Beer in Belgium - Beer Cuisine

Beer Cuisine

A number of traditional Belgian dishes use beer as an ingredient. One is Carbonade (French: the Flemish term is stoverij of "stoofvlees"), a stew of beef cooked in beer, similar to Boeuf bourguignon. The beer used is typically the regional speciality — lambic in Brussels, De Koninck in Antwerp, and so on — so that the taste of the dish varies. Another is rabbit in gueuze. In't Spinnekopke, Brussels, and Den Dyver, Bruges are famed for their beer cookery. In 1998 Anheuser-Busch InBev started a worldwide chain of bars/restaurants, Belgian Beer Cafe, serving typical Belgian dishes combined with Belgian Beer.

The varied nature of Belgian beers makes it possible to match them against each course of a meal, for instance:

• Wheat beer with seafood or fish.
• Blond beers or tripel with chicken or white meat
• Dubbel or other dark beers with dark meat
• Fruit lambics with dessert