Best Beef Bourguignon to Eat in Bourgougne

Considered by many to be the female parent of all stews, Beef Bourguignon is a French dish made with beef, bacon lardons, carrots, onions and mushrooms irksome cooked in a rich cerise vino sauce.

For the virtually magnificent stew of your life, start this 2 days before you lot plan to serve it, do not shortcut pan-roasting ingredients individually, and utilise homemade beefiness stock!

Beef Bourguignon

One of my fondest memories of travels in Burgundy was discovering family-run bistros in small villages that served traditional French fare so incredible, y'all'd swear you were in a hidden Michelin star restaurant.

And existence right in the region from which Beef Bourguignon hails, it was hard to resist ordering this iconic dish fourth dimension and time again. Every bistro had their cloak-and-dagger recipe, and no 2 were exactly the same.

Except, perhaps, the quality that each of them were to me, the near incredible Beefiness Burgundy I've e'er had in my life!.

I just need to add one more than to that list though: This Beef Bourguignon recipe you're reading. Information technology was created with the assistance of a classically trained French chef from Burgundy residing right hither in Sydney, Jean-Baptiste Alexandre of Baptiste & Wilson. For a dish this iconic, I refused to but settle for any old recipe.

This Beef Bourguignon is easily-downwards better than any I've made in my life – including Julia Child's recipe.

What goes in Beef Bourguignon

There are two main components to making Beef Bourguignon:

1. Scarlet wine-marinated beefiness; and

2. Tedious cooked stew

1. Red wine marinade for beef

Here's what you demand for the red vino-marinated beef:

• Chuck beefiness – Not all beefiness is created equal, fifty-fifty when tedious-cooked into fall-autonomously submission! Look for good quality chuck beefiness, ribboned with fat for the juiciest result.

  Also, be sure to either buy Big pre-cut pieces – every bit in iv-5 cm / 2" cubes – or a one single piece which you lot piece up yourself. If you buy pre-cut pieces that are too small, they will cook faster than the time it takes for the sauce to develop enough season;

• Pinot noir – Beef Bourguignon is also known as Beefiness Burgundy, and thus the wine called for is a Pinot Noir – the most famous variety of wine produced in the Burgundy region of France.

  Using a lighter manner wine might sound unexpected for a hearty stew, only the more than delicate flavor compared to bolder wines like Shiraz makes it ideal for using equally a marinade so the ruby-red wine flavour doesn't overwhelm the natural beefiness season.

  Nosotros're using a whole bottle here. Sorry folks, you'll demand some other bottle for drinking!

• Thyme and bay leaves – Classic herb aromatics;

• Carrot – Simply your everyday standard carrots will practice fine;

• Pearl onions – These small onions are the traditional onions used in Beefiness Bourguignon but are annoyingly difficult to find hither in Australia. I use what's sold as "pickling onions" which are well-nigh the same just slightly larger, so I peel an actress layer or ii off the surface to make them pearl onion size (~three cm / 1.2″ diameter).

  Culling: Just apply slices of a normal onion. The finish upshot tastes the same, I promise!

---

2. The stew

And here's what goes into the stew:

• Beef stock – The unmarried biggest variable on which a stew hinges, differentiating a good dwelling house-cooked stew and a quality, why-does-this-eating place-stew-taste-and so-damned-good result.

  Homemade beef stock trumps store-bought. But if you're going downwards the store-bought path, try to opt for a practiced quality stock from the butcher rather than the cheap mass-produced stuff. The divergence I promise is remarkable.

  Having said that though, I would never say that this is not worth making with bones supermarket beef stock. Information technology is, oh-so-very worth making!

• Bacon – Get slab salary from your butcher if you tin can, so you can cut information technology yourself into big chunky lardons (batons). A proper bite of meaty bacon lardons is function of the awesomeness that is Beefiness Bourguignon.

  If you can't discover slab bacon, attempt speck (which in Commonwealth of australia seems to normally smoked pork belly chunks). Declining that, normal salary slices works merely fine too;

• Mushrooms – Only your everyday normal mushrooms. Cut big ones into quarters, medium ones in one-half;

• Garlic – Flavouring (rare to come across a savoury dish around here without it!);

• Lycopersicon esculentum paste – For a touch of tang, to assist thicken the sauce, for flavour and for colour; and

• Flour – For thickening the sauce.

