Beef Bourguignon

Hard to pronounce. Hard to spell. Takes forever to make. But this authentic French Beef Bourguignon recipe is good. Really good. It’s best served over roasted garlic mashed potatoes and it’s even better the next day.

There are a few options when choosing the right beef for this recipe. Since it’s cooked slowly, tougher cuts of beef work well. The connective tissue basically dissolves and the meat becomes fork tender. Stewing beef is exactly what you want and it’s already cut into cubes for you. Brisket is also an option. But, if you’re lucky enough to find a full beef tenderloin on sale, the trimmings also work well. The long piece that’s pulled off, called the chain, has the right amount of fat and connective tissue for restaurant quality Beef Bourguignon.

Here’s a good link to learn how to trim a whole beef tenderloin yourself:

https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/how-to-trim-a-whole-beef-tenderloin.html

The traditional wine to use in this recipe is a dry red made with Pinot Noir grapes from the Burgundy region of France. In fact, this dish is sometimes referred to as Beef Burgundy. The experts say you should always cook with a wine you like to drink. I say open a good bottle, pour yourself a glass, then use a more moderately priced wine to make Beef Bourguignon. But seriously, any Pinot Noir or Merlot or really, any dry red wine will work. Serve what’s left in the bottle as the perfect accompaniment to Beef Bourguignon.

In order to get serious flavour in your meat, pat the pieces dry and season well with salt and pepper before adding them to a hot pan. Sear the pieces in small batches so they aren’t too crowded. Don’t be tempted to move them around, let them get good colour and turn them once. This ensures you get good caramelization instead of steaming the meat. They aren’t fully cooked, it’s just the beginning of amazing flavour. Remove the beef chunks to a plate as each batch is seared, then add them all back in the pan at the end. The garlic is added last so it doesn’t burn in the hot fat.

Don’t worry about what your pan looks like at this point, once you add the wine, all those dark bits will incorporate into the liquid. Turn the heat down and let the meat simmer and drink up all that flavour while you prep the vegetables and preheat the oven.

Pearl onions come in different sizes. The tiny ones take forever to peel and the larger ones are more than a bite size so try to find onions that are somewhere in the middle. If you’ve got the patience to peel them by hand, no problem, but a little trick is to drop them into boiling water for about a minute. Then the skins will come off easier. Don’t worry about them being whole, the long slow cooking process makes them very soft and they literally melt in your mouth.

What’s a Bouquet Garni?

Make a Bouquet Garni which is just a bundle of herbs tied together with string or thread. Use butcher twine or white thread so there’s no dye, wax or other weird stuff you don’t want in your dinner. What’s great about a bouquet garni is that you can remove all the herbs easily and you don’t have stems left behind. The flavours will infuse into the stew while it cooks.

Once all your veggies and herbs are added, pour in the beef broth, taste and season with salt and pepper. Cover and bake in the oven for an hour. Check to see how it’s doing and taste again in case it needs more seasoning. The stew will still be thin and liquidy but just wait.

A great way to thicken a stew is with a flour and butter paste. Smoosh the butter into the flour and combine well, then spoon into the hot liquid and stir until it melts. This prevents the flour from forming lumps and the butter adds a richness to the dish. When thickening with flour it’s important to allow the flour to cook long and slow so it doesn’t have a raw taste. Return the pan to the oven for another hour, check and stir. At this point it might be starting to reduce and thicken. Return to the oven and start checking every 20 minutes or so. You should have the perfect finished dish in about one more hour or a little less.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Beef Bourguignon is best served over mashed potatoes. You can raise the bar by making garlic mashed potatoes or, even better, roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Peel some of the loose skin off a head of garlic and slice across to top to expose most of the cloves. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over and wrap up in a foil bundle. Toss it in the oven while the beef is cooking. After about 40 minutes the garlic will be golden and soft as butter! Once it’s cool enough to handle you can squeeze the whole head from the bottom and the soft garlic will come right out. Add half of the garlic to a pot of drained cooked potatoes with a bit of milk, butter and salt. Mash or whip the mixture until smooth. Save the rest of the garlic for another time or serve some fresh French Baguettes and spread with the reserved roasted garlic.

Garnish with some of the leftover fresh herbs.

If you’ve tried this recipe, consider leaving a comment or rating. Here’s the recipe:

Beef Bourguignon

An authentic French stew, also called Beef Burgundy with beef and vegetables braised in red wine and broth.

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Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours hours

Total Time: 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: French

Keyword: authentic beef bourguignon, Beef Bourguignon, beef burgundy, beef stew with wine, french beef stew, homemade beef bourguignon, how to make beef bourguignon

Servings: 6

Calories: 505kcal

Ingredients

• 2 lb stewing beef chunks or brisket or chunks from "chain" from tenderloin
• 2 Tbsp bacon fat or heat safe oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 ½ cups Pinot Noir, Merlot or other dry red French wine
• 2 ½ cups beef broth lower sodium if possible
• 1-2 cups pearl onions, peeled about 20
• 3-4 large carrots, chopped
• 4 cups mushrooms, quartered or halved about 12 large
• 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
• fresh rosemary sprigs
• fresh thyme sprigs
• fresh parsley sprigs
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp butter, room temperature
• salt and pepper to taste

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

• 2 lb boiling potatoes about 4-5 medium
• ½ head garlic, roasted
• 1 tsp olive oil if roasting garlic
• 2 Tbsp butter
• ⅓ cup milk
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Pat beef chunks dry and season with salt and pepper. 
• Heat heavy dutch oven over medium heat on the stovetop. Add half of the bacon fat or oil. Sear chunks of beef in small batches to caramelize, turning once. Add the remainder of the bacon fat or oil as needed between batches. Remove meat to plate between batches.
• Return all cooked beef to the pot along with the garlic and sauté quickly, being careful not to scorch the garlic. Add red wine. Cover and simmer on low heat while you prep the vegetables.
• Boil pearl onions for one minute, cool and peel. Clean and quarter or half mushrooms. Peel and chop carrots into bite sized pieces. Add to pot of beef along with the beef broth. Season well with salt and pepper.
• Prepare a Bouquet Garni by arranging a few sprigs of rosemary, thyme and parsley and tie with butcher twine or cotton thread. If using a fresh bay leaf, wrap around the bouquet under the string. Otherwise toss dry bay leaf in pot along with herbs. Press into the liquid so the flavours really get into the stew.
• Place in the oven at 350 degrees and bake for 1 hour. Combine butter and flour into a paste and add to the stew. Stir until melted. Taste stew and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Return to oven and bake an additional 2 hours or until the stew is rich and thick and dark.
• Meanwhile, prepare garlic mashed potatoes. Peel and boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender. Trim top off garlic head to expose most of the cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and roast in oven for 30-40 minutes until cloves are very soft and golden.
• Drain potatoes, add milk, butter and salt. Squeeze half of garlic into potato mixture. Reserve other half for another use. Whip or mash to desired consistency.
• Serve Beef Bourguignon over garlic mashed potatoes.
• Garnish with more fresh herbs and cracked black pepper if desired.

Notes

The 505 calories in this dish does not include the mashed potatoes.

Nutrition

Calories: 505kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 5.8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 80.7mg | Sodium: 1341mg | Potassium: 878mg | Fiber: 2.8g | Sugar: 3.7g

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