Beef Carbonnade (Beer stew)

A hearty beef stew made using a flavoursome english bitter style beer. While you can use your favourite commercially available beer, for the best results we prefer to use beer that we have brewed ourselves.

Ingredients

1 kg chuck steak
20g butter
2 tbsp of oil
1 large onion, thoroughly chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
750ml of Beer (Bitter or Stout)
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of rosemary
Salt, pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven at 150 degrees. First, cut the meat into two to three centimetre cubes. Pat dry the meat with paper towels.

Melt the butter with a tablespoon of oil. Brown the meat in batches, then put the meat aside onto a plate.

In a casserole dish, cook the onions, garlic and carrots in another tablespoon of oil. Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, then, add the sugar. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low. Add the meat to the casserole. Pour in any juices that have drained from the meat. Then stir in the flour. Cook for another couple of minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the beer, a little at a time (the beer will foam). Return to the heat and let the mixture gently simmer and thicken. Add the bay leaves and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.

Cover the casserole dish with a lid and cook in the oven for 3 hours or until the meat  is tender.

The stew can be served hot straight away or can be kept refrigerated for a couple of days.

Tip:  As stated above, the best results with this stew are achieved if you use home brewed beer. If you are able to use homebrew, make sure to stir up all the sediment in the beer before pouring it into the stew.