Beef bourguignon

Beef bourguignon with spoonful over dish

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5 from 2 votes

Beef bourguignon is a classic French beef stew, packed with flavor and comfort-factor.

Prep Time15

Cook Time4

Total Time4 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: French

Servings: (approx)

Calories: 722kcal

Author: Caroline's Cooking

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Ingredients

For main stew

1 onion large
1 carrot large
6 slices smoked bacon
3 lb chuck beef 1.4kg, cut into roughly 2 inch dice
2 tbsp olive oil or a little more as needed
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 tbsp all purpose flour plain flour
2 cloves garlic crushed
3 cups red wine 720ml
2 cups beef stock 480ml, or a little more, as needed
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 stems thyme
2 bay leaves

For onions and mushrooms

20 pearl onions small (approx number)
1 lb white mushrooms 450g, ideally relatively small
3 tbsp unsalted butter 45g, divided
½ cup beef stock 120ml
1 bay leaf
1 stem thyme
2 stems parsley
1 tsp olive oil

Instructions

Preparing the stew

Peel and slice the onion and carrot into medium-thick slices and slice the bacon. Pat dry the chunks of beef with kitchen towel (this helps it brown better).
Preheat the oven to 450F/230C.
Warm a Dutch oven over a medium heat and cook the bacon for a couple minutes until it is just starting to brown. Add a little oil if needed, but there should be enough fat rendered from the bacon. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside.
Add the oil to the pan and brown the beef on all sides in batches until it has a good sear. Remove from pan and set aside with the bacon.
Next add the onion and carrot and cook until the onions are just soft, stirring regularly. If there is excess fat, remove it, or if they appear to be browning too quickly, add a little more oil.
Add the beef and bacon back to the pan, add the salt and pepper and sprinkle over the flour. Stir to coat the beef then place pan in the oven, uncovered, for 4 minutes. Remove pot from oven, stir everything then put back in for another 4 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and reduce the heat to 325F/160C. Crush the garlic and add to the pan, stir to cook a little in the pan's heat.
Add the red wine, beef stock and tomato paste and stir gently. The liquid should be just about over the meat and vegetables. Add the bay leaves and thyme, cover the pan and put in the oven for 3-4 hours.

For onions and mushrooms

During the final hour of cooking, prepare the pearl onions and mushrooms. Peel the onions and cut the mushrooms into quarters, trimming the stems as needed.
Melt 1 ½ tablespoon of butter in a skillet and add the onions. Brown them for a few minutes then remove from heat to add the beef stock. Put back on heat, add the parsley, thyme and bay (you can tie them together, or not, as you prefer).
Cook for around 30-40 minutes until the stock has been absorbed by the onions and they are tender. Remove the herbs and discard. Spoon the onions from the skillet and set aside.
Clean out the skillet, or use a separate one, and add the remaining butter and the oil for the mushrooms. Once the butter has melted and is starting to bubble, add the mushrooms. Toss to coat in the butter and oil and cook a few minutes until the mushrooms start to brown. If they release a lot of liquid, increase the heat and stir to help it evaporate then let the mushrooms cook a little longer to brown slightly. Set aside.

To finish stew

Once the beef is fork tender, remove the pan from the oven. If there looks to be a lot of liquid, carefully strain it from the pot and simmer for a few minutes to reduce it.
Add the liquid back to the pot, along with the pearl onions and mushrooms. Mix everything through, warm through a couple minutes on the stove and serve.

Notes

This dish is best cooked in a large cast iron Dutch oven for easy transition between the stove and oven.

If you need a smaller quantity, you can halve the recipe and keep everything else the same. Please note, this will make less burgundy sauce, so you may want to add slightly more liquid as it cooks. You won’t need to reduce down the sauce at the end when making a smaller quantity.

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