Beef Bourguignon When to Add Wine

Considered by many to be the mother of all stews, Beef Bourguignon is a French dish fabricated with beef, bacon lardons, carrots, onions and mushrooms slow cooked in a rich ruby vino sauce.

For the most magnificent stew of your life, start this 2 days earlier y'all plan to serve it, practice non shortcut pan-roasting ingredients individually, and use homemade beef stock!

Beef Bourguignon

One of my fondest memories of travels in Burgundy was discovering family-run bistros in small villages that served traditional French fare so incredible, you'd swear you lot were in a hidden Michelin star restaurant.

And beingness correct in the region from which Beefiness Bourguignon hails, it was difficult to resist ordering this iconic dish fourth dimension and time once more. Every bistro had their undercover recipe, and no two were exactly the aforementioned.

Except, perhaps, the quality that each of them were to me, the well-nigh incredible Beef Burgundy I've ever had in my life!.

I just need to add one more to that list though: This Beefiness Bourguignon recipe you're reading. Information technology was created with the help of a classically trained French chef from Burgundy residing right hither in Sydney, Jean-Baptiste Alexandre of Baptiste & Wilson. For a dish this iconic, I refused to but settle for whatsoever old recipe.

This Beef Bourguignon is hands-downwardly meliorate than whatsoever I've made in my life – including Julia Child'south recipe.

What goes in Beef Bourguignon

There are two master components to making Beef Bourguignon:

1. Ruby-red vino-marinated beef; and

2. Slow cooked stew

1. Cherry-red wine marinade for beef

Hither's what you demand for the cerise wine-marinated beef:

• Chuck beef – Non all beef is created equal, even when slow-cooked into fall-apart submission! Look for adept quality chuck beefiness, ribboned with fatty for the juiciest consequence.

  Also, exist certain to either buy BIG pre-cut pieces – as in 4-five cm / 2" cubes – or a ane single piece which you slice upward yourself. If you purchase pre-cutting pieces that are besides small-scale, they will cook faster than the fourth dimension it takes for the sauce to develop enough flavour;

• Pinot noir – Beef Bourguignon is besides known as Beef Burgundy, and thus the wine chosen for is a Pinot Noir – the most famous diversity of wine produced in the Burgundy region of French republic.

  Using a lighter mode wine might sound unexpected for a hearty stew, just the more than fragile flavour compared to bolder wines like Shiraz makes it ideal for using as a marinade and then the ruby-red wine flavour doesn't overwhelm the natural beefiness flavor.

  Nosotros're using a whole canteen here. Pitiful folks, y'all'll need some other canteen for drinking!

• Thyme and bay leaves – Archetype herb aromatics;

• Carrot – But your everyday standard carrots will practice fine;

• Pearl onions – These minor onions are the traditional onions used in Beef Bourguignon merely are annoyingly difficult to find hither in Australia. I employ what's sold as "pickling onions" which are virtually the same just slightly larger, so I pare an extra layer or two off the surface to make them pearl onion size (~3 cm / 1.two″ diameter).

  Alternative: Just use slices of a normal onion. The stop consequence tastes the same, I promise!

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two. The stew

And hither's what goes into the stew:

• Beef stock – The single biggest variable on which a stew hinges, differentiating a adept abode-cooked stew and a quality, why-does-this-restaurant-stew-taste-so-damned-good result.

  Homemade beef stock trumps store-bought. But if you're going downwardly the store-bought path, try to opt for a adept quality stock from the butcher rather than the cheap mass-produced stuff. The difference I promise is remarkable.

  Having said that though, I would never say that this is not worth making with bones supermarket beef stock. Information technology is, oh-so-very worth making!

• Bacon – Become slab salary from your butcher if you can, and then you can cutting it yourself into large mesomorphic lardons (batons). A proper bite of meaty bacon lardons is part of the awesomeness that is Beefiness Bourguignon.

  If you can't find slab bacon, endeavor speck (which in Australia seems to usually smoked pork belly chunks). Declining that, normal bacon slices works just fine likewise;

• Mushrooms – Only your everyday normal mushrooms. Cut large ones into quarters, medium ones in one-half;

• Garlic – Flavouring (rare to see a savoury dish effectually here without it!);

• Tomato paste – For a impact of tang, to aid thicken the sauce, for flavour and for colour; and

• Flour – For thickening the sauce.

