Carbonnadeis the quintessential Belgian comfort food; this recipes caramelized onions, brown sugar, and brown beer make the sweet stew addictive. Chef Palombino also recommends making thiscarbonnadewith any muscular cut of beef that's good for stewing, such as skirt and hanger steaks.
Ingredients
Special Equipment
Step 1
Wrap cinnamon stick, bay leaves, star anise, and peppercorns in piece of cheesecloth and tie to secure; set aside.
Step 2
Melt butter with oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat until butter starts to brown. Sprinkle short ribs with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Working in 2 batches, add short ribs to pot and cook until deep brown on all sides, turning occasionally, 7 to 8 minutes per batch. Transfer ribs to large bowl.
Step 3
Add onion to same pot and sauté over medium-high heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add spice packet and Worcestershire sauce; stir 1 minute. Return short ribs to same pot; sprinkle with flour and stir 1 minute. Add ale, broth, and stout, then prunes and brown sugar; bring to boil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spread mustard over bread slice, then place bread slice atop short ribs in pot, pressing to submerge bread into liquid. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until short ribs are very tender and begin to fall off bones, stirring occasionally, about 2 1/2 hours. Discard spice packet. Transfer short ribs to plate. Strain pan juices through large sieve set over large bowl; reserve solids in strainer. Spoon fat from top of pan juices and discard. Return juices to same pot and boil until liquid is reduced to 4 cups, 15 to 20 minutes. Season juices to taste with salt and pepper. Return short ribs and solids from strainer to juices in pot and simmer until heated through, about 10 minutes longer. Transfer short ribs and sauce to large bowl; sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Step 4
- A brown star-shaped seedpod; available in the spice section of some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Asian markets.
Nutrition Per Serving
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Reviews (14)
Back to TopI'm making this today for the 3rd time. Of course it's going to taste somewhat bitter, dark beer, duh! I don't add the prunes just because I don't feel like eating them in this recipe. I use Guinness exclusively and not always the darkest brew; I think any dark beer will be sufficient. What a wonderful meal this makes! Thank you Epicurious.
LSM56
MD
7/22/2012
For people getting a bitter taste from this, I think it's the boiling of the beer. When you see "boil" in the recipe replace it with simmer or almost boiling. Also I don't like too much sweet taste in savory food, so I leave out the prunes and cut way back on the sugar.
Anonymous
bay area, ca
10/18/2010
Wow...is it possible for a beef stew to taste like a dessert? This turns out so sweet and savory at the same time. I made it to try to recreate the Carbonnade a la Flamande my husband and I had in Belgium. Unfortunately I took my eye off the broth when it was reducing and I burned some of it but I rescued it and put it in a new pot and it didn't seem worse for wear. We served it with some good Belgian beer and "fast-food style" frozen french fries and it was a real stick-to-your ribs treat but man is it filling (and takes a while, you can't make this in a hurry.) Hard to stay away from the leftovers the next day... and yes, I will repeat what others have said, you need to make the bouquet for this recipe and NOT use ground spices as a substitute.
Anonymous
Chicago, IL
9/29/2010
"1)substituting the whole spice bouquet for ground spices can very well lead to bitterness, and over-seasoning." I stated this backwards, sorry. Do use the bouguet garni!
Rubix3
7/1/2010
To those who have not achieved the desired results, may I suggest some likely errors; 1)substituting the whole spice bouquet for ground spices can very well lead to bitterness, and over-seasoning. Remember, the bouquet is actually removed at the end of the braising. The flavors of the whole spices are gently imparted to the stew without overpowering. Ground spices by contrast are interspersed in the stew, and will remain there--different results. 2) 16 Prunes and 1/3c. brown sugar is a lot of sweetness!!! Don't add all the sugar at once, but season to taste. Still bitter? see #1. May this duplicate 4fork cancel out another users duplicate 1fork. However, I wish they had a fork category for user error...
Rubix3
5/19/2010
Do not hesitate to make this! Similar to Beef Bourguignon, but with different aromatics and the use of beer instead of wine as the braising liquid. The flavors are complex, deep, and the sweetness added from the prunes is delicious. We served the stew with a classic pairing-- french fries and mayonnaise. Truly amazing results-- our guest begged us to send her home with some leftovers!. I made some minor alterations: Chuck Roast cut into 1 1/2" cubes. Doubled amount of onions, added 4 cloves sliced garlic, and cooked them until deeply caramelized and reduced in volume. (definitely longer than 5min cook time here...) I also used Chimay Red Label Belgian Ale. Can't understand why you would use anything other than a good Belgian Ale. They often have a lovely fruity/floral spicy flavor and aroma which adds tremendous depth to the dish. This dish takes time and affection from browning the meat (without crowding), to caramelizing onions properly, and watching the pot gently simmer for two hours, tasting constantly... Heavenly.
Rubix3
5/19/2010
This was good, if not a bit unusual tasting for me. My fiance enjoyed it, and we both agreed it was not bitter or too sweet. I used powdered cinnamon and star anise, cut back on the sugar a bit, didn't have prunes so I used a handful of Craisins. Cooked in the oven at 300 for 2 1/2 hours, very tender meat. The quality of the beer (or any alchohol) for a braise is VERY important to the taste...when I use cheap beer or wine for cooking, the result is often bitter or sour. I used New Castle and Guinness here.
Anonymous
san jose, ca
5/6/2010
I thought this recipe was fantastic. I used a teaspoon of chinese five spice because I couldn't find star anise. Im not sure what I did different than the people that have review this recipe but I had 6 different people rave about it, at different times. I used Newcastle brown ale.
simrossi
Minnesota
5/6/2010
Please do not make this... I made it last week for a dinner party... I threw it away... the waste of time, and the expense, kind of makes me cross, it should be tested before the recipes are printed... I wish they had a fork category for awful. Fran
fwoodrooffe
Toronto
5/4/2010
Being a beer lover, I was so excited to make this recipe! However, like one of the other reviewers, I got an unpleasant bitter flavor that was hard to get past. I'm unsure where it came from. The meat still came out very tender for me, but I just didn't care for the flavor of the braising liquid. I think this recipe needs some tweaking, but I'm not sure what exactly needs to be changed.
Anonymous
Madison, WI
5/3/2010
Not very good as made. Next time I would reduce amount of prunes and/or brown sugar as it was too sweet. Also, I would braise in the oven on a low temp instead of simmer on stovetop. Oven braising would result in MUCH more tender meat.
Klavins1
Chicago
5/1/2010
今晚昨天做了这个公司,到目前为止is awful. I will taste this morning to see if sitting overnight improved the taste, but at this point I am pitching the whole thing... very bitter taste dont make it. disappointing and wasteful
fwoodrooffe
toronto, ont
4/28/2010
Help I am making this! I dont see any temperature mentioned....for the oven
fwoodrooffe
toronto
4/27/2010
Too sweet. Should have known from the amount of brown sugar. Its a waste of good beer, you get none of the savory flavor. I'll braise in beer again, but omit the sugar.
cassielacey
Richmond, VA
4/26/2010
