Carbonnade a la Flamande (Belgian Beef, Beer, and Onion Stew)

From America's Test Kitchen Season 7: Best Beef Stew

Most recipes for this Belgian beef, onion, and beer stew go in one of two directions: In one version, the recipe masks its genuine flavors and, in others, the recipes rigidly adhere to the “three ingredients only” rule, so the stew is stripped down to a pale, tasteless version of itself. We wanted hearty chunks of beef and sliced sweet onion in a lightly thickened broth, laced with the malty flavor of beer.

Most recipes suggest using chuck-eye roast for the beef, but we tried several other cuts and found that top blade steak, which has a fair amount of marbling, provided the best texture and a “buttery” flavor that worked well alongside the onions and beer. White and red onions were too sweet in our stew; yellow onions worked better. The onions should be browned only lightly; overcaramelization caused them to disintegrate. An untraditional ingredient—tomato paste—gave the stew depth, as did garlic. Fresh thyme and bay leaves provided seasoning, and a splash of cider vinegar added the right level of acidity. Beer is a staple of Belgian cooking, and we found that it’s less forgiving than wine when used in a stew. The light lagers we tried resulted in pale, watery stews; better were dark ales and stouts. But beer alone often made for bitter-tasting stew, so we included some broth; a combination of chicken and beef broth gave us more solid and complex flavor.