Cooking with beer: Carbonnade Flamande and Thornbridge Handel

With plenty of Belgian dubbel-style ale knocking round the house and the temperature just the right side of freezing, an afternoon by the fire sipping Thornbridge Handel seemed to be an ideal Saturday plan. But I was ready for a good gloopy stew too. What better, then, than a steaming pot of the Belgian beef & beer speciality, Carbonnade Flamande?


I'd picked up a recipe from The Hairy Bikers and set off into Derby to pick up the ingredients. Not much shopping required, to be honest - in essence this is a beef and onion stew with brown beer. I was only halfway through my minicask of Handel, a dubbel-style beer from Thornbridge, so I really only needed to pick up some decent stewing meat. Walter Smiths on the Guildhall Market have chunky stewing beef, so I picked up a pound.

It's one of those recipes that was a doddle for a Saturday; easy preparation and slow cooking. The beef's rolled in seasoned flour then browned off in a casserole on the hob before colouring some roughly chopped onions in the same way. Chucked in some thyme, bay leaves, redcurrent jelly, beef stock and that all-important beer and that's about it. Shoved into an oven for a couple of hours to cook down, I then stuck it back onto the hob on a very low heat to get the juices to go sticky. With the oven full of chunky chips and parsnips, it all made for a filling meal that took care of itself whilst I did more important things. Like drink beer and watch rugby.

And - oh my lordy, it's a rib-sticking melting meaty ale-and-hearty plate of goodness. The beer seeps into the meat and imparts just enough sweetness, leaving sticky fruits behind in the already-redcurrant gravy. It's a close call as to what's tastier - the tender beef chunks or the sweet parsnips sweeping up the gunky juice.

This was a beef & beer recipe and the quality of both was key. Especially the beer - Handel proved to be a robust beer with flavours that stand up to be counted. I've had the minicask (nine pints) on the go for four days now and I swear it's getting better as time goes by. When it's all gone, I'll stock up on something like Westmalle as a worthy cooking substitute.

Perhaps one of the best stews I've cooked. It doesn't taste of beer - not that it would bother me - but the flavour it adds to the meat is sublime. If you're still squeamish about cooking with beer, give this recipe a try - but buy two bottles so you get a decent drink to accompany it!