Kitchen Moxy

Beef Bourguignon

Beef bourguignon is one of many examples of peasant dishes being slowly refined into today’s haute cuisine.  Most likely, the particular method of slowly simmering the beef in wine originated as a means of tenderizing cuts of meat that would have been too tough to cook any other way.  Over time, the dish became a standard of French cuisine. The recipe most people still follow to make an authentic beef bourguignon was first described by Auguste Escoffier. That recipe, however, has undergone subtle changes, owing to changes in cooking equipment and available food supplies. Julia Child‘s Mastering the Art of French Cooking describes the dish, sauté de boeuf à la Bourguignonne, as “certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man”.  I have to agree!

Well it is still snowing here in Montana and it is the weekend, finally.  After a week of salads and sauteed chicken breasts, I need some comfort food.  To me a big pot of beef stew and crusty homemade bread is just a bowl full of comfort goodness.  This is a BIG recipe, but really, once you get your prep work done (all the chopping and measuring ahead of time) it comes together fairly easy.  The bottle of Pinot Noir adds such a wonderful flavor.  I buy a pot roast chuck and cube it – it makes the best stew meat because it becomes tender the longer it cooks.  This “stew” does not have potatoes in it – but if you must, add baby red potatoes. Print this out and keep it in a safe place, next winter you will want to make it again!

Beef Bourguignon

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 8 ounces bacon, diced
• 2 1/2 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes (buy a pot-roast chuck and cube it)
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
• 2 yellow onions, sliced
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
• 1 (750 ml.) bottle Pinot Noir (or other dry red wine)
• 1 can (2 cups) beef broth
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 pound frozen whole onions (sometimes hard to find, but you can buy a bag of frozen peas & onions)
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms thickly sliced  or quartered, set aside – added almost at the end of cooking

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven.
2. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is lightly browned.
3. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.  
4. Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
5. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned.
6. Set aside.
7. Toss the carrots, and onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of pepper in the fat in the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned.
8. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
9. Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices.
10. Add the bottle of wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat.
11. Add the tomato paste and thyme.
12. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 2 hours (or more) or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork. (you can also put this together in the morning and put in your slow cooker for the whole day)
    
13. Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew.
14. Add the frozen onions.
15. Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew.
16. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.