"Gentse Stoverij"

Beer

Cooking with it.

Belgium is the land of beer, you can't deny that. In Belgium there are about 400 breweries brewing 1000 of the finest beers. Enough beers for one's taste! Do you like strong, dark beers? Well, have a St. Bernardus Abt 12! More fond of the white beers? A Hoegaarden is perfect for you! Or would you like a fruity Kriek? Or a Westmalle trappist? Or a Duvel? It is almost impossible to taste them all... 

Besides being a fine drink, beer is also used to cook!

On of Belgium's most known recipe with beer is "Gentse Stoverij" or Beef stew from Ghent also known as Carbonade Flamande. A fine stew made with a tasty dark Belgian beer. 

Living in Ghent I just had to learn this dish. I started looking up recipes, tasted different versions of "stoverij" in a number of restaurants in Ghent and wrote down the tips people gave me.

There a various ingredients in a "stoverij" which influence the taste. The main ingredient is the beer. Using a fruity dark beer will give your stew a different taste than using a bitter beer. Another ingredient is the mustard. I have experienced that seeded mustard will make your stew more bitter than a smooth mustard, like Ghent Tierenteyn mustard. You also don't want rubbery meat, therefor it is really  important to use quality meat. I like to use pork cheeks instead of beef because they are very tender and tasteful.

Stoverij is best served with french fries and a Belgian beer on the side.

Genste Stoverij (Carbonade Flamande)

ingredients: (for 2 people)

• 400 gr pork cheeks of beef
• 1 bottle of dark Belgian beer (I use Westmalle Dubbel)
• 100ml beef broth
• 1 chopped onion
• mustard
• 1 slice of bread
• 1 laurel leaf
• 1 tbs flour
• butter

Preparation:

Cut your meat into pieces of 3 by 3 cm. Melt the butter in a casserole and fry the pieces of meat in two turns. If you bake all your meat at once it will lose to much fluid and it will cook instead of fry. After frying the meat set it aside and fry the onion. Add the meat and the flour with the onions and give it a stir. Pour over the beer and the broth and add the laurel. Your meat must be submerged. Spread some mustard on the slice of bread and add it to the stew mustard side down. Put the lid on and let it simmer for 2 hour on low heat. Stir it once in a while to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom.

Enjoy!

"Smakelijk"!

May 02, 2013