It was Auguste Escoffier, the influential french chef of the Edwardian era, who brought the humble beef stew to fine dining rooms. Escoffier’s approach to the dish was to marinate the beef in red wine prior to cooking in more red wine.
In America, it was Julia Child who taught us how to make his famous dish, further popularized in the movie Julie and Julia. I love this clip where aspiring blogger Julie talks about her connection to this recipe. I keep saying, food is about love and being inspired to share that love and comfort with others through food.
The Best Boeuf Bourguignon
French chef Auguste Escoffier first published the recipe in the early 20th century. Much later, Julia Child used beef cubes rather than a whole piece of beef, bringing boeuf Bourguignon to the notice of a whole new generation of cooks. This is a great dish which teaches a number of classic french cooking techniques.
Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
- 6 ounces bacon chunk
- 3 1/2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 3 pounds stewing beef I prefer smaller 1" pieces
- 1 large carrot sliced
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 1 pound white mushrooms fresh and quartered
- 1 pinch salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp. unbleached white flour
- 3 cups red wine young and full bodied (i.e. Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhone or Burgundy)
- 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock
- 1 tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic mashed
- 1/2 tsp. thyme dried
- 1 small bay leaf crumbled
- 18-24 small white onions but not pearl
- 3 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 satchel herb bouquet 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/4 tsp. thyme, tieda cheesecloth
- 3 tbsp. parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
Prepare the Bacon
- Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.
- Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a dutch oven for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.
Prepare the Beef
- Preheat oven to 450 F degrees
- Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in your dutch oven until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons on the side dish.
- In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.
- Return the beef and bacon to the dutch oven and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss to coat. Place the uncovered dutch oven in your prepared oven for 4 minutes,
- Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust). Remove your dutch oven, place on the stove, and turn the oven temperature to 325 degrees.
- Sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set the dutch oven uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes and remove from the oven.
- Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered.
- Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.
- Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
Prepare the Onions and Mushrooms
- Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet. Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly.
- Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet. Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes or until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.
- Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms. Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.
Finishing
- When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the dutch oven into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top.
- Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour sauce over meat and vegetables.
- Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in your dutch oven, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.
- You can serve right away, but I always find it always tastes better the next day so hopefully you will have some leftovers!
Notes
Dry red wine has 4 grams of carbs so is ok on a keto/low carb diets as long as you are tracking your carb count for the day. I like to serve on cauliflower rice.