The Philosophy of Food, Issue #008: Sweet and Spicy Beef and Potatoes

This is a further product of my experimentation with the techniques I learned making stoofvlees or 'Flemish beef stew.'  I think it might be my best original recipe yet.

The Ingredients
-1 1/4 pound steak, chopped into bite-size pieces.
-1 medium russet potato.
-1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped.
-roughly 3 inches andouille sausage, chopped into tiny pieces.
-3 cloves garlic, diced.
-1/4 cup beef stock.
-1/4 cup brown or amber beer.  I used the lowest intensity of my home-brewed pumpkin ale, but I recommend using either Newcastle or Abita Amber.  Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Ale might also be an interesting addition, although I've never used it for cooking.
-Brown sugar.  I didn't use exact measurements, but I'm guessing it was between 1/2 and 1/3 tsp.
-All-purpose flour.  Roughly 1/2 to 1/3 tsp.
-Tony Chacherie's Spicy Creole Seasoning.  Use a liberal amount for best results.

The Process

The ubiquitous starting out picture.  This was actually after it had been on the stove for a couple minutes.  If I ever make this at true stew scale, maybe I should swap out the russet potatoes for quartered red potatoes. . .

First, grease up a frying pan with butter.  Toss in your yellow onions and garlic and cook them until the onions start to turn a golden color.  At this point add in the brown sugar and keep cooking.  Once the onions are fully caramelized, toss in the steak chunks and cook them until they're browned.  Then add the potatoes, andouille, beef stock, and beer.  Lastly toss in the flour.  Once the flour is stirred in, shake on the creole seasoning.  I recommend using a little more than you think is enough.  You want the spice to be able to come out over the sweetness of the caramelized onion and beer.  Cover and cook until the liquid is more or less a gravy, stirring occasionally.

And here is the completed product.

The Results

You can tell it's going to be a bit sweet by how sticky the juice is.  I think I'm slowly starting to understand the appeal of BBQ sauce.

As I said before, I think this might be my best original recipe yet.  This dish maintains most of the original sweetness of the stoofvlees without the sour notes introduced by the allspice.  The added garlic, andouille, and creole seasoning nicely substitutes the original sourness with a delightful Southeast Louisiana spiciness.  As per my last experiment, the potatoes soaked in the beef and beer taste admirably.  It might be interesting trying this dish more in the full style of the stoofvlees, using stew meat instead of steak, with a far greater volume of beef stock and beer.  If I did that, however, I'd want to use home made seasoning rather than store bought.  Or maybe a dash of crawfish boil. . .