---

How to make Beef Bourguignon

For the absolute best results, beginning this 2 days before you plan to serve it to let for:

• Overnight marinating of the beef; and

• Leaving the finished stew overnight to let the flavours develop even further.

Role 1: Beef marinade

1. Marinate beefiness for 24 hours in red wine with the onion, carrot, thyme and bay leaves. This tenderises and infuses the beef with beautiful flavor. I've tried it with and without marinating, and marinating is way better. It's worth it!

2. Strain and reserve the red wine – we're going to reduce information technology to utilise every bit the stew braising liquid;

3. Reduce wine – Pour reddish wine into a saucepan;

4. Reduce – Simmer until reduced by half, about 7 minutes on medium high. Skim any scum off the surface using a ladle;

5. Pat beefiness dry – Separate the beef from the carrots and onion, then pat dry. Why? Because moisture beefiness won't brownish. Browning is central for flavor!

6. Flavor beefiness with salt and pepper. Ugh, delight don't skip this footstep. I once did, and fifty-fifty though I was salting the sauce furiously at the stop, it just wasn't the aforementioned!

---

Part ii: Making the stew

It'southward well worth taking the time to brown each of the ingredients individually before tiresome cooking in the braising liquid. The browning adds a depth of flavor you just can't attain past dumping everything in at the aforementioned time!

1. Brownish beef aggressively all over, because colour = season! A very heavy pot like a cast iron pot / Dutch oven works best for this chore.

   Be sure to use plenty oil and so the beefiness browns rather than burns. Work in batches and don't crowd the pot otherwise the beef will simply braise instead of brown.

   In one case browned, remove into a bowl;

2. Salary – Cook the bacon next, to release all that tasty salary fat which we then use to brown the subsequent ingredients;

3. Onion next – Just cook until you get some nice golden patches, it'due south impossible to brand information technology golden all over due to the shape. Put these in a separate bowl considering these get added dorsum into the stew partway though the dull cooking phase;

4. Mushrooms – Cook the mushrooms until gilded, then add together them into the same basin as the onions;

5. Carrots terminal – And finally, pan-roast the carrots until you get some lovely colour on them. We add together some butter here, considering yous'll detect that the mushrooms soak up all the remaining salary fat, just nosotros need some fat to brand the roux with the flour in the next stride;

6. Tomato plant paste and flour – Add the tomato paste and melt to take the raw border off. Then add flour and melt for a minute;

7. Add liquid – Slowly add the beef stock while stirring and so the flour dissolves easily, no lumps! Then stir the reduced red vino in;

8. Add beef, bacon, thyme and bay leaves, then requite it a proficient stir and bring to a simmer. Now, it'south ready to tiresome-cook into fall-apart magnificence!

---

Role 3. Slow-cooking

This is all most time – and non forgetting to add together the onion and mushrooms partway through!

1. Oven one hour – Cover pot so place in the oven for i hour at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). At this temperature, the stew is simmering very, very gently in the oven, like it would on a low stove. I observe the oven is easier than stove considering you don't accept to worry about the base of operations catching – no need to stir;

2. Add together onion and mushroom then give it a gentle stir;

3. Return to the oven for another 1½ hours, until the beef is "fall apart tender" – like THIS:

4. Adapt thickness and table salt – At this phase, if the sauce hasn't reduced enough (ie. too thin) or the sauce is too thick (which can happen if yous didn't apply a heavy-based pot), you tin can adjust it using the stove.

   If information technology'due south too thin, just simmer gently on low rut. It won't accept long to reduce and thicken. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of h2o then simmer gently to bring it together once more.

   Besides, don't forget to cheque if in that location'due south enough salt in the sauce! Taste and suit as necessary. 🙂

Highly recommended: Get out overnight before serving

Every bit with all stews, Beef Bourguignon benefits greatly if you lot tin can leave information technology overnight which lets the flavours develop farther and meld together even better.

Don't get me wrong, it is sensational served on the day it's made. But it'southward fifty-fifty better the next mean solar day!

What to serve with Beef Bourguignon

I suppose one could serve this over a short pasta, polenta, or a grain. Only for me, I would never contemplate anything other than buttery Mashed Potatoes!

And while I usually offer Paris Mash as an even more luxe alternative, I actually retrieve it's also rich for Beef Burgundy.

Complete your Burgundy experience with a fresh French Bistro Salad on the side. Y'all'll find variations of this salad served all over France, for a clean and palate-cleansing side intended to serve alongside hearty mains similar this.

