Why Did My Carbonnade a La Flamande Have A Thick Sauce?

Our answer

Nigella's Carbonnade A La Flamande (from Kitchen and on the Nigella website) is a hearty beef stew made with beer that is cooked slowly in a low oven. We suspect that the lid to your casserole dish (Dutch oven) didn't quite seal properly when placed on the dish and this will cause some liquid to evaporate, leaving a very thick sauce. Next time you cook the carbonnade it may help to put a piece of greaseproof paper or baking parchment (parchment paper) over the top of the casserole dish before clamping the lid on. This will help to form a stronger seal and trap the moisture inside the casserole dish.

When you reheat the carbonnade you can add some water to help thin out the sauce again. Let the carbonnade heat up a little first on the stove top, to see how much the sauce thins as it warms up, then add cold water, a little at a time, until there is enough sauce to coat the meat, with a little over. Keep tasting the sauce as you add the water to make sure that you are still happy with the flavour. Once you are happy with the sauce's consistency and volume, reheat the casserole fully making sure that the sauce and meat are both piping hot. If you prefer you could add some extra beef stock but do taste carefully as you do this as there is a risk that the sauce ends up tasting too salty.