Beef Bourguignon
November 10, 2002

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If you've never made Beef Bourguignon before, you owe it to your stomach to do so. It's more than just beef stew. Although it takes some time and costs a little more than you'd expect, it's not very labor intensive and takes next to nothing in the way of cooking skills. And it's absolutely delicious.

Even (or perhaps especially) if you've made similar dishes without the Burgundy, the brandy, or the bacon, you should give it another try with a recipe similar to this one. Your taste buds will thank me. (And I must say I'm looking forward to that!)

Beef Bourguignon

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2 bottles of red Burgundy 
3/4 cup brandy
3 cups of beef broth
1 1/2 lb fresh mushrooms
2 small Turkish bay leaves
1 frond of rosemary
2 beef marrow bones
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 oz tomato paste (about 1/2 can) 
salt and pepper

3 1/2 lb of boneless chuck, cut into large cubes 
12 oz thick cut bacon
3 large carrots
4 celery stalks
3 large russet potatoes
1 large sweet onion
8 garlic cloves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Slather the marrow bones with 
vegetable oil and brown in the oven for 10 minutes or so, turning
them over halfway through. 

Peel and cube the potato, peel the garlic, and chop the onion.  
Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces.  Put 1/3 of it back into the 
refrigerator.  

Cook the bacon in a large dutch oven.  Set the cooked bacon 
aside.  Reserve most of the fat, leaving the rest in the bottom
of the pot.  Thoroughly salt and pepper the cubed beef, then 
dredge in flour.  Brown the beef in bacon fat in three batches, 
adding more fat to the bottom of the pot between batches.  

Once the beef is done, smash the garlic with the heel of your 
hand and cook the potatoes, the onion, and the garlic in the 
bacon fat.  Remove them from the pot and set aside.

Remove the pot from the heat for a moment.  Add the brandy add 
deglaze the bottom of the pot (putting it back on the heat).  
Add one cup of beef stock and reduce the mixture by 3/4.  Put 
the marrow bones at the bottom of the pot.  Add the two bottles 
of wine, the other two cups of stock, the bacon, the beef, and 
the potato/onion/garlic mixture back into the pot, and add the 
tomato paste and the sugar.  Make a boquet garni from the bay 
leaf, rosemary, and fresh thyme (if you have it), and add to the 
pot.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then put in the oven.

After two hours: quarter the mushrooms, and slice the carrots and 
the celery.  Fry the remaining bacon in a pan.  Remove the bacon 
from the pan.  Cook the vegetables briefly in the bacon fat until 
they just begin to soften.  Add the vegetables and the bacon to 
the pot.

Continue cooking the mixture in the oven for another two hours.
After this period is over you may, if you wish, remove the solids
and continue cooking the liquid on the stovetop to reduce it further. 

Serve over fresh linguini.

Some notes:

  1. Don't skimp on the wine. Try this recipe at least once with real Burgundy from Burgundy. You're putting two bottles in, so the flavor of the wine will likely do more to determine the flavor of the dish than anything else that goes in. And Burgundy isn't cheap, I know, but if you have a decent wine store accessible to you, you should be able to find something drinkable for around $12/bottle. Expect it to be the most expensive component of the meal. But don't fret. Served with linguini, it should comprise about eight servings, which brings the total cost per serving down to around $5 or $6, which isn't so bad.

  2. Serve it with a Burgundy. If you don't know what you like in Burgundy, or don't want to spend much money, just buy three bottles of the wine you're cooking with instead of two.

Full disclosure:

  1. I forgot my plans and added the vegetables at the beginning of cooking. And they were, as you'd expect, a bit too soft in the end. Make sure to add them in the middle of cooking.

  2. I actually used part of an elk roast instead of beef, but the meat was too lean and was, in the end, mealy and flavorless. I should have suspected this, having had this problem before, but I thought maybe things would be different if I cooked it longer. Apparently not. Stick with fattier cuts from fattier animals; they'll stand up better to long braisings.

  3. The marrow bone part is entirely optional. I don't even know if this is how you're supposed to use marrow bones exactly. (Theoretically, I think you're supposed to get the bones cut for you at the butcher's, then roast them and scoop out the marrow.) But I saw them in the grocery store, but I was in a hurry, and figured what the hell. Plus one of the butchers assured me that she just roasted the bone and then put them in with whatever she was cooking. Next time, though, I think I'll have them split it for me.

Bon appetit!

November 10, 2002 in old_site, recipes, soups_stews | Permalink

Comments

Well, if you changed the oven temp to like 250, instead of 350, and added some fat (get it from your butcher), then that elk prolly would have come out delicious. 350, in my experience is WAY TOO HIGH to slow cook a meat.

Just try it once, and I guarantee the meat will be much more tender....

Posted by: A Hock at Dec 24, 2004 10:08:21 AM

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