Beef Bourguignon is a timeless French classic comfort food made popular in America by Julia Child. There are countless versions of this dish on the web, but I have found many of these recipes incomplete or lacking in the descriptive detail needed. Most of them either forget to mention that the sauce should be strained or that the resulting fat produced by the cooking should be skimmed off. The results are often less than satisfactory.
The recipe below is basic. Feel free to make alterations or additions, like deglazing with cognac instead of wine, keeping the carrots, or adding potatoes midway through the cooking process.
While this can all be cooked within a day, it is best done as two day process that is perfect for a slow weekend. Plus, keeping the dish overnight in the fridge makes the fat removal easier and allows the flavors to really blend. The leftovers only get better with time (up to three days if they last that long.)
You will need:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 strips of thick cut smoked bacon (applewood is preferred), diced
- 2 1/2 – 3 pounds chuck beef cut into 1 to 2 inch cubes
- Sea salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 3-4 sprigs Italian parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-3 large carrots, sliced into ½ inch pieces
- 2 onions, chopped into large pieces
- 5 smashed garlic cloves (not crushed, diced or minced)
- 3/4 (750 ml.) bottle of decent ($10-12) red wine such as a Bordeaux, Burgundy, Pinot Noir or Cotes de Rhone
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
- 2 teaspoon thyme
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 pound fresh baby portabella or crimini mushrooms whole, stems discarded
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a large Dutch oven. Add the diced bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until the bacon is lightly browned. Be sure to stir the bacon occasionally. When crisp, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.
Cut the beef into 1 to 2 inch cubes, discarding extra fat. Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then season with salt and pepper in large bowl. Add 4 tbsp all purpose flour and coat cubes evenly by mixing with hand. Brown the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to sear on all sides. You will probably need to brown the beef cubes in batches. Set aside with the crispy bacon.
Add the carrots and onions to the bacon fat/olive oil in the pot and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized. Add the 5 smashed garlic cloves and cook for another minute. Put the lid on the pot, slightly skewed, and then pour the bacon fat/olive oil off. Add a splash (about a ¼ cup) of the wine and stir until the fond (the browned and caramelized bits of meat and vegetables stuck to the bottom of a pan) comes off. Add the meat and bacon back into the pot. Pour in the remainder of the wine and then add the 2 cups of beef broth so most of the meat is covered in liquid. Stir in the tomato paste, thyme, parsley and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot and place it in the oven for 2-3 hours. Check on the dish every 45 minutes or so and give it a slight stir. Cook until the beef is tender.
Remove the pot from the oven and take out the beef cubes. Strain the sauce through a mesh colander to remove the onions, carrots, smashed garlic, parsley, bacon and bay leaves. The remaining sauce should coat the spoon. If it doesn’t, whip up a quick roux (equal parts butter and flour lightly sautéed into a paste) and incorporate it a tablespoon at a time into the sauce over a medium heat until the sauce is thickened. If the sauce is too thick, add some more beef broth to thin it out. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
Add the beef cubes back to the pot and pour the sauce on top. Put back into the 250 degree F. oven for an additional hour. Remove from the oven. The beef should now split easily with a fork. Let the pot cool for about 20 minutes and then place in refrigerator over night.
The next day, remove the pot from the fridge and then skim the congealed fat off the top with a spoon.
Preheat the oven again to 250 degrees F. an hour before serving. Place the pot of beef Bourguignon back in the oven.
In the meantime, sauté the baby portabella or crimini mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes over low to medium heat until lightly browned. Add mushrooms to the pot and continue heating until done.
Serve the beef Bourguignon over buttered noodles with salt and parsley or over your favorite mashed potatoes recipe.
Enjoy.
