Beef Bourguignon

This dish is quintessential French cooking. As in grab a wooden spoon, put on your apron, and do your best Julia Child impersonation…”If you’re afraid of butter…use cream”. As in grab a bottle of wine, a block of cheese and enjoy the experience. It may not be fast food, but we are going to enjoy the process.

The name of the dish itself is even typical French. It sounds sophisticated and complicated, but is really just the French equivalent of a pot roast. Really, this is just a fancy pot roast. It is not hard. But in the French fashion it uses multiple pots and a daunting number of steps, for no seeming rhyme or reason. (no offence France, you gave us great culinary technique and a delicious cuisine, but could we pair this down a little??!)

I guess the answer is yes and no. There are steps for a reason. You need to brown your meat before putting it in the oven so that it builds flavour. The vegetables you braise your meet in are not the vegetables you serve it with, because by the time the meat is done, they are soft, really more mush. They are there only to flavour your meat and your broth. Which means, you need to separately cook your mushrooms and onions to ensure that they are still crisp and enjoyable. And like any braised meat, this is the type of dish you want to make on a Sunday, when you can put it in the oven for a few hours and merely babysit it.

Some notes. Typical Beef Bourguignon is served with small white onions, which are delicious but a pain to peel. A trick is to blanch them quickly in boiling water, and move them to an ice bath, then peel. This may sound like a lot of work, but trust me, it’s faster than trying to peel them directly.

I call for pork belly here. You can use bacon. Bacon is smoked, which Ms. Child claims will impart a smokey flavour to your dish that is unwelcome. She actually instructs you to separately simmer the bacon in water before cooking it to remove the smokey taste. I think this is ridiculous. Use pork belly (which is not smoked) or just deal with a little smoky impart. It will still taste delicious.

For the wine, you need a lot of it, so you don’t want to use anything too expensive. But it needs to be something decent enough that you would actually drink it.

Beef Bourguignon

Adapted from Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1 6 oz chunk of pork belly or bacon
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
3 lbs stewing beet, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot, cut into large chunks
1 onion, cut into large chunks
Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp flour
3 cups of full-bodied red wine
3 cups of beef stock, divided (chicken stock is fine if you don’t keep beef stock on hand)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaf, divided
1 pkg of small white onions (18-24 onions), peeled [See note above]
3 1/2 Tbsp butter
4 parsley sprigs
1 lb sliced fresh mushrooms
Chopped parsley for serving

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Cut the bacon into 1/4 inch x 1 inch sticks. Dry the beef chunks with a paper towel and season all over with salt and pepper.

Saute the bacon in 1 Tbsp oil in a large dutch oven, over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. Reheat the leftover bacon grease until it is almost smoking. In batches, brown the beef all over, being careful not to overcrowd the pot. Remove the beef and brown the carrots and onion chunks in the same fat. [Note: if there is no more fat, add a little olive oil to the pan]

Return the bacon and beef to the pot and sprinkle on the flour, another tsp of salt and more freshly ground black pepper. Toss with a spoon to coat the beet lightly with the flour. Set the pot in the oven in the middle rack for 4 minutes. Toss the meet and return to the oven for 4 minutes more. This will create a nice crust on the meat. Remove the pot and lower the oven temperature to 325F.

Stir in the wine and enough stock so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, thyme and 1 bay leaf and bring to a simmer on the stove top. Once simmering, cover the pot and place it in the lower third of the oven.

Simmer in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the meat can be pierced easily with a fork.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet with a lid on the stove with 1 1/2 Tbsp of butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil, on medium-high heat, until bubbling. Add the peeled onions and saute for about 10 minutes, rolling the onions about so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break the skins. Pour 1/2 cup of broth, salt and pepper, parsley sprigs and remaining bay leaf, cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes or until the onions are perfectly tender but retain their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove the herbs and discard. Remove the onions and reserve.

Return the skillet to the stove and heat over medium-high heat with the remaining 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp of oil. When the butter foams, add the mushrooms. Stir for 4-5 minutes, or until evenly browned.

When the meat is tender, remove the vegetables and bay leaf. Add the mushrooms and onions to the meat. Return the pot to the stove and simmer. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce, thick enough to coat a spoon. If it is too thick, add a little remaining stock. If it is too thin, continue to cook it down. Season to taste and serve with parsley, over pasta or mashed potatoes.

Note: This dish can be made almost entirely ahead. Add the mushrooms and onions to the meat and cool and refrigerate for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, bring to a simmer on the stove, and adjust the consistency of the sauce as noted above. It will likely be too thick and will need to be thinned out a bit.