The BEST Beef Burgundy aka Beef Bourguignon

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This beef Burgundy recipe or beef bourguignon is beef pieces bathed in Burgundy wine and cooked long and slow with herbs and mushrooms until they are fork-tender. This ultimate comfort food can be made in the slow cooker, stovetop as well as oven.

Beef Burgundy, as it's also called Beef Bourguignon in French, is a stew prepared with braised beef and red wine. Traditionally, they used Burgundy wine that's why often this dish is called Beef Burgundy instead of its original name, beef Bourguignon. And, I call it Beef Burgundy because I'm really terrible with French pronunciations.

In the old days, slow-cooked meat was often used to soften tough cuts of meat. And, although this started off as a peasant dish, today, it's at the heart of French cooking. In fact, often, you will find it at some very high-end French restaurants.

Table of Content

• Why make a beef bourguignon?
• Ingredients and substitutes
• Videos
• Step by step instructions
• Tips - Beef bourguignon
• Frequently asked questions
• You may also like
• Recipe

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Why make a beef bourguignon?

• This culinary classic from Julia Child's is fork-tender pieces of stewed beef in a rich red-wine gravy along with fork-tender vegetables.
• This is the mother of all stews and the process should not be rushed which makes it the perfect make-ahead dish for entertaining.
• The recipe gets even better when you serve it the next day which is perfect if you want to plan dinner ahead.
• A very simple and easy recipe to make. And it's also very versatile. You can make it on the stovetop, slow cooker, or oven. In fact, each and every method is so easy that I have listed them all below.
  • No matter what method you use the basic process includes
  • Saute the mushrooms
  • Sear the meat - browned on all sides
  • Saute the veggies - (onions, carrots)
  • Make gravy - deglazing with wine
  • Slow cook from 2 to 6 hours depending on stovetop, oven, or slow-cooker.

Note - The progress pictures are of the stovetop method and below you will find two videos, showing how to make it on the stovetop as well as the slow cooker. And, in both methods, you still have to slow cook it until the meat is fork-tender. The advantage of the slow-cooker and oven is that you don't have to stir it often.

Ingredients and substitutes

• Beef - I love to use chuck or shoulder, which do great in slow cooking. You can use brisket, chuck steak, round steak. These work great.
• Vegetables - I only use mushrooms, onions, and carrots as the main vegetable. And yet, you can use pearl onions as in a traditional Beef Bourguignon recipe. I prefer a thick sauce so I actually avoid vegetables that will dilute the thickness of my sauce. In fact, I even saute the mushrooms until all their juices are dried out. It's a personal preference but I highly recommend you try it at least once. As a result, the flavor is so much richer and thicker.
• Wine - As the name suggests, you need a burgundy! I like to use a merlot, pinot noir, or chianti. Most importantly, use wine that you like to drink, no cooking wines or wine that you would not drink.
• Herbs - Traditionally, they use a bouquet garni, which is a combination of herbs. There are many variations of a bouquet garni, but most commonly you will find parsley, thyme, bay leaf, sage leaves, and celery stalk. Today, I'm only using thyme, sage, and bay leaves. I think that alone is plenty of flavors.
• All-purpose flour - You can add cornflour/cornstarch if you prefer. The flour helps thicken the sauce. Note when using a slow cooker I coat the beef in flour, this helps with more color when searing as the slow cooker does not give us much color. Also, it sticks to the beef instead of the bottom of the slow-cooker.

Videos

Stovetop beef bourguignon

Slow cooker beef bourguignon

Step by step instructions

Stovetop beef bourguignon

• Using a sturdy cutting board and chef's knife cut lamb into bitesize pieces not too small.
  Pro tip - I like cutting the beef to about 2 -inch pieces, making sure they are all similar in size so they cook evenly.

• Cook mushrooms - In a Dutch oven or heavy bottom pan add 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Saute on high for 2 minutes then add some salt and pepper. Cook another minute. Then remove from the heat and set aside.
  Pro tip - cooking on high will ensure the moisture released from the mushrooms evaporates preventing them from stewing and becoming soggy. We want them to soak up the gravy later not the juices now 😉

• Sear the meat - To the same pan, add 1 tbsp oil and the beef pieces, cook on high for 2 minutes then turn and cook on the other sides for 2 minutes more. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  Pro tip - do not crowd the pan. If necessary do this in batches. I did this in two batches.

