Carbonnade Flamande or Beef Carbonnade
This Flemish Stew is a delicious dish of beef steak cooked in dark beer, which gives it a very tasty sauce or gravy. Another beautiful thing about this beef dish is that you can use your slow cooker for the stewing while you are at work, and a Dutch oven works perfectly as a cooking vessel, too.
The traditional French dishes, Beef Bourguignon or Beef Burgundy, are also favorite beef stews that you will enjoy, made with wine rather than beer.
Quick Look: Flemish Stew
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- 🕒 Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- 👥 Servings: 6
- 📊 Calories: ~ 450 kcal per serving (based on nutrition panel)
- 🔥 Cook Method: Stove Top, Crockpot, or Dutch Oven
- 👩🍳 Flavor Profile: It is hearty, complex, with a sweet-and-sour flavor profile from the deep maltiness of dark beer, intense savory notes from caramelized onions, tender beef, and a slight tang from red wine vinegar.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy, beginner-friendly as the only difficulty may be patience.
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About This Flemish Stew
A beautiful traditional beef stew recipe found in northern France, although originally from Belgium, is one of the most appetizing dishes you can make.
In France, it is called Carbonnade Flamande or Beef Carbonnade.
Often, cheaper cuts of beef are used, but it is much better made with skirt and cut into good-sized pieces.
Skirt steak is a long, flat piece of meat from a cow that has very good flavor but tends to be tough.
This makes it a perfect cut for a dish like this stew or for Crockpot Beef Stew With Gravy because the meat is marinated overnight and cooked long and slow before serving.
It is a warming and satisfying meal and, of course, lovely with a glass of cold beer to wash it down for me. But if warm is your preference, then go for it, as it should be consumed with great enjoyment and gusto the way you like best!
Key Ingredients
- beef skirt steak, flank steak, or a cheap cut
- dark beer, an ale
- bouquet garni, traditionally made of parsley, bay leaf, thyme, but we are adding celery to this one, then tied or, as I always do, placed in a nylon net bag (I save my onion or garlic bags from the grocery store) or a piece of cheesecloth to keep the contents contained and easier to remove.)
For The Sauce
- white sugar
- red wine vinegar
- white all-purpose flour
- butter
NOTE: See recipe card below for quantities.
How To Make Flemish Stew
- Cut the beef into thick strips about 1½ to 2 inches long. You can easily skip this step by purchasing pre-cut meat.
- Heat the oil or fat in a heavy-bottomed pan and seal the beef strips by searing for a few minutes on each side.
- When all are sealed, place on a warm plate.
- Soften the chopped onions in the pan for a few minutes without browning them, and add the garlic 1 minute before the onions are done.
- At this point, you can switch to a Dutch oven or a slow cooker/crockpot by moving the onions and fat over.
- I like to use a synthetic bag for the bouquet garni (above on left) that grocers use to sell onions, garlic bulbs, and various other vegetables. Traditionally, they are tied together before simmering in the stew, but I found they often broke apart, and then I was left searching for the bay leaf and thyme sprig to fish them out before serving. But this way they are kept neatly together, with no fear of losing them in the pot, and it is much easier to stir when not afraid of disturbing the bouquet.
- Put the seared meat back in the pot.
- Add the beer and, if needed, add some water to cover the meat.
- Season with salt and black pepper and add the bouquet garni. (See notes.)
- Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. At this stage, you can either reduce the heat and simmer for an hour on top of the stove (cooker) or place it in a moderate oven for an hour until cooked.
How To Make The Sauce For Flemish Stew
- Ten minutes before serving time, heat the vinegar with the sugar in a small saucepan until it bubbles and forms a dark caramel.
- Stir in two tablespoons of boiling water.
- Remove bouquet garni from stew.
- Then add sauce to the pan; this gives it a good color and taste.
- Add the butter to the stew and stir well.
- If you want the stew thicker, massage the flour and butter together to make a roux, then stir it into the stew, and continue stirring 15-20 minutes. The roux will make it smoother and prevent lumps.
Top Tip: What Is A Roux?
