Oh Beef Bourguignon where have you been my whole life? This is the best meal that I have ever slaved over in the kitchen! I keep saying that I am a bit of a novice with red meat (on IG at least), but the Dutch Oven I bought was the perfect way to make sure the meat was tender and insanely flavorful. The Bordeaux wine sauce is made with an herbed beef broth and tomato paste (etc). And an entire bottle of wine, just to make sure this cow gets good and sauced! (haha) Served over creamy mashed potatoes this dish is a show stopper! They say that this tastes better then next day, and they are correct. I almost made it a day before serving, and really toyed with that question of whether I should save time or serve it fresh. I served it right after it came out of the oven and it was a smash. A smash over mash. I mixed a few recipes together to create my own, mainly because Julia Child starts hers with bacon and that was staying, duh!
My goodness the pearl onions are a treat in this dish. I had honestly never bought them. Look for them packaged in a mesh bag type of thing by the onions in a nice grocery store.
I did buy a Dutch Oven just to make this dish. Glad that the first thing that hit it was some chopped bacon, which gets removed after cooking, leaving the bacon grease for the beef cubes to brown in. OMG – and for the record, they have reasonably priced Dutch Ovens out there. They don’t have to cost $300.
Sear the beef on all sides and move it all to the bacon bowl when it’s browned. Don’t cook these all the way through here.
Oh yeah, drop some brandy in the bottom of your Dutch oven to deglaze, scraping all of the bits on the bottom up while stirring. Dump this over the beef and bacon that is sitting on the counter, in a bowl.
Then you sauté the carrots and pearl onions for a few minutes, just to get them going. This is where it gets easier…
Once the carrot/onion mixture is done cooking, add the beef and bacon back into the pan along with tomato paste, thyme, and beef broth.
Last but not least, pour the Bordeaux wine over the entire dish, making sure to cover everything. Pictured here is not enough wine (oops I drank it). Not a big deal, but it did mean that I didn’t have to perform the last task of simmering it down when it comes out of the oven.
About 45 minutes before the beef is set to come out of the oven, boil the cut up fingerling potatoes. Then mash them with garlic, thyme, oregano, and lots of butter and heavy whipping cream. See separate recipe for the Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
10 minutes before the beef is ready to take out of the oven, sauté the baby portobello mushrooms and pearl onions cook in a separate pan with more thyme and a little bit of butter!
Yes, as. you can see this can get really thick. You can add some more stock to this to make it more saucy, but I really liked it the way it turned out. I didn’t want to ruin the flavor! Add the mushrooms and pearl onions to this and serve over the Garlic Mashed Potatoes. YUM!! You are going to want leftovers. I say double it!
Song for the Prep: Nouvelle-Orleans by La Femme
Good luck doing anything but being visually entertained by this glam, Warholian, drag star, fashion show of a video. Oooh la la this band is a French TREAT! Keep listening to the rest of this unbelievable album.
Beef Bourguignon
- March 28, 2022
- 8
- 3 hr 30 min
- Print this
Ingredients
- 6 slices of bacon, chopped into chunks
- 3# beef chuck, cut into 2 inch pieces
- Salt and pepper (for the beef)
- 1/2 C cognac or brandy
- 6-8 thin carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks (buy nice carrots)
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 750 ml. bottle of GOOD QUALITY Burgundy wine (Bordeaux, Merlot, or a thick Pinot Noir)
- 1 C beef stock
- 1 6oz can of tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 T butter
- 1 pound baby bella mushroomn, halved (or quartered if they are big)
- 10 oz pearl onions, halved
- More salt and pepper
- POTATOES:
- 1.5 pounds of fingerling potatoes, washed and cut in half
- 1 C heavy whipping cream
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- Step 1
- TAKE BEEF OUT OF REFRIGERATOR 30 MINUTES PRIOR
- Step 2
- Cut beef into 2 inch chunks and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Step 3
- Heat a large Dutch Oven over medium heat with bacon in the base. Cook until bacon is cooked thoroughly. Remove cooked bacon and place in a medium sized bowl, leaving the grease in the pan. (Julia Child did this so you should probably do this too)
- Step 4
- Dry beef chunks with a paper towel, then add beef chunks to the pan. Cook on all sides until they are nice and browned. Not cooked through. Remove from pan and place in the bowl with bacon.
- Step 5
- Deglaze the pan with cognac or brandy. Let cook down to half the size, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove some of the bits in the bottom. Pour over the bacon and beef, in that bowl over there.
- Step 6
- Add carrots and white onion to the pan. Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat.
- Step 7
- Return the beef, bacon, and cognac to the Dutch Oven, followed by the carrots, onion, wine, stock, tomato paste, dried thyme, and bay leaves. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 2 more minutes. Place in the oven and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I would check it after 2 hours to see how much liquid is left in the bottom. Meat should be tender.
- Step 8
- While beef is cooking, heat 1 T butter in a separate pan and sauté the mushrooms and pearl onions over medium high heat. Stir occasionally, you want to cook these fast so the liquid evaporates.
- Step 9
- Also while beef is cooking, boil the potatoes until they are soft but not falling apart. Strain and mash with butter, heavy cream, garlic powder, onion powder.
- Step 10
- Remove beef from oven. IF it’s not thick enough, strain it and boil the remaining sauce down until it is thick. Add brown sugar and stir.
- Step 11
- Serve over garlic mashed potatoes.