Slow-Braised Beef with root vegetables & Belgian Quadrupel sauce
A long, three-hour winter braise: melting beef cheeks, deep-mahogany root vegetables, buttery mashed potatoes and a glossy Quadrupel sauce humming with dried-fruit sweetness. Restaurant-style food, made at home.
Ingredients in two components
Component One
Slow-Braised Beef & Quadrupel Sauce
- 600 gbeef cheeks or short ribs
- 1onion, chopped
- 2garlic cloves
- 250 gcarrots, chopped
- 150 gparsnips, chopped
- 250 mlBelgian Quadrupel beer
- 300 mlbeef stock
- 1 tbsptomato paste
- 1 tspDijon mustard
- 1 tspbrown sugar (or honey)
- 2bay leaves
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 20 gbutter (for softening onion)
- —fresh thyme
- —salt & pepper, to taste
Component Two
Buttery Mashed Potatoes
- 500 gpotatoes
- 20 gbutter
- —salt & pepper, to taste
Directions step by step
Sear the beef
Pat the beef thoroughly dry with paper towel — water is the enemy of a proper crust. Season generously with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven until just smoking, then sear the meat on all sides until deeply browned. Transfer to a plate.
Sweat the aromatics
Lower the heat and add the butter to the same pot. Cook the chopped onion for 3–4 minutes until soft and translucent, then add the garlic, carrots and parsnips. Cook for another few minutes, stirring, until everything starts to take on a little colour.
Build the Quadrupel base
Stir in the tomato paste, Dijon mustard and brown sugar, and let them cook for a minute to caramelise. Pour in the Belgian Quadrupel beer and scrape up every browned bit from the bottom of the pot — this is the whole sauce in one motion. Let it simmer for 2–3 minutes.
Slow-cook the beef
Return the seared beef to the pot. Pour in the beef stock and tuck in the bay leaves and fresh thyme. Cover, lower the heat and simmer gently for 2½–3 hours, until the meat is completely tender and the sauce is rich, dark and glossy. Stir occasionally; otherwise leave it alone.
Make the mash
In the last 30 minutes of braising, peel and chop the potatoes and boil them in salted water for 15–20 minutes, until completely tender. Drain thoroughly, return to the warm pot to steam off, then mash with the butter, salt and pepper until smooth.
Finish the sauce
Lift the beef out of the pot and keep it warm. Bring the sauce up to a brisk simmer and reduce uncovered for a few minutes until it coats the back of a spoon. Fish out the bay leaves and any tough thyme stems, then taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Plate & finish
Spoon a generous mound of mashed potatoes onto warm plates. Arrange the slow-cooked beef and root vegetables alongside, then ladle the Quadrupel sauce over the top. Finish with fresh thyme leaves.
Pour & enjoy
Pour the rest of the Quadrupel into a chalice glass and bring it to the table. This is festive, restaurant-style food — the kind of meal that earns its three hours back the moment everyone goes quiet at the first bite.
The dried-fruit depth of a Belgian Quadrupel
A Belgian Quadrupel layers raisin, fig and date sweetness over toasted dark bread, caramel and a gentle warming alcohol. It’s the heaviest beer in the Trappist repertoire and exactly what a long braise wants — echoing the sweetness in the carrots and parsnips, standing up to the beef’s richness, and finishing the plate with one long, glowing note.
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