A time-tested French classic, this stew is a perfect fit for any holiday table. The beef is cooked together with bacon, veggies, wine, and is complimented with brown-braised onions and butter sautéed mushrooms!
French Beef Bourguignon (Bœuf à la Bourguignonne) | Christmas Recipes
Course: MainCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Medium8
servings30
minutes3
hours40
minutes395
kcal4
hours10
minutesA time-tested French classic, this stew is a perfect fit for any holiday table. The beef is cooked together with bacon, veggies, wine, and is complimented with brown-braised onions and butter sautéed mushrooms!
Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
120 g (½ cup) bacon lardons
20 small shallots – peeled, 6 of them cut in half, the rest left whole
1.4 kg (3 lbs) beef braising steak – i.e chuck or skirt, cut into large chunks
3 tbsp plain/all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 x 750ml (25 oz) bottle red wine – it doesn’t have to be an expensive wine, I used Shiraz
240 ml (1 cup) beef stock
3 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
16-20 chantenay carrots – peeled
150 g (2 cups) brown mushrooms – thickly sliced
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 160C/320F.
- Heat the oil in a large ovenproof casserole dish and add the lardons. Fry until golden brown, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl.
- Add the halved shallots to the pan and fry on high in the same pan for a few minutes until seared, then add to the bowl with the lardons.
- There should still be 2-3 tbsp of oil left in the pan at this point, if there isn’t top up with a little more oil.
- Toss the beef with the flour, salt and pepper.
- Now brown the beef in the pan in 3 or 4 batches (about 5-6 minutes per batch). Spoon out each batch into a bowl before starting on the next batch.
- When cooked, add all the beef back into the pan and stir in the tomato puree.
- Now add in the wine, beef stock, bay leaves, thyme, carrots, mushrooms and the whole shallots. Give everything a stir – to release any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Then bring to the boil and turn off the heat. Place a lid on top and place in the oven to cook for 3 hours. Check a couple of times to make sure the Bourguignon isn’t going dry. If it is starting to look a little dry, add half a cup of water.
- After 3 hours, stir the bacon lardons and fried shallots into the pan, place the lid back on and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes to heat through.
- Serve with mashed potato and greens.
