Recipe Zoervleis, Dutch sweet and sour beef stew

[Windigo]

I must warn that certain ingredients might be hard to get outside the Netherlands, and maybe not easy to substitute. The cooking time is also long (4 hours).

Ingredients:
800 g stewing steak (beef)
300 ml of dark, bitter beer of your preference. I used Guiness
A mixture of 100 ml water and 100 ml regular vinegar
2 diced medium onions
4 tbsp of apple and pear molasses (appel - peren stroop) . This is hard to substitute, because the molasses are sweet and sour at the same time and not like other molasses that are only sweet.
2 medium slices of gingerbread , preferably Dutch ontbijtkoek but other soft gingerbread with also work
A mixture of the following spices: cloves, laurel, mustard powder, aniseed, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon and hot paprika. 2 tbsp total.
If you're unsure about the amounts, substitute to a mixture of three bay laurel leaves, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp cloves and some hot paprika to taste.
A beef stock cube
Butter
Stewing pan and two frying pans

24 hours before cooking:
Trim the excess fat off the stewing steak , dice it and put in a bowl. Marinade with the mixture of vinegar and water and 1 tbsp of the spice mix.

On the day of cooking:
Drain the beef above another bowl, you don't want to lose the marinading liquid. You will use it later. Pat the beef dry, and fry it to brown in one of the frying pans. Set aside and fry the onions to brown in another frying pan.
Then put the beef into the stewing pan with the marinade, another tbsp of spice mixture, the beer and the stock cube. Let simmer for an hour. Then add the molasses and simmer for another hour. Add the onions. Simmer for another hour. Finally add the gingerbread, stir about every 15 minutes for the last hour so the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. The mixture should be dark, shiny , reasonably thick and smelling great now. Remove bay laurel leaves before serving.

Serve with fries or if you prefer, mashed potatoes.

 

[Morning Glory]

This really does sound beautiful and intriguing. As far as substitutes go I am thinking black treacle as sold here in the UK could substitute for the molasses. Its not really very sweet. Are you familiar with that Windigo?

By laurel leaves I'm assuming you mean bay leaves?

 

[Windigo]

This really does sound beautiful and intriguing. As far as substitutes go I am thinking black treacle as sold here in the UK could substitute for the molasses. Its not really very sweet. Are you familiar with that Windigo?

By laurel leaves I'm assuming you mean bay leaves?

Black treacle is not very sweet, but it's also not sour and that's a really essential component. You might reduce the amount of black treacle to 2 tbsp and ad 50 ml more vinegar and a tbsp of honey, but I am not sure if that will taste as good.

Laurus nobilis - Wikipedia or bay laurel is what we use in it's dried form. The bay leaf refers to the Indian variety in Dutch, which we call salam leaf.

 

[Saranak]

Ciao Bella,
Could I use a Chinese sweet an sour mixture?

Sarana x

 

[Windigo]

Ciao Bella,
Could I use a Chinese sweet an sour mixture?

Sarana x

No because the sweet and sour flavor comes from pears and apples that have been reduced to a syrup. Chinese sweet and sour is often based on pineapple.

You could try cooking it yourself:
Apple Syrup (Appelstroop) Recipe

It could be done with only apple syrup I think, and it's supposed to look as black as in this picture.

 

[epicuric]

What a fascinating recipe! I will try this next time we get some tough beef. I am thinking pomegranate molasses and tamarind paste might work as a sweet/sour substitute?

 

[Windigo]

What a fascinating recipe! I will try this next time we get some tough beef. I am thinking pomegranate molasses and tamarind paste might work as a sweet/sour substitute?

Maybe date or pomegranate might work, I don't know the tamarind paste because I have never eaten it.

However, it's hard to explain a product that is absolutely a local speciality that's not available everywhere and compare it to similar but (very) different products if one has not tried the dish before.

 

[Morning Glory]

I'm thinking that Appelstroop is quite similar to Black Butter:

Recipe - Black Butter

Please note this is my own recipe and other recipes don't necessarily contain all the ingredients listed. It could easily be adapted.

 

[Windigo]

I'm thinking that Appelstroop is quite similar to Black Butter:

Recipe - Black Butter

Please note this is my own recipe and other recipes don't necessarily contain all the ingredients listed. It could easily be adapted.

YesI think this could work as a replacement