Beef bourguignon – the easy way
This is one of my winter favourites, beef bourguignon is not only tasty but the hours it needs in the oven warms the home. I have cut out a lot of the steps that other recipes have, supposedly cooking and browning everything separately makes it taste better. I disagree, I’ve tried both and the only thing those extra steps adds is time and dirty dishes imo. My way is faster to make than any other because I cut out those steps and the result is fantastic.
Ingredients
- ~1.5kg beef chuck steak, you can use brisket or stewing beef instead, cut the beef into 2cm pieces, don’t trim the fat off
- 3 tablespoons oil or butter if you fry on low heat
- 200g unsmoked bacon, cut into 1cm strip
- 7 decent sized garlic cloves, 5 sliced or crushed but keep 2 for later
- 2 bottles of cheap heavy red wine Burgundy, Pinot Noir or Shiraz
- 2 -3 beef stock cubes
- 2 tablespoons tomato pure/paste
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 16 shallots (or 30 pearl onion) peeled but not sliced
- 1 large brown onion, thinly chopped
- 400g small whole button mushrooms, these are basically just small white mushrooms, you can chose to slice if you are not fond of mushrooms
- 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
- 1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- Black pepper teaspoon or more to taste
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons of butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175°C (or 150°C if fan assisted) (350°F)
- Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or heavy based casserole pot. Fry the bacon and steak for about 3-5 minutes (until browned).
- Sprinkle the flour and cook for another minute or two.
- Add the wine and all ingredients except 2 garlic cloves, butter and mushrooms
- Please note there’s no point in tasting until the end when it’s reduced.
- With the lid on the pot, transfer to lower part of the oven and simmer for 2hrs. Take it out, stir and check how the meat is getting on.
- Remove the lidd and add a cartouche. This is a fancy name for baking paper that’s been cut into a circle (the shape of the pot). This is to stop it from burning when you put it back in the over and reduce the amount of liquid
- Depending on how the meat looks like put back in the oven for another 1-2 hours, or until the meat is fall apart tender (adjust the heat so that the liquid simmers very slowly).
In the last 10 minutes of cooking time, prepare your mushrooms:
- Heat the butter in a frying-pan over low heat (or the butter will burn). Add the 2 garlic cloves and cook until fragrant (~30sec), then add in the mushrooms. Cook for about 5min, stirring occasionally to cover in butter. Season with salt and a little pepper and add to the pot of stew (including any liquid left).
- Put the whole pot of stew back in the oven for 5min. or so.
- Take it out of the oven and check the sauce.
IMPORTANT: You should be left with a decent amount of thick sauce (500ml or 2 1/2 cups) of sauce thick enough to coat the back of a spoon lightly. If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of water. If the sauce is too thin, put it back in the oven about 10 minutes, or until reduced to the right consistency.
Serve with mashed potato – the sauce tastes strong therefore the side should be plain.
