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Thursday, March 17, 2016

CtBF ~ BELGIAN Beef Stew with Beer and Spice Bread

are now in the second month of our journey
cooking from My Paris Kitchen,
David Lebovitz's latest book.
***
A Big Thank You to KatieBetsy and Mary
for putting everything into order and making it happen!
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my collection of David's books:
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Honey and spice bread ~ page 293
A member complained that with the bread added in,
the stew was a bit too sweet for her liking.
I took heed and reduced both the quantity for the honey and sugar,
but used the same amount for the water
in making the honey, sugar and flour mixture - my spoon stood up in it!
So instead of using 1 egg + 1 yolk ~ I used 3 medium sized eggs
to get the batter going ~ meaning quite thick
*point is ~ add more water!*
The batter was really ghastly and did not change its appearance
much after baking... but the batter did rise!! a good point I must say.
The bread sliced very well with and without a serrated knife
I tasted two slices, toasted and with butter and raspberry jam,
ok-lah! 
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Belgian Beef Stew with Spice Bread ~ page 198
At first I was worried that the stew might be too light in color
but it was just nice at the end of 3 hours slow simmering
 served up with poached orange and yellow sweet potatoes
tossed with olive oil and dried thyme
and pan fried to heat up
 
I am eating my packed lunch portion of the stew...
(while typing up this post)
need spicing up abit...
(a dash or two of Lingam hot sauce?)
should have used a Guinness? nah - I am not a Guinness person,
more black pepper and salt perhaps.
ps: hubby will be eating this for his lunch today
***
Do check out CtBF and see the results of our members
Note: We do not publish recipes at CtBF,
but certain recipe links are available at Amazon,
better still - get the book, and join us at CtBF.

15 comments:

flour.ish.en said...

These process shots are great. Feels like I was there in your kitchen.

Anonymous said...

Hi Emily! I have lots of baking experience and even then, the bread recipe felt strange. yes, the spoon stood up in mine too! good that you adapted and pressed onward!

Anonymous said...

That's interesting because I did not find the bread to be very sweet at all. Perhaps it depends on which kind of honey you use. It was good either way though.

Nicole said...

I preferred the sweetness in the bread, but it wound up being a little less than I anticipated. I enjoyed it very much! Like you, I left the stew leftovers for my husband's lunch.

Mary Hirsch said...

I have the same books of David's as you do except for the Chocolate book. Have you made any ice cream from The Perfect Scoop. It's all good. I didn't think this bread was too sweet. If you like gingerbread, you'll like Pain d'epices. I read in some article that the taste of the bread is "medieval" which I think describes it perfectly. I like the stew and understand why you had to take it up a notch or two. But, this stew probably will not beat out Dorie's daube, for me. But, the bread, made according to the recipe, I loved. I didn't think it was too sweet.

Mardi Michels said...

I think you might mean me but I didn't think the bread was too sweet - just when it was added to the stew it made the stew too sweet! Glad you enjoyed!

Teresa said...

You should try the bread as written some time, whether or not you make the stew again. I found it very subtly sweet and the spices very intriguing.

Anonymous said...

I think salt and pepper helped me as well!
I wasn't keen on the bread or the stew but I'm glad I tried it!
Your final dish looks great.

Renee @ Kitchen Conundrum said...

You are so right! The bread was a bit ghastly going into the pan- and it looked nearly the same coming out! Everything sure tasted good though. Yours looks great!

kitchen flavours said...

Hi Emily,
It is interesting to read about the different views on both the bread and the stew. I like your sweet potato sides!

Nana said...

We enjoyed both the stew and the bread. I cut my recipe in half on the stew just for the two of us, but not the bread.

Cher Rockwell said...

The bread was unique in its preparations, but I enjoyed it. Hot sauce is rarely a bad idea :-)

Betsy said...

I liked the bread, as is. The leftovers were great toasted for breakfast, not too sweet! Try it again.

KB from Prof Who Cooks said...

Emily, I really liked the bread best out of the stew. :) Loved seeing all the photos of how you made the stew as it's always fun to see how people slightly change the recipes depending on their whim.

Karen @ From Scratch said...

I didn't think the bread (or the stew) was too sweet, so if you try this again I wouldn't reduce the honey and sugar. Your stew looks delicious with those potatoes!