Enjoy! – Nagi x

---

Watch how to make it

Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.

Servings v

Tap or hover to scale

Recipe video to a higher place. Considered past many to exist the female parent of all stews, Beef Bourguignon is a French dish made with beef, bacon lardons, carrots, onions and mushrooms slow-cooked in a rich blood-red wine sauce.

For the most magnificent stew of your life, kickoff this 2 days before y'all plan to serve it, do non shortcut pan roasting ingredients individually, and use homemade beef stock if you tin!

Beefiness marinade:

• ▢ 800g/ one.six lb chuck beef , cut in 4-5 cm / 2" cubes (Note ane)
• ▢ two large carrots (~300g/10oz), cut on an bending into iv-five cm / 2" pieces
• ▢ 16 pearl onions or small, round pickling onions (Notation 2)
• ▢ 1 bay leaf , fresh (sub: stale)
• ▢ 3 sprigs thyme
• ▢ 750ml/ 25 oz pinot noir or other crimson wine (Note three)

Browning beef:

• ▢ iii tbsp oil , olive, canola or vegetable
• ▢ 3/4 tsp salt
• ▢ ane/two tsp pepper

Stew:

• ▢ 200g/ 7oz mushrooms , halved (quarters if large)
• ▢ 150g/ 5oz bacon piece , cut into 1cm / ane/ii" thick batons (Annotation iv)
• ▢ 50g/3 tbsp unsalted butter
• ▢ three garlic cloves , minced
• ▢ 2 tbsp tomato paste
• ▢ half dozen tbsp flour , plain/all purpose
• ▢ 3 cups beef stock (depression sodium) , preferably homemade; otherwise the best you can afford (Note 5)
• ▢ 1/4 tsp table salt
• ▢ 2 tbsp chopped parsley , for garnish

Marinate beef:

• Marinate beefiness: Identify the Beef Marinade ingredients in a large, not-reactive ceramic dish or ziplock bag. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator (minimum 12 hours, maximum 24 hours).

• Strain liquid into a bowl, reserve marinade. Separate the beef, carrots and onion.

• Reduce wine: Pour red wine into a bucket and bring to a boil over medium high oestrus. Simmer vigorously, skimming off any impurities that rise to the surface, until reduced by half. Prepare bated.

Brownish beef and vegetables:

• Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan).

• Dry beef: Line a tray with paper towels, spread beef out, and so pat dry with paper towels.

• Flavour beefiness: Sprinkle beefiness with iii/iv tsp salt and 1/ii tsp blackness pepper.

• Brown beef: Heat 2 tbsp oil in a big, heavy-based, oven-proof pot over high estrus. Add together 1/3 beef and brown aggressively all over. Remove into bowl, then echo with remaining beefiness, adding more oil if needed.

• Fry bacon: Add salary and melt for 3 minutes until gold. Add to bowl with beefiness.

• Sauté mushrooms: Add together mushrooms and melt for five minutes, or until golden. Remove into a new bowl.

• Sauté onion: Add a bit of extra oil if needed, then cook onions for five minutes or until there are dainty golden patches. Add together to bowl with mushrooms.

• Sauté carrot: Add together butter into pot. Once melted, add carrot and cook for three – 4 minutes until there are golden patches. Add together garlic and melt for a further 1 minute.

• Tomato paste: Add tomato paste and cook for two minutes.

• Flour: Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.

• Add wine and stock: While stirring, slowly pour in beef stock – this helps the flour dissolve lump-gratuitous into the stock. Then add together wine and mix until flour mixture is dissolved and more often than not lump-complimentary (Annotation 6).

• Add beef into pot: Add beef, bacon, thyme, bay leaf, 1/4 tsp common salt and pepper into the pot, then stir well.

Tiresome-melt:

• Oven 1 hour: Bring to a simmer, so encompass and transfer to oven for 1 hour. (Annotation 7)

• Mushrooms and onion: Remove from oven, stir in mushrooms and onion.

• Oven 1½ hours: Cover with lid and return to oven for i½ hours, or until beef is "fall-apart tender".

• Adjust table salt: Remove from oven, taste sauce and add table salt if needed. (Notation eight – important!)

• Exit overnight (recommended): If fourth dimension permits, exit the stew overnight before serving because as with all stews, it gets improve with time! Reheat gently on a depression stove.

• Serve over mashed potato – Essential for mopping upwards every drop of that amazing sauce!

