Flemish Beef Stew (Stoverij)

Ingredients

2 to 2.5 lbs of stew meat (I prefer chuck shoulder meat)

2 large onions, cut in half and sliced into not-so-thin strips

16oz of dark beer, more or less

2 tbsp of dark brown sugar, heaping (or ¼ cup of molasses)

1 whole clove

1 small clove of garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

3-4 sprigs of rosemary

2-3 sprigs of thyme

1-2 slices of brown bread, liberally spread with 2 tbsp of mustard

a splash of balsamic vinegar

a few tbsp of olive oil

1-2 tbsp of butter

salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Take a small piece of cheese cloth and tie the rosemary, thyme & cloves in. You’ll want to be able to remove it from the stew easily later on.

2. Cut the meat in roughly 1-inch size cubes. Salt & pepper like you would a steak.

3. In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and brown the meat over medium heat. It’s best to do this in batches, as you don’t want to overcrowd the meat. Overcrowding means the meat won’t brown, it’ll rather steam and you don’t want this. You want a nice crispy brown edge on each piece of meat. Set each batch of meat aside. Don’t be alarmed by the brownish ‘crud’ that forms on the bottom of your pan, and definitely don’t try to get rid of it… This is where a lot of the flavor forms.

4. When all meat is browned, turn up the heat a bit and pour a splash or two of the beer in the pan. Scrape the bottom of your pan to loosen the browned bits the meat formed.

5. When most of the bits are loosened and starting to dissolve in the beer, add the butter and the sliced onions & minced garlic, and continue to cook until the onions are turning translucent.

6. Add the remainder of the beer, browned beef, cheese cloth with herbs and the sugar, and cook over low heat for 2-3 hours until the beef is fork tender. Place slices of mustard covered bread on top of the simmering stew. They’ll slowly dissolve and thicken the stew some.

7. Keep the lid off of your pot. Once you have reached the desired thickness of the sauce, only then place the lid on the pot.

8. when the stew is ready, remove the cheese cloth wrapped herbs and laurel leaves, add a splash of balsamic vinegar and stir.