Beef Carbonnade For Dummies

This article is from Guest Blogger Wendy Stengel.

Thanks for the great cold weather recipe Wendy. It is actually on the chilly side today. The photo is from the Library of Congress. Thanks Library of Congress!

-JAY
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There are two versions of this recipe: the one for people who are used to cooking and recipe reading, and the one for people who are cooking challenged and want a step by step that really is a step by step.

The Short Version:

Caramelize 3-4 onions. Brown 3 lbs cubed beef. Deglaze with 12 oz beer. Add 8 oz. beef stock. Cover, cook at 350 for 3.5 hours. Stir in thyme. Serve over buttered egg noodles.

The "Cooking Challenged" Version:
Preheat your oven: 350 deg. F.

Caramelize 3-4 onions. Which means....
Slice up 3-4 onions. Put them in a COLD big skillet (don't use non-stick, unless that's all you have) on the stove top. Turn the heat to medium low. Stir OCCASIONALLY. Like, every 5 minutes for the first 15 minutes. Don't stir too often. We're trying to develop a nice brown caramelly onion, and that will mean some brown stuff on the bottom of the pan, too. When you stir, the onions will pick up the brown stuff on the bottom of the pan. If things start sticking, you can add oil, about 1 tsp at a time, up to about a tablespoon or two. The whole process should take AT LEAST 20 minutes. If it's been 20 minutes, and they're not all brown and sweet and complex, turn up your heat some. ;-) How do you know they're done? They're brown, and they taste sweet and complex. Scoop the onions into an oven proof stew pot, casserole, or Dutch oven (that has a lid).

Brown 3 lbs cubed beef. Which means....
Get 3 lbs of beef, and cut it into half inch or inch cubes (what kind of beef? Round or Chuck. Beware "stew meat".). Season with salt and pepper....don't be shy. This is the only salt and pepper we're putting in the whole dish. I go by feel, but I think it was prob. 2 Tbls salt and 1 Tbls pepper. Toss the cubes in 3 Tbls flour--should lightly coat all pieces, all sides. IN THE SAME SKILLET YOU COOKED THE ONIONS, add 1 Tbls oil, and heat to medium-high. Put in your beef...you'll probably have to do it in batches, because you do NOT want to stack or squish your meat in the pan. Flip or turn your cubes as they get brown. The bottom of your pan is going to get GROSS. Brown, gunky, icky. THIS IS GOOD. If things start sticking, add a little more oil. As they get all browned on all sides, transfer them to the stewpot/casserole/Dutch oven. Keep going until you're all done....

Deglaze your pan with 12 oz dark beer. Which means....
All that gook on your pan? We're going to scrape it up. Pour a bottle of dark beer (Think German or Belgian in style...I used a Wisconsin "Bavaria" beer) into your skillet, which is still on high heat. Use a tool that has a big flat edge, and scrape, scrape, scrape up all the gook you developed. That's flavor, baby. You don't want to waste it. When it's all up off the pan, pour the beer and gook mixture over the onions and beef.

Add 8 oz (1 cup) of beef stock/broth. (Self-explanatory. Actually, if its not, write me. If at all possible, DON'T use the little cubes. They're WAY salty.)

Cover, and put the whole shebang in the oven. You're going for 3 hours, 30 minutes cooking time.

In the meanwhile......at the 2.5 hr mark, bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Use your biggest pot, so you can cook up a mess of noodles. At the 3 hrs, 15 minutes mark, dump a package of wide egg noodles into the boiling water, AND TAKE OUT THE CARBONADE.

"What???? You said 3.5 hrs!" Yes, I did. We're going to use Carry Over Cooking. That stuff is hot, and it's going to stay hot outside the oven, too. Take a sprig or two of fresh thyme, strip it of its leaves, and dump them into the carbonnade. Give the sauce a quick taste to see if you want more salt, and if so, dump it in. Stir, and RE-COVER. It will cook the thyme just enough. (Using dried thyme? Put it in at the 2.5 hr mark).

When the noodles are done, drain them, put 'em in a bowl, and butter heavily.

Dish up noodles on plates, and serve carbonnade over the noodles.

To be very authentic, CARB OUT. Add crusty bread to the side, with lots of soft creamy butter.

Oh, and, of course:

SERVE WITH BEER.

A nice hearty red wine would taste lovely with this, sure, but, be Belgian! Drink beer!