Scaling recipe up – volition work perfectly, only be certain to brown the meat and vegetable in batches so you get some nice colour on them. If you oversupply the pan too much, they will just braise and get watery, rather than going aureate. Slow cook time will be the same equally long as you're using a heavy based pot and bring to simmer first earlier covering and transferring to oven.

---

1. Chuck beef – Look for beefiness that's nicely ribboned with fatty, as it volition be juicier and more than tender. Don't buy pre-cut small pieces, they volition melt too quickly before the season in the sauce develops. It's better to buy a large piece and cut your ain to size.

2. Pearl onions are very minor onions and are irritatingly hard to find in Australia. The closest are pickling onions which are slightly bigger, so simply peel an extra layer or two off to make them the right size – around 2.5cm/ane″ in diameter. Soak them for ten/15min in common cold h2o, it will soften the skin and will brand them easier to pare (use a minor knife to assist).

You lot tin can also just use 2 brown or yellow onions, halved then cut into 1cm / two/five" slices.

3. Pinot Noir is the traditional wine used in Beef Bourguignon. It's the reddish vino that the Burgundy region of France is most famous for, reflecting the origins of this dish which is as well known as "Beef Burgundy".

In that location's no demand to splurge on expensive wine here. Just rummage through the discount bins at your local liquor store. The bottle I used an end-of-bin bottle steeply discounted to $7 (I stocked up!).

iv. Bacon Lardons – Bitter into a thick slice of bacon is all function of the Beef Bourguignon feel! If you can't discover a slab of bacon to cut yourself, try speck which is similar (and similar fat % likewise which is cardinal!).

Otherwise, just use streaky bacon cut into strips. Salary is central for sauce seasoning, so don't skip it!

5. Beefiness stock quality is the key variable here that volition set apart a good homemade Beef Bourguignon from an infrequent restaurant-quality ane. Homemade beef stock trumps any store bought. Skillful quality store-bought from butchers etc. are far better than mass-produced (like Campbell's hither in Commonwealth of australia).

Do not use powdered beef stock. It'southward bluntly inferior to even the packet liquid stock and has no place hither amongst all this effort, I'm afraid!

6. Flour lumps –  Don't fret if you have some lumps! They will deliquesce during the tiresome cooking time 🙂

seven. Cook method – Oven is best because it's entirely hands off, no need to stir to ensure base doesn't catch. But it can also exist done on a low stove, lid on, stirring every now and then (take extra intendance towards the end and so the meat doesn't interruption apart).

Boring cooker: This can piece of work only you'll need to reduce on the stove at the end to thicken sauce. Slow-cook for 4 hours on low, add mushrooms and onion, and so irksome cook a further 4 hours. Transfer to pot and so simmer (no lid) for 15 – 20 minutes until sauce reduces. I actually retrieve it's just easier to use the oven!

8.Salt quantity required varies drastically depending on saltiness of salary, homemade vs store bought stock (homemade is unsalted), so always do this at the finish andtrust your tastebuds.

With bootleg beef stock, I add another iii/4 tsp salt. With store bought, it's unlikely y'all'll need more salt.

ix. Storage – Stew volition keep for 5 days in the fridge, and freezes slap-up!

10. Recipe source: Developed with the aid of a classically trained French chef from Burgundy, Jean-Baptiste Alexandre of Baptise & Wilson. For a dish this iconic, I refused to but settle for any old recipe! Better than the Julia Child recipe I'd been using for years. 🙂

11. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings.

Calories: 745 cal (37%) Carbohydrates: 25 g (eight%) Protein: 47 g (94%) Fat: 40 g (62%) Saturated Fat: 17 thousand (106%) Trans Fat: 1 g Cholesterol: 165 mg (55%) Sodium: 1822 mg (79%) Potassium: 1206 mg (34%) Fiber: 3 g (xiii%) Sugar: seven k (eight%) Vitamin A: 4476 IU (90%) Vitamin C: 12 mg (xv%) Calcium: 69 mg (7%) Iron: 4 mg (22%)

Keywords: Beef Bourguignon, Beef burgundy, bœuf bourguignon, French beef stew

Life of Dozer

Where he's been positioned while I've been bashing out this recipe. Notice how he sprawls beyond 2 seats – and also notice how I thoughtfully pushed them together for him. #sucker

vargasoncer1974.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.recipetineats.com/beef-bourguignon-beef-burgundy/

Share this post