• To the same pan, add 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp butter, and chopped bacon. Saute the onions, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves until the onions are translucent.
  Pro tip - you can omit the oil if you are using bacon. As bacon enough fat to cook the veggies. (in the video I did not use the bacon)
• Next, add the flour and saute for another minute or two. Lower the heat to medium, add the red wine. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes deglazing/scraping the pan to remove all the stuck bits in the pan.
  Pro tip - We want to cook the flour but not burn so keep the heat on low, similarly we want the alcohol to evaporate so let boil for at least 2 to 3 minutes. The mixture will get thicker because of the flour making a nice thick gravy.

• Next, season with salt and pepper, then add the tomato paste and thyme. Return the beef back to the pan. Combine well then add the stock or broth to the pan. Bring to a boil.
• Then, lower the heat to a simmer and cook on low for 1 to 1 ½ hour stirring occasionally. Add ¼ to ½ cup water if necessary to prevent it from sticking at the bottom.
  Pro tip - Depending on the cut of meat you use, it will take between 1 to 2 hours. For example, brisket takes me almost 2 hours, stew meat makes just 1 ½ hour or less

• When the meat is fork-tender return the mushrooms back to the pan. Taste and adjust seasoning. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Slow-cooker Beef bourguignon

• Have your slow cooker pot at the ready so you can add things into it as they are ready.
• Using a sturdy cutting board and chef's knife cut lamb into bitesize pieces not too small.
  Pro tip - I like cutting the beef to about 3 -inch pieces when cooking in the slow cooker.
• Sear the meat - To the Dutch oven or heavy-bottom pan, add 1 tbsp oil and the beef pieces, cook on high for 2 minutes then turn and cook on the other sides for 2 minutes more. Remove from the pan and add it to the slow cooker
  Pro tip - do not crowd the pan. If necessary do this in batches. I did this in two batches.
• To the same pan, add 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp butter, and chopped bacon. Saute the onions, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, and sugar until the onions are translucent.
  Pro tip - you can omit the oil if you are using bacon. As bacon enough fat to cook the veggies. (in the video I did not use the bacon). We use sugar only in the slow-cooker version to enhance the color. But, feel free to omit it.
• Add the mushrooms. Turn the heat up to medium-high and saute until all the liquid released from the mushrooms is almost dried. Then add the red wine and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
  Pro tip - we want the excess moisture from the mushrooms to evaporate and the alcohol in the wine to evaporate so let boil for at least 2 to 3 minutes.

• Next, pour the mushroom mixture over the beef in the slow cooker along will all the rest of the ingredients. Thyme, tomato paste, stock, salt, and pepper.
  Pro tip- I like to combine the tomato paste with the stock/broth so it does not stay lumpy in the slow cooker.
• Combine everything well. Cover and cook in the slow cooker or crockpot until the meat is fork-tender
  Pro tip- You can cook for 6 to 8 hours on low or for 3 to 4 hours on high. Personally, I like cooking on low so the meat is moist, juicy and fork-tender
• Adjusting gravy - The excess liquid does not evaporate when cooking in the slow-cooker. You can serve the extra liquid with bread or rice. Alternatively, drain the meat from the slow cooker in a colander and transfer the liquid to a saucepan. Reduce it over medium heat on the stovetop until it's a thicker consistency. Then add the meat back to the liquid.

Traditional oven-baked beef bourguignon

• Preheat the oven at 325°F/ 165°C / Gas Mark 3
• Saute the mushrooms, sear the meat, and cook the meat as described above for the stovetop method.
• Then instead of cooking on the stovetop, cover and transfer to a preheated. Cook for about 1 ½ to 2 hours or until the beef is fork-tender
• When done - add the sauteed mushrooms and parsley. Cook another 10 to 15 minutes to warm the mushrooms.

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Tips - Beef bourguignon

• Make sure the beef is cut into about 2-inch pieces not too big or too small. 
• Cook the beef only when completely thawed or it will cook unevenly
• A Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot works best for such slow-cooking dishes. Alternatively, you can transfer to the slow cooker.
• When searing the meat do not make haste to turn it over. If the meat resists movement it means it needs a minute more.  
• Do not skip on sauteing the veggies at this will add a nice depth of flavor from the caramelization achieved.  
• Saute the mushrooms on medium-high this will evaporate all the juices immediately giving you dry mushrooms which will soak up as much flavor from the gravy later.
• If you have excess moisture in the dish - you can drain all meat and mushrooms in a colander. Then cook the sauce over medium-high heat until it is reduced significantly. This way the