When temperatures drop and the days get shorter, this slow-cooked dish provides the dose of comfort we all need.
In the North of France, the Flemings know better than anyone how to keep warm. They meet at the estaminet, around a good beer or a cup of chicory, to taste “the” emblematic slow-cooked dish there: Flemish carbonade. The braised and caramelized beef melts in your mouth, and the beer sauce coats the palate with its gingerbread notes….
If you don’t have an estaminet near you, don’t panic! As long as you know how to wait, this slow-cooked dish is easy to prepare yourself. Just follow the valuable advice by Maxime Leplat, the chef at the head of N9uFa restaurant in Pas-de-Calais. For what ? Quite simply because he won the very first carbonade world championship! His first advice: opt for beef collar, a striped piece ideal for long cooking. And to make the meat even more caramelized, the chef sprinkles it with brown sugar, before letting it simmer. “It’s one of the secrets that made me win”he explains.
For 6 people, you will need the following quantities:
- 1.5 kg of beef collar
- 200 g of smoked bacon
- 2 onions
- 2 shallots
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 tbsp. tbsp brown sugar
- 25 cl of dark beer
- 75 cl of blond beer
- 1 tbsp. tablespoon of liquid chicory
- 4 slices of gingerbread
- 1 tbsp. tablespoon of whole-grain mustard
- 1 tbsp. tablespoon of classic mustard
- 30 cl of veal stock
- 1 small ladle of hop vinegar (but cider vinegar will also do the trick)
- 40 g roux (mixture of flour and melted butter)
- 2 tbsp. tablespoon of lard
1. Start by blanching the beef collar cut into pieces. To do this, place the meat in a pan of water, bring to the boil for a minute, then remove any impurities on the surface using a slotted spoon. Drain and reserve the meat in a cool place.
2. In a casserole dish, melt the lard, then sear the smoked bacon. Once the bacon is nicely browned, you can set aside.
3. Brown the onions, shallots, garlic and celery cut into pieces in the same casserole dish, and let them caramelize over medium heat. Add Provence herbs, then reserve your aromatic garnish.
4. Brown the pieces of beef neck in the casserole and sprinkle them with brown sugar. Then deglaze with a small ladle of vinegar.
5. Add the aromatic garnish, the bacon, the cut gingerbread, the mustard, the liquid chicory and the veal stock.
6. Wet everything with the two beers, then place the closed casserole dish in the oven.
After cooking for 3 hours in an oven at 180°C, you obtain a competitive Flemish carbonade, capable of warming you up in just two bites.
