Beef Bourguignon

Prep Time: 50 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours & 30 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours & 20 minutes
Servings: 6 people

Tender, fall-apart chunks of beef simmered in a luscious red wine gravy make Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon an unforgettable family dinner. There’s a reason this classic dish is loved all around the world! It’s one of those recipes that truly benefits from taking your time, so pour yourself a glass of wine or two while you cook, and give it all the love it deserves.💓

Ingredients:

Beef marinade:

• 800g chuck beef, cut into 4-5 cm
• 2 large carrots 300g, cut on an angle into 4-5 cm pieces
• 16 pearl onions or small, round pickling onions
• 1 bay leaf, fresh
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 750 ml pinot noir or other red wine

Browning beef:

• 3 tbsp oil, olive, canola oil, or vegetable oil
• 0.75 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Stew:

• 200g mushrooms  halved (quarters if large)🍄🍄🍄
• 150g bacon pieces, cut into 1cm / 1/2” thick batons
• 50g unsalted butter
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 60 g flour, all-purpose beef stock (low sodium, preferably homemade; otherwise, the best you can afford
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley, for garnish

Directions:

Marinate beef:

1. Marinate beef: Place the Beef Marinade ingredients in a large, non-reactive ceramic dish or ziplock bag. Marinate overnight in the fridge (minimum 12 hours, maximum 24 hours).
2. Strain liquid into a bowl, reserve marinade. Separate the beef, carrots, and onion.
3. Reduce wine: Pour red wine into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer vigorously, skimming off any impurities that rise to the surface, until reduced by half. Set aside.

Brown beef and vegetables:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Dry beef: Line a tray with paper towels, spread the beef out, then pat it dry with paper towels.
3. Season beef: Sprinkle beef with salt and black pepper.
4. Brown beef: Heat oil in a large, heavy-based, oven-proof pot over high heat. Add beef and brown aggressively all over. Remove into a bowl, then repeat with the remaining beef, adding more oil if needed.
5. Fry bacon: Add bacon and cook for 3 minutes until golden. Add to the bowl with the beef.
6. Sauté mushrooms: Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, or until golden. Remove to a new bowl.
7. Sauté onion: Add a bit of extra oil if needed, then cook onions for 5 minutes or until there are nice golden patches. Add to the bowl with mushrooms.
8. Sauté carrot: Add butter to the pot. Once melted, add the carrot and cook for 4 minutes until there are golden patches. Add garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.
9. Tomato paste: Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.
10. Flour: Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.
11. Add wine and stock: While stirring, slowly pour in beef stock. This helps the flour dissolve lump-free into the stock. Then add wine and mix until the flour mixture is dissolved and mostly lump-free.
12. Add beef into the pot: Add beef, bacon, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper into the pot, then stir well.

Slow cook:

1. Oven 1 hour: Bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to the oven for 1 hour.
2. Mushrooms and onion: Remove from oven, stir in mushrooms and onion.
3. Oven 1½ hours: Cover with lid and return to oven for 1½ hours, or until beef is "fall-apart tender".
4. Adjust salt: Remove from oven, taste the sauce, and add salt if needed.
5. Leave overnight (recommended): If time permits, leave the stew overnight before serving because, as with all stews, it gets better with time! Reheat gently on a low stove.
6. Serve over mashed potatoes. Essential for mopping up every drop of that amazing sauce!

Tips & Notes:

• Scaling recipe up: will work perfectly, but be sure to brown the meat and vegetables in batches so you get some nice colour on them. If you crowd the pan too much, they will just braise and get watery, rather than going golden. Slow cook time will be the same as long as you’re using a heavy-based pot and bring to a simmer first before covering and transferring to the oven.
• Chuck beef: Look for beef that’s nicely ribboned with fat, as it will be juicier and more tender. Don’t buy pre-cut small pieces, they will cook too quickly before the flavour in the sauce develops. It’s better to buy a big piece and cut your own to size.
• Pearl onions are very small onions and are irritating. The closest are pickling onions, which are slightly bigger, so just peel an extra layer or two off to make them the right size, around 2.5cm/1″ in diameter. Soak them for 115 minutes in cold water; it will soften the skin and make them easier to peel (use a small knife to assist).
• You can also just use 2 brown or yellow onions, halved, then cut into 1cm / 2/5” slices.
• Pinot Noir is the traditional wine used in Beef Bourguignon. It’s the red wine that the Burgundy region of France is most famous for, reflecting the origins of this dish, which is also known as “Beef Burgundy”.
• There’s no need to splurge on expensive wine here. Just rummage through the discount bins at your local liquor store. The bottle I used was an end-of-bin bottle, steeply discounted to $7 (I stocked up!).
• Bacon Lardons: Biting into a thick piece of bacon is all part of the Beef Bourguignon experience! If you can’t find a slab of bacon to cut yourself, try speck, which is similar (and similar fat % too, which is key!).
• Otherwise, just use streaky bacon cut into strips. Bacon is key for sauce seasoning, so don’t skip it!
• Beef stock quality is the key variable here that will set apart a good homemade Beef Bourguignon from an exceptional restaurant-quality one. Homemade beef stock trumps store-bought.
• Do not use powdered beef stock. It’s frankly inferior to even the packet liquid stock and has no place here amongst all this effort, I’m afraid!
• Flour lumps: Don’t fret if you have some lumps! They will dissolve during the slow cooking time.
• Cook method: Oven is best because it’s entirely hands off, no need to stir to ensure the ase doesn’t catch. But it can also be done on a low stove, lid on, stirring every now and then (take extra care towards the end so the meat doesn’t break apart).
• Slow cooker: This can work, but you’ll need to reduce on the stove at the end to thicken the sauce. Slow cook for 4 hours on low, add mushrooms and onion, then slow cook for a further 4 hours. Transfer to a pot, then simmer (no lid) for 15 – 20 minutes until the sauce reduces. I really think it’s just easier to use the oven!
• Salt quantity required varies drastically depending on the altitude of bacon, homemade vs store-bought stock (homemade is unsalted), so always do this at the end and trust your taste buds.
• With homemade beef stock, I add another salt. With store-bought, it’s unlikely you’ll need more salt.
• Storage: Stew will keep for 5 days in the fridge, and freezes great!!!