Recipe by Linda Romanelli Leahy >>>

Try our Beef Carbonnade, which we've happily revisited from our January/February 1995 issue, and you'll understand why this is one of our all-time favorite Cooking Light recipes. Hints of bacon and a piquant kick of thyme flavor the stew; the surprising addition of beer mellows it. Moreover, the recipe is easy to make, calling on the age-old technique of braising, in which less tender cuts of meat, along with aromatic vegetables, slowly cook in liquid. The pleasant result: a rich meal of beef that's tender enough to flake with a fork and melt in your mouth.