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How to make Beefiness Bourguignon

For the accented best results, start this 2 days before you plan to serve it to allow for:

• Overnight marinating of the beef; and

• Leaving the finished stew overnight to let the flavours develop fifty-fifty further.

Part 1: Beef marinade

1. Marinate beefiness for 24 hours in red wine with the onion, carrot, thyme and bay leaves. This tenderises and infuses the beef with cute flavour. I've tried it with and without marinating, and marinating is way ameliorate. It'southward worth it!

2. Strain and reserve the red wine – we're going to reduce it to utilize as the stew braising liquid;

3. Reduce vino – Cascade red wine into a saucepan;

4. Reduce – Simmer until reduced by half, about seven minutes on medium high. Skim any scum off the surface using a ladle;

5. Pat beefiness dry out – Carve up the beefiness from the carrots and onion, then pat dry out. Why? Because wet beef won't dark-brown. Browning is key for flavour!

6. Season beef with salt and pepper. Ugh, please don't skip this step. I once did, and even though I was salting the sauce furiously at the end, it simply wasn't the same!

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Part 2: Making the stew

It'due south well worth taking the fourth dimension to brown each of the ingredients individually earlier slow cooking in the braising liquid. The browning adds a depth of flavour you merely can't achieve by dumping everything in at the same time!

1. Brown beef aggressively all over, because color = season! A very heavy pot like a cast atomic number 26 pot / Dutch oven works best for this chore.

   Be certain to use enough oil so the beef browns rather than burns. Work in batches and don't crowd the pot otherwise the beef volition simply braise instead of brown.

   Once browned, remove into a basin;

2. Bacon – Melt the bacon adjacent, to release all that tasty salary fat which we then use to brown the subsequent ingredients;

3. Onion next – Just cook until you get some nice golden patches, it's incommunicable to make information technology aureate all over due to the shape. Put these in a separate bowl because these go added back into the stew partway though the ho-hum cooking stage;

4. Mushrooms – Cook the mushrooms until gilded, then add together them into the aforementioned bowl as the onions;

5. Carrots last – And finally, pan-roast the carrots until you become some lovely colour on them. Nosotros add together some butter hither, because yous'll observe that the mushrooms soak upward all the remaining bacon fat, just we demand some fatty to make the roux with the flour in the adjacent step;

6. Tomato paste and flour – Add the tomato paste and cook to take the raw border off. And so add together flour and cook for a infinitesimal;

7. Add liquid – Slowly add the beef stock while stirring and then the flour dissolves easily, no lumps! Then stir the reduced red wine in;

8. Add beef, salary, thyme and bay leaves, then requite information technology a skilful stir and bring to a simmer. Now, it's set to slow-cook into fall-apart magnificence!

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Function iii. Slow-cooking

This is all about time – and not forgetting to add the onion and mushrooms partway through!

1. Oven one hour – Cover pot then place in the oven for 1 hr at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). At this temperature, the stew is simmering very, very gently in the oven, like it would on a low stove. I find the oven is easier than stove because you don't have to worry about the base communicable – no need to stir;

2. Add onion and mushroom then requite information technology a gentle stir;

3. Return to the oven for another 1½ hours, until the beef is "fall apart tender" – like THIS:

4. Adjust thickness and salt – At this stage, if the sauce hasn't reduced enough (ie. as well sparse) or the sauce is too thick (which can happen if you didn't use a heavy-based pot), you lot can adjust it using the stove.

   If it'southward too thin, just simmer gently on depression rut. It won't take long to reduce and thicken. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of h2o then simmer gently to bring it together once more.

   Besides, don't forget to check if in that location's enough salt in the sauce! Taste and adjust equally necessary. 🙂

Highly recommended: Leave overnight before serving

Every bit with all stews, Beef Bourguignon benefits greatly if you can leave information technology overnight which lets the flavours develop further and meld together even meliorate.

Don't go me incorrect, information technology is sensational served on the solar day information technology's made. Only information technology'south even ameliorate the adjacent day!

What to serve with Beef Bourguignon

I suppose ane could serve this over a short pasta, polenta, or a grain. But for me, I would never contemplate anything other than buttery Mashed Potatoes!

And while I usually offering Paris Mash as an even more luxe alternative, I actually think it'south too rich for Beefiness Burgundy.

