Skip to main content
Main

Flemish Beef Stew

A hearty beef stew with mustard, bread, and stout, simmered with onions, thyme, and parsley.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pork and beef match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

Flemish Beef Stew

Time1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salt pork

  1. Blanch salt pork in boiling water for 5 minutes.

  2. Drain and rinse salt pork well.

  3. Pat salt pork dry.

  4. Transfer salt pork to a heavy large skillet.

  5. Cook over medium flame until lightly browned.

  6. Remove salt pork from skillet with a slotted spoon. Reserve salt pork for salads or other dishes.

Brown the beef and onions

  1. Increase heat to medium high.

  2. Add beef to skillet in batches (do not crowd). Cook beef until well browned on all sides, turning with a spatula.

  3. Transfer beef to a heavy 2 to 3 quart saucepan.

  4. Add onions to skillet. Reduce heat slightly. Cook onions until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  5. Blend in flour. Cook for about 30 seconds, watching carefully so flour does not burn.

  6. Add stout. Stir, scraping up any browned bits. Bring mixture to boil.

  7. Pour mixture over beef.

Simmer and serve

  1. Blend in vinegar, sugar, parsley, bay leaf, and thyme.

  2. Cover saucepan. Simmer mixture for 30 minutes.

  3. Spread mustard over bread. Press bread into stew. Cover.

  4. Cook until meat is tender, about 1 hour.

  5. Remove bay leaf and discard.

  6. Serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1053Calories
68 gProtein
31 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Pork100g cooked242
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pork + beeftop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  2. Thyme + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together913 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef chuck
Becomes tender through long simmering, giving the stew its meaty body.
Onions
Caramelized to deep golden brown, adding sweetness and rich savory depth to the broth.
Stout or porter
Adds roasted, bitter depth and liquid that braises the beef.
Stale french bread
Soaks up and thickens the cooking liquid as it sits in the stew.
Dijon mustard
Adds sharp tang that balances the richness of the stew.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, malty broth.

The step that matters

Browning the onions and flour. Onions must reach deep golden brown for sweetness and color, while flour cooked only about 30 seconds thickens without burning, which would add bitterness.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, beef, onion, mustard, flour, bread, vinegar):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Thymethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, beef, onion, mustard, flour, bread, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesPork CakePork Cake107 recipes