A roux is a cooked mixture of equal parts flour and fat used to thicken soups, gravies, and sauces.
If the mixture you want to thicken is already hot, adding flour straight up would create lumps. To prevent this, combine the fat and flour into a ball, then add them to the mixture and stir well. The fat combined with the flour will prevent the starch in the flour from lumping and produce a lovely smooth sauce.
What To Serve With Flemish Stew
It can be served with:
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes, small boiled potatoes or larger sliced into wedges
- It works equally well with pasta or noodles
- A side vegetable of your choice like tasty Parsnips or Buttery Green Beans
- And, crusty French bread for soaking up all that luscious gravy.
Dishes Similar to Flemish Stew
Flemish Stew FAQ
Beer adds a rich caramel flavor to beef & beer stew as the meat cooks. It also aids in tenderizing the meat without the need to cook it for a long time.
It is the same with Flemish Stew as with all dishes cooked with alcohol; it is a myth that the alcohol will all cook out. It has been studied, and depending on the food in the dish, the total cooking time, and the amount of alcohol added, some dishes will still leave anywhere from 4 to 85% of the alcohol in the food.
The longer the Flemish Stew is cooked with the beer in it, the stronger the flavor of the beer will be. So, if you are not fond of the taste of beer, start with a smaller amount and increase it as you taste. I have never noticed the taste of beer or wine in a dish, as it just blends into the wonderful overall flavor.
Yes, Flemish Stew will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and 3 months in the freezer when tightly wrapped, as recommended by the USFDA.
📖 Recipe
Prep Like a Pro
Before you start cooking, chop, measure, and prep every ingredient, and gather your tools.
This simple habit reduces stress, prevents overcooking, and instantly improves your meals. Mise en Place - "Everything in its place."
Flemish Stew: Beef And Beer Stew or Beef Carbonnade
Equipment
- Dutch oven heavy-bottomed pot
- crockpot
Ingredients
- 2½ lb beef skirt steak flank steak, stewing meat (which is often already cut up into pieces, or any cheap cut)
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 oz onions roughly chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 cup dark beer Guinness is good.
- bouquet garni usually of parsley, bay leaf, thyme, but we are adding celery to this one
- ½ teaspoon salt and pepper add more if you like
Sauce
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
For Thickening Sauce
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Cut the beef into thick strips about 1½ to 2 inches long.
- Heat the oil or fat in a heavy-bottomed pan and seal the beef strips by searing for a few minutes on each side.
- When all are sealed, place on a warm plate.
- Soften the onions in a pan for a few minutes without browning them. Then add them to the pot you will use to cook the stew further.
- Brown the meat in the pan next, to sear the edges.
- Add the beef to the pot and deglaze the pan with water, then add to the pot.
- Add the beer and, if needed, add some water to cover the meat.
- Season with salt and black pepper and add the bouquet garni. (See notes.)
- Cover with a lid and bring to boiling point. At this stage you can either reduce the heat and simmer for an hour on top of the stove (cooker) or place in a moderate oven for an hour until cooked.
How To Make The Sauce
- Ten minutes before serving time, heat the vinegar with the sugar in a small saucepan until it bubbles and forms a dark caramel.
- Stir in two tablespoons of boiling water.
- Remove bouquet garni from stew.
- Then add sauce to the pan, this gives it a good color and taste.
- Add the butter to the stew and stir well.
- If you want the stew thicker, massage the flour and butter together and stir into the stew, which will make it smooth.
Notes
- What Is A Bouquet garni? Traditionally made of parsley, bay leaf, and thyme, but we are adding celery to this one, then tied or as I always do place in a nylon net bag (I save my onion or garlic bags from the grocery store) to keep the contents contained and easier to remove.
- What Is A Roux? It is a mixture of fat (often butter) and flour that begin the cooking.
- This is a good recipe to use cheaper cuts of beef as the beer and cooking time will make the meat tender.
Judith says
Stew is one of my favorite meals to eat in the winter, and served with potatoes, any old way, on the side, is sublime! This one has the most delicious sauce, so be sure not to skip it! 😍