Where France braises beef in wine, Belgium uses beer, which tells you most of what you need to know about the two countries. Carbonade flamande, stoofvlees in Dutch, is the great Flemish stew: chunks of beef browned hard, onions cooked down until golden, and a dark abbey style beer, sweetened with a little brown sugar and sharpened with vinegar. The quirk is a slice of bread spread thickly with mustard laid on top, which dissolves during the long simmer and thickens the sauce. Some families use spiced gingerbread instead, and will explain why at some length.

It is traditionally served with fries, naturally, though bread or boiled potatoes are just as good. It is even better the day after it is made, which makes it the ideal dish to have ready in the fridge when a long day at Spa runs late, as days at Spa tend to.

The stew

Ingredients

• 3 lb (1.4 kg) beef chuck
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons (45 g) butter or beef dripping
• 3 large onions
• 2 tablespoons (16 g) all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons (25 g) dark brown sugar
• 2 bottles (about 3 cups / 660 ml) Belgian dark ale
• 1 cup (240 ml) beef stock
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 thick slices rustic bread
• 2 tablespoons Dijon or strong Belgian mustard

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