Beef Bourguignon

Beef bourguignon – also known as beef Burgundy – is one of the ultimate classic French dishes, a stew of some of the most flavorful meat you’ll ever taste. When it’s cooked with all the traditional spices, vegetables and bacon, it’s also a meal that will fill up the entire family and give you plenty of leftovers to spare. If you’ve ever been intimidated by the sound of it or automatically associate “French” with “fancy and complicated,” fear not! This recipe is actually easy to follow and will have you feeling like a master chef when you finish. Watch how it’s done and give it a try!

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BEEF BOURGUIGNON
Serves 6 to 8

You’ll Need
– 8 ounces thick-cut bacon, diced
– 2 ½ to 3 pounds beef chuck roast, round roast, or other similar cut, cut into 1-inch cubes
– 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, or more to taste
– ½ teaspoon pepper, or more to taste
– 2 tablespoons flour
– 2 cups red wine, divided
– 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
– 3 medium carrots, sliced
– 3 whole stalks celery, sliced
– 3 cloves garlic, minced
– 2 tablespoons tomato paste
– 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
– 1 bay leaf
– 1 cup chicken or beef broth, plus more if necessary
– 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
– 1 tablespoon butter

How To

  1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius).
  2. Cook the bacon in a large oven-safe pot with a lid.
  3. Once the bacon is browned, remove from the pan to a paper towel-lined plate. Pour all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat out of the pot and reserve for cooking the vegetables.
  4. Sprinkle the beef cubes with salt and pepper.
  5. In 2 to 3 batches so as not to crowd the pan, sear the beef cubes in the 1 tablespoon of bacon grease remaining in the pot. Don’t crowd the pan or it’ll be hard to brown the meat. If the bottom of the pan starts to get too brown and you’re afraid it will burn, pour a little of the wine in and scrape up the browned bits from the pot before continuing on with browning the second or third batches of beef. This sauce is called fond, and it adds tons of flavor to the stew!
  6. Add the flour and stir well to coat the meat.
  7. Once all of the meat has been browned, remove it from the pan and add in another tablespoon of the reserved bacon grease. Sauté the celery, carrots, onions and garlic for five minutes, or just until they start to soften.
  8. Stir in the tomato paste, thyme and bay leaf.
  9. Add the meat back into the pot, and pour in the wine and chicken broth.
  10. Cover the pot and bake the stew in the preheated oven for 2 hours. After 2 hours, check a piece of beef for tenderness. If it’s not yet fall-apart-tender, put the lid back on and bake for another 15 to 30 minutes before checking again.
  11. Heat the 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat, and sauté the mushrooms until soft.
  12. Once the beef is tender, remove from the oven. Stir the mushrooms into the stew. Crumble up the bacon and add to the stew.

Notes

  • If you’re not sure what kind of red wine to use, Côtes du Rhône is a relatively inexpensive yet very flavorful wine. Rule of thumb: don’t cook with any wine that you don’t want to drink!
  • The stew tastes even better the day after it is made.