I thank Julius Caesar for Belgium. Carbonade Flamande!

Every July 13 should be celebrated as Julius Caesar appreciation day. Born in 100BC, Julius Caesar, in his quest to elevate himself as dictator of Rome, marched his Legions through what is modern France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium before his failed attempt to conquer the Britons. Because Roman Legions marched wherever they went, Julius Caesar's engineers built roads and bridges. Because marching armies needed to be fed and a place to rest, Julius Caesar's armies built a chain of forts, many of which became settlements, that litter the modern borders between France, Germany, and divides Belgium into Flanders and Wallonia.

While Belgium has had to deal with ethnic instability and a complicated government, its unique geography as the ethnic boundary between the French and Germanic peoples has provided its people and the world with Belgian beer and culinary wonders like French frites!

Anyway, all this anthropological crap is just a strange interlude to what I was really interested in sharing, the carbonade flamande!

Ingredients:
        • 2 bottles (~12oz.) of a drinkable wheat beer (I used Hoegaarden)
        • 3 pounds of beef (chuck)
        • 2 medium yellow onions
        • 2 tsp of minced garlic
        • 4 tablespoons of flour
        • 2 cups of beef broth
        • 1 tsp of dried thyme
        • 2 bay leaves
        • 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
        • 1/2 pound of mushrooms
        • 1/2 pound of carrots
        • 1 medium stalk of celery
        • 6 small/medium potatoes

Instructions:
1. Chop the onions into 1/4 inch strings. Cut the carrots, celery and mushrooms into bite size. Wash/peel the potatoes and cut them into over-sized bites.

2. Clean and trim the beef. Cut the beef into 1 inch cubes. Liberally apply/rub salt and pepper all over the cubes.

3. Open a bottle of beer. To verify its freshness and suitability for cooking, take a swig. Taste good? Great! Unfortunately, now you don't have enough beer for the stew, so go ahead and finish that bottle and open another one (for cooking). Let it sit on the counter while you begin cooking.

4. Apply high heat to a large oven safe cooking vessel with significant thermal mass. I used my stainless steel pot (~6 quart). Add some oil, then sear the cubes of beef until they've developed a nice flavorful brown crust. We do this for flavor. Contrary to conventional wisdom, searing does not seal in juices.

5. Take your time while searing, good things come to those who wait. Once you're done, set the beef aside in another bowl, and pour the juices on top of the beef. Don't wash the pot. You'll see why later.

6. Preheat your oven to 300°F.

7. Apply medium heat to your beefy pot. Apply some oil. Then throw in your onions with a pinch of salt. Saute until they're brown and the bottom of the pot is de-glazed.

8. Toss in your minced garlic and stir. Then toss in the flour and stir.

9. Keep cooking and stirring until the mixture is sticky, and somewhat brown. Then pour in your beef broth and that bottle of beer sitting on the countertop.

10. Toss in your thyme, bay leaves, and vinegar. Bring the mixture up to a slow simmer.

11. Toss in all the beef with all the juices. Toss in all the carrots, celery, mushrooms and potatoes.

12. Bring the mixture to a slow simmer again.

13. Loosely cover the pot, and stick it in the oven. Set a timer for 2 hours.

14. Drink some more beer and wait. Thank Julius Caesar for landscaping the cultural national borders of Western Europe.

15. Many beers later (2 hours), serve the carbonade flamande with something like bread, rice, egg noodles, boiled potatoes, or frites!

Yum!