Flemish Stew "stoofcarbonade" (Hans Vangheluwe)

There are many ways to prepare stoofkarbonade, and this is a simple one :

Ingredients :

1 kg of carbonades (beef cut into cubes about 2cm wide)
50 g of butter (from a cow, no subsitutes)
2 large onions
bay leaves (laurier blaadjes)
thyme
clove
pepper and salt
1 slice of (brown) bread
strong mustard
1 dl (or more) of beer (or wine)

Recipe :

1. Brown the onion in the hot butter.
2. Fry (brown) the pieces of meat.
3. Add the herbs, pepper and salt.
4. Close the frying pan well and let it all
   stew gently for a long (1 1/2 to 2 hours) time.
5. After a short while into the stewing, add the beer 
   (or wine), and the slice of bread which has been topped 
   with a layer of mustard. It is added both for texture and 
   taste of the sauce.
6. If needed add beer/wine during the 2 hours stewing.

Important variant : if the meat is not very tender, one can
marinade it first for one day in red wine or strong beer
(Rodenbach is excellent because of its high acidity which makes
the meat very tender), 4 onions, thyme, bay leaves, whole pepper,
salt, garlic (2 little pieces).

Strongly recommended with a glass of Rodenbach and LOOOOTS of (Belgian) fries.