Complete your Burgundy experience with a fresh French Bistro Salad on the side. You'll find variations of this salad served all over France, for a make clean and palate-cleansing side intended to serve alongside hearty mains similar this.

Relish! – Nagi ten

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Watch how to make it

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Servings 5

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Recipe video above. Considered by many to be the mother of all stews, Beef Bourguignon is a French dish made with beef, bacon lardons, carrots, onions and mushrooms slow-cooked in a rich red wine sauce.

For the most magnificent stew of your life, start this 2 days before you programme to serve it, do non shortcut pan roasting ingredients individually, and utilize homemade beef stock if you lot can!

Beef marinade:

• ▢ 800g/ ane.6 lb chuck beef , cut in 4-five cm / 2" cubes (Note 1)
• ▢ 2 large carrots (~300g/10oz), cut on an angle into four-five cm / 2" pieces
• ▢ xvi pearl onions or small, round pickling onions (Note ii)
• ▢ 1 bay leaf , fresh (sub: dried)
• ▢ iii sprigs thyme
• ▢ 750ml/ 25 oz pinot noir or other red wine (Note 3)

Browning beefiness:

• ▢ 3 tbsp oil , olive, canola or vegetable
• ▢ 3/4 tsp table salt
• ▢ ane/2 tsp pepper

Stew:

• ▢ 200g/ 7oz mushrooms , halved (quarters if large)
• ▢ 150g/ 5oz bacon piece , cut into 1cm / 1/two" thick batons (Note 4)
• ▢ 50g/3 tbsp unsalted butter
• ▢ iii garlic cloves , minced
• ▢ two tbsp tomato paste
• ▢ half dozen tbsp flour , plain/all purpose
• ▢ 3 cups beefiness stock (low sodium) , preferably bootleg; otherwise the best y'all can afford (Note five)
• ▢ i/4 tsp salt
• ▢ 2 tbsp chopped parsley , for garnish

Marinate beefiness:

• Marinate beef: Place the Beef Marinade ingredients in a large, not-reactive ceramic dish or ziplock handbag. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator (minimum 12 hours, maximum 24 hours).

• Strain liquid into a bowl, reserve marinade. Split the beefiness, carrots and onion.

• Reduce wine: Pour red wine into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium loftier heat. Simmer vigorously, skimming off any impurities that rise to the surface, until reduced by one-half. Fix aside.

Brown beef and vegetables:

• Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan).

• Dry beef: Line a tray with newspaper towels, spread beefiness out, then pat dry with newspaper towels.

• Season beef: Sprinkle beefiness with three/iv tsp common salt and i/two tsp black pepper.

• Brownish beef: Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large, heavy-based, oven-proof pot over high oestrus. Add 1/3 beef and brown aggressively all over. Remove into bowl, then echo with remaining beef, adding more than oil if needed.

• Fry salary: Add salary and cook for 3 minutes until golden. Add to basin with beef.

• Sauté mushrooms: Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, or until golden. Remove into a new bowl.

• Sauté onion: Add a scrap of extra oil if needed, then cook onions for 5 minutes or until there are nice gold patches. Add to bowl with mushrooms.

• Sauté carrot: Add together butter into pot. In one case melted, add carrot and cook for 3 – 4 minutes until in that location are golden patches. Add garlic and melt for a further i minute.

• Tomato paste: Add tomato paste and melt for 2 minutes.

• Flour: Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.

• Add wine and stock: While stirring, slowly pour in beef stock – this helps the flour dissolve lump-free into the stock. Then add wine and mix until flour mixture is dissolved and mostly lump-free (Note half-dozen).

• Add beef into pot: Add beef, bacon, thyme, bay leafage, 1/iv tsp table salt and pepper into the pot, then stir well.

Dull-cook:

• Oven 1 hour: Bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to oven for 1 hour. (Note seven)

• Mushrooms and onion: Remove from oven, stir in mushrooms and onion.

• Oven 1½ hours: Encompass with lid and return to oven for ane½ hours, or until beef is "autumn-apart tender".

• Suit common salt: Remove from oven, gustatory modality sauce and add salt if needed. (Note eight – important!)

• Exit overnight (recommended): If time permits, leave the stew overnight before serving because as with all stews, it gets improve with time! Reheat gently on a low stove.

• Serve over mashed potato – Essential for mopping upwards every drop of that amazing sauce!

