
Sautee the vegetables (celery, onion, carrot) and the garlic in the remaining fat (adding additional oil if necessary), until slightly softened and onion is translucent.  Add the meat back into the dutch oven with the vegetables, add the thyme, bay leaf and cayenne and stir to incorporate.

Pour in 20-24 ounces of Railway City's Amber Ale;  enough to just cover the meat.  Scrape the bottom of the pot to free up any stuck bits there.  Add the red wine vinegar and the brown sugar, taking a bit of time to adjust the amounts of each until to get a really nice balance and counter-play of sweet and sour in the stew.Cover the pot and simmer on low heat for several hours, until the meat is tender.

Now here comes an interesting twist to this stew: Spread one side of each slice of your bread with some dijon mustard, using enough slices to cover as much surface as possible of your particular pot.  Place the slices mustard side down on top of the stew, drawing and spooning broth up and over the exposed top of the bread slices.  Cover the pot and cook 30-40 minutes more.  At that time, remove the lid, stir the now-softened bread to thicken the stew and toss in and incorporate those bacon bits you fried off right at the start of this whole thing!

Let the stew rest, off the heat, for a few minutes to soften the bacon and you are good to go.  The stew should be a nice thick consistency, thanks to the incorporated bread slices and can be enjoyed either on its own in a bowl or ladled over thick egg noodles.



I think this is a very interesting twist of a beef n' ale stew and it incorporates some great ideas like the mustard slathered bread thickener.  The sweet/sour counterplay is very nice as well, and enjoyed alongside a frosty pint of Railway City Amber, made for a great meal on a wet spring evening.

Qfan



 

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