Recipe

Boeuf Bourguignon

6 servings · prep 30 min + 12 h marinade · cook 2 h 30 min

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• dinner
• french
• autumn
• winter

Authored by the maintainer; classical Burgundian beef stew, two-stage browning.

Ingredients

the beef

• 1.2 kg beef chuck, cut into 5 cm chunks

the marinade

• 1 bottle (750 ml) Burgundy or Pinot Noir — Burgundy vineyard

the braise

• 50 ml cognac
• 200 g smoked bacon lardons — Parma pork producer
• 3 large carrots, sliced 2 cm thick
• 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed — Tropea allium farm
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 500 ml beef stock
• Bouquet garni: 4 thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves, 8 parsley stems, tied
• Sea salt to taste — Trapani salt pans
• Black pepper, freshly cracked — Kerala pepper estate

the garnish

• 24 pearl onions, peeled
• 300 g cremini mushrooms, halved
• 60 g butter (for the garnish onions and mushrooms)

Method

1. Marinate the beef in the wine with the bouquet garni, smashed garlic, and diced onion. 12–24 hours in the fridge. Turn once. · 720 min
2. Strain. Pat beef *very* dry on paper towels — wet beef won't brown. Reserve the wine and the onion.
3. In a heavy dutch oven, render the lardons over medium heat 6 minutes. Lift out, reserve. · 6 min
4. Brown the beef hard in the bacon fat, in three batches, all sides. Crowding steams; space browns. 4 minutes per batch. · 12 min
5. Pour off most of the fat. Add the marinated onion and carrots. Stir 5 minutes. · 5 min
6. Stir in tomato paste, cook 90 seconds. Add the cognac and let it bubble off, 30 seconds.
7. Sprinkle flour over and stir 60 seconds. Pour in the reserved wine and beef stock. Add the bouquet garni and bring to a simmer.
8. Return beef and lardons. Cover and braise at 160°C / 320°F for 2 hours, until the beef yields under a fork but holds its shape. · 120 min
9. While the beef braises, prepare the garnish. Melt half the butter in a wide pan over medium heat. Add pearl onions with a pinch of salt and 1 tsp sugar. Cook 12 minutes until glazed amber. Lift out. · 12 min
10. In the same pan, melt the remaining butter and brown the mushrooms hard — 6 minutes, single layer, don't stir until they release. Season. · 6 min
11. When the beef is done, lift it out. Strain the sauce, return to the dutch oven, and reduce over medium-high heat until it coats a spoon, 8 minutes. · 8 min
12. Return the beef, the lardons, the glazed onions, the mushrooms. Warm through. Taste, adjust salt and pepper.

Notes

Boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin are siblings — same Burgundian
braising technique, same wine, same garnish trinity (lardons,
pearl onions, mushrooms), different animal. If you've made coq au
vin once, you can make bourguignon blindfolded.

Make a day ahead. The flavour gain from overnight is real. Reheat
gently, never boil — boiling toughens the beef.