Scaling recipe upward – will work perfectly, merely be certain to brown the meat and vegetable in batches so yous get some nice colour on them. If you lot crowd the pan too much, they will only braise and get watery, rather than going gilt. Slow melt time will exist the same as long as you're using a heavy based pot and bring to simmer first before roofing and transferring to oven.

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1. Chuck beef – Await for beef that'south nicely ribboned with fat, equally it will be juicier and more tender. Don't buy pre-cutting small-scale pieces, they will cook too quickly before the flavour in the sauce develops. It'southward amend to buy a big piece and cut your own to size.

2. Pearl onions are very minor onions and are irritatingly hard to find in Australia. The closest are pickling onions which are slightly bigger, then just skin an extra layer or ii off to make them the right size – around 2.5cm/1″ in diameter. Soak them for 10/15min in cold water, it will soften the skin and volition make them easier to peel (use a pocket-sized knife to assist).

You tin can as well only use 2 brown or yellow onions, halved then cut into 1cm / 2/5" slices.

three. Pinot Noir is the traditional wine used in Beef Bourguignon. Information technology's the ruby-red wine that the Burgundy region of France is most famous for, reflecting the origins of this dish which is also known as "Beef Burgundy".

At that place's no demand to splurge on expensive wine here. Just rummage through the discount bins at your local liquor store. The bottle I used an end-of-bin bottle steeply discounted to $seven (I stocked up!).

4. Salary Lardons – Biting into a thick piece of bacon is all part of the Beef Bourguignon experience! If you can't notice a slab of salary to cut yourself, try speck which is similar (and similar fatty % too which is key!).

Otherwise, just use streaky salary cut into strips. Bacon is key for sauce seasoning, so don't skip it!

5. Beef stock quality is the central variable hither that will fix autonomously a good homemade Beef Bourguignon from an exceptional restaurant-quality one. Bootleg beef stock trumps whatsoever store bought. Good quality shop-bought from butchers etc. are far better than mass-produced (like Campbell'south hither in Australia).

Practice not use powdered beef stock. It's frankly inferior to even the parcel liquid stock and has no place here amid all this effort, I'm afraid!

6. Flour lumps –  Don't fret if y'all take some lumps! They will dissolve during the boring cooking fourth dimension 🙂

vii. Cook method – Oven is best considering it's entirely hands off, no need to stir to ensure base of operations doesn't take hold of. Only it can likewise be washed on a depression stove, chapeau on, stirring every now and then (have actress intendance towards the end so the meat doesn't suspension apart).

Tiresome cooker: This can work merely you'll need to reduce on the stove at the finish to thicken sauce. Slow-cook for 4 hours on depression, add mushrooms and onion, so slow cook a further 4 hours. Transfer to pot and so simmer (no lid) for fifteen – twenty minutes until sauce reduces. I actually think it's just easier to use the oven!

8.Salt quantity required varies drastically depending on saltiness of bacon, bootleg vs store bought stock (homemade is unsalted), so always practice this at the end andtrust your tastebuds.

With homemade beef stock, I add some other three/4 tsp salt. With store bought, information technology's unlikely you'll need more salt.

ix. Storage – Stew volition keep for v days in the fridge, and freezes great!

10. Recipe source: Developed with the assistance of a classically trained French chef from Burgundy, Jean-Baptiste Alexandre of Baptise & Wilson. For a dish this iconic, I refused to just settle for whatsoever old recipe! Ameliorate than the Julia Child recipe I'd been using for years. 🙂

11. Nutrition per serving, bold 5 servings.

Calories: 745 cal (37%) Carbohydrates: 25 g (eight%) Poly peptide: 47 g (94%) Fat: xl k (62%) Saturated Fatty: 17 thou (106%) Trans Fatty: i g Cholesterol: 165 mg (55%) Sodium: 1822 mg (79%) Potassium: 1206 mg (34%) Fiber: 3 g (13%) Sugar: 7 k (8%) Vitamin A: 4476 IU (90%) Vitamin C: 12 mg (15%) Calcium: 69 mg (7%) Iron: four mg (22%)

Keywords: Beef Bourguignon, Beef burgundy, bœuf bourguignon, French beef stew

Life of Dozer

Where he's been positioned while I've been bashing out this recipe. Notice how he sprawls across ii seats – and too discover how I thoughtfully pushed them together for him. #sucker

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Source: https://www.recipetineats.com/beef-bourguignon-beef-burgundy/

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