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Cooking With Beer

It’s no Guinness float¹, but here’s something I’ve had on the old hard disk for quite a few years ² that’s always worked out well for me. Those monks are geniuses.

Charcoal braised beef with Chimay Blue

Serves: 4 persons
Preparation: 0 h 20 min
Cooking: 2 h 15 min
Type: Main dish
Cuisine: Belgium

INGREDIENTS

800 gr (1.75 lb.) of braising beef
50 gr (1.75 oz) of butter
100 gr (3.5 oz.) of sugar
0.33 l (11 fl.oz.) of Chimay Blue
0.25 l (8.5 fl.oz.) of veal stock³
1 onion
100 gr (3.5 oz.) of wild mushrooms⁴
1 half stick of cinnamon
2 slices of spiced bread
nutmeg

METHOD

Cut the beef into regular strips and braise on all sides. Place in a casserole with the butter.

Sprinkle with sugar and allow to caramelize, stirring frequently.

Place the onions and chopped mushrooms into the casserole.

Add salt and pepper.

Add the cinnamon, a few gratings of nutmeg and the spiced bread.

Add half the Chimay Blue and the “veal” stock.

Cover and leave to simmer for one hour and a half.

Add the remainder of the Chimay Blue. Continue cooking for 30 minutes until the meat is tender.

Say it with me: “FRENCH Vanilla”.(back)
…although I see that the Chimay people have it on their site now. I suspect I got it from a promotion of theirs, way back in the day–the file is dated from 1998.(back)
Yeah, right, like you have that lying around. I have used both beef and vegetable stock–it’s fine.(back)
I have successfully used dried ones, which I’ve rehydrated for about a half an hour. I tend to use significantly more than the recipe calls for.(back)

Tags: drinking,eating

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Food and Drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Cooking With Beer”

Bruce A. Says:
July 13th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
1

This sounds like a variation on Belgian Beef Carbonnade, cutting back on the onions (I use about 4 in BBC) and adding mushrooms.

Hmmm. Come to think of it, I have a package of Portobellos in the fridge. Now I know what’s for dinner tonight. Thanks!
Mr. McLaren Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 1:00 am
2

Yes, it’s very similar… except that it specifically calls for Chimay! Those monks are hip to brand-building. (And yet somehow they’ve missed the obvious “Beer for Jesus” slogan.)
Trish Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
3

So if you’ve had the recipe since 1998, and you’ve made it at least twice (once with vegetable broth and once with chicken broth), how come I’ve never had it? Who exactly are you cooking for?
Mr. McLaren Says:
July 15th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
4

You’d think after all this time you’d know all my secrets.

The first time I made this I made it with Paul, when he lived with me, so I’ve had the recipe a lot longer than since 1998–I suspect that I probably kept a card or pamphlet or something for a few years, and didn’t digitize it until 1998. I have made this at least once since we’ve been in Halifax though–you must have been there, since I seem to remember dealing with the mushroom issue.