How to make classic French Beef Bourguignon

What is Beef Bourguignon?

Beef Bourguignon, or more accurately, Boeuf Bourguignon is one of France’s most well-known and loved dishes. Each region in France celebrates its own cuisine, blending together to create a country that is world-famous for simple yet tasty food. In France, the Burgundy (Bourgogne) region is the place to find Beef Bourguignon.

The best Beef Bourguignon is one that is packed full of rich flavour, soaking up every ingredient and flavour as it cooks slowly over several hours. It is one of our favourite dishes and showcases our love of both France and its food.

You know a recipe is one of your favourites when you go to open up the page of a prized recipe book and the page you need is stuck together. This happened to me when I grabbed “The Food of France” cookbook off the shelf.

My Beef Bourguignon recipe is no stranger to me so looking at the index was not necessary. I could tell where I would find the tasty recipe feeling along the edge of the pages. Having been opened so many times to page 156, the pages have given away ever so slightly from the spine, pushing the pages out and forming a ridge. A stranger’s eye would not see it, but as I rubbed my fingers along the edge, I knew exactly where I needed to be.

Opening it was another story however as it became clear that a few stray ingredients had made their way to the pages from a previous cook and were now acting as a glue, preventing me from opening it.

With a gentle bit of coaxing, the pages finally separated showing the impact of a dish celebrated many times around our table and clearly accompanied with a few red wines to match.

We love to cook it at home in a heavy, cast-iron pot but it’s also a simple meal that can be cooked when we are on the road in our motorhome.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg blade, round or chuck
• 750 ml red wine
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• Bouquet garni
• 70g butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 200g bacon cut into pieces
• 300g French shallots, peeled, left whole
• 200g small button mushrooms

Method

It’s important to think about when you want to serve the Beef Bourguignon as it takes a little bit of preparation that is best done the day before.

The type of meat can be easily substituted but just be sure to use a secondary cut. This recipe requires low and slow cooking over a number of hours so it’s vital to have tougher meat that can withstand this length of cooking. We used a piece of round steak from a Scottish highland cow, grown by local farmers at Rivertree Farm.

Cut the meat into 4cm (1.5 inches) cubes. Take off any excess fat. In a bowl, add the meat, red wine, garlic and the bouquet garni. In this recipe, I used parsley, thyme and French tarragon.

Use the best red wine you can afford or get your hands on. It really does make a difference. As a native dish from Burgundy, the recipe, of course, calls for a Burgundian red. I didn’t have one of those on hand but I did have a wonderful bottle of Bordeaux to use instead.

Cover the bowl and place in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 160° Celsius (315°F).

Using a strainer, drain the meat. Keep the leftover marinade and the bouquet garni.

Dry the meat using paper towel.

Note: I try to only use one dish to do the pre-cooking of ingredients and the final dish. It makes it simple and saves on washing up! I use a cast-iron dish that can go easily from the stovetop to the oven. If you don’t have a dish that can sit on the stovetop, use a separate frying pan.

In a casserole dish, heat 30g of the butter and add the chopped onion, carrot and the bouquet garni. Cook this for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

If you are using the same pan, remove from the heat.

Add another 20g of butter to the dish (or to a separate frying pan) and cook the meat in batches until caramelised.

Remove browned meat from pan and place on paper towel.

Pour the reserved marinade back into the pan to deglaze. Be sure to give it a good stir to get all the flavour from the meat and vegetables that may have stuck to the pan.

Coat the meat and the vegetables with flour. You can do this either in the pan or on a plate. Turn up the heat in the pan, add the meat, vegetables and bouquet garni, and bring the liquid to a boil.

If this is in the casserole dish you plan on using in the oven, simply add the lid and transfer. If using a separate pan, add all of this to your oven pot and place in the oven.

Cook for two hours.

To finish, heat the remaining butter in a clean frying pan and cook the bacon and the French shallots for around 10 minutes. The French shallots should be softened but not brown.

Note: I actually use more butter than the recipe suggests as I think it’s a little “light”. Since butter is only used to fry the vegetables and meat, this can be discretionary.

Add the mushrooms and cook for several minutes, stirring along the way.

Add all of this to the pot in the oven and cook for another 15-30 minutes, until the French shallots are cooked.

Before serving, remove the bouquet garni. It’s not exactly the prettiest looking meal and trying to find a way to plate it so that it looks good is not an easy task. Rest assured, the end result is incredibly tasty and full of flavour.

My best tip is definitely not to rush it. Let the flavours take time to develop and you will be rewarded.

Note: I didn’t use and seasoning in this recipe which probably goes against every rule, but I personally don’t believe it requires it. The wine, vegetables and herbs add such flavour to the base and the addition of the salty bacon is more than enough salt for me. Use of seasoning should be entirely at the cook’s discretion.

This recipe is for six people. I halved the recipe which gave us enough for dinner and then leftovers. The leftovers can be eaten the next day, although it will keep in the fridge for several days. The Beef Bourguignon can also be frozen for another time.

What to serve with Beef Bourguignon

French meals are simple meals, so you won’t traditionally find this served with a whole range of side dishes. French bread and green beans are quite common, as are potatoes, which can be mashed, gratin or dauphinoise.

How to make Potato Dauphinoise (with cheese)

This is a rich meal so minimal side servings ensures that the beauty of the main dish remains.

Recently, I served this with a quick potato gratin to use up some cream I had in the fridge.

Thanks to my favourite French recipe book “The Food of France” by Maria Villegas and Sarah Randell for this fabulous Beef Bourguignon recipe.