Boeuf bourguignon

You will love this meal, if you’re not a vegetarian and you love meat. Beef. A lots of beef. This rich and warm meal is perfect match for cold winter days. It is so great, that you can’t resist. Boeuf bourguignon is well known thanks to the Queen of French cuisine, Julia Child.

You can find many recipes and variations of this meal on internet. Some people make it without garlic, the others add beef broth, button mushrooms, or tomato purée. The main differences are among methods of preparation. If you are bit confused which method is the best, I will contribute with my version.

But, boeuf bourguignon is so good that you will definitely find your own beloved version.

Ingredients (serves 4 to 5)

Preparation time: 15 minutes + 12 hours marinate + 20 minutes cooking + 2 hours baking

For marinade (4–12 hours)

• 600 g beef round, chuck or bisket (cut into 4 x 4 cm squares)
• 1 big onion (cut into thick chunks)
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
• 2 carrots (cut into thick chunks)
• 4 whole black peppercorns
• 1–2 bay leaves
• 300 ml dry red wine (the tastier, the better)
• bouquet garni (bundle of thyme, rosemary and parsley)

Other ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 100 g bacon (cut into small squares)
• flour for coating the beef (optional)
• salt, pepper
• 2 tbsp butter
• 100 g button mushrooms — optional (cut into quarters and lightly roasted)

Instructions

Remove the fat from beef, cut it into squares and put meat, sliced vegetables, minced garlic, black peppercorns, bay leaves and bouquet garni in a large pot. Pour over red wine, cover the pot and let it marinate in the fridge for up to 12 hours.

The next day, or 12 hours later, remove beef and vegetables from marinade. Dry the beef chunks with kitchen cloth or paper towels and coat it in flour. Flour absorbs water from beef and helps to thicken the sauce. The sauce also tastes less starchy when the flour is put over high temperature. This step is optional, but you won’t regret. Set aside the marinade and vegetables.

Preheat oven to 180°C. If you don’t have stewpot, which can be used both in the oven and on the stove, skip this step.

Heat the oil in the stewpot, add bacon and roast it for a while, add beef and brown roast on all sides. Add vegetables and roast it for few more minutes. If the meat releases any juices, collect it and add to the marinade. At this point, we want to roast the beef and vegetables. Braising is the next step.

Once the beef and vegetables are nicely roasted, add garlic from marinade and season it with salt and pepper. Mix well, add bouquet garni, bay leaves and the marinade. Bring to the boil.

If you have stewpot suitable for oven, cover it and cook in preheated oven for about 2 hours (check the beef after 1,5 hours and if it is ready, turn off the oven). If you don’t have such stewpot, cover the pot and cook for about 1,5 hours over low to medium heat.

Beef should be tender and taste incredibly at the end of cooking. If necessary, add butter to thicken the sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Once the meat is cooked, you can add the lightly roasted button mushrooms.

Serve hot with home-made tagliatelle or crunchy bread.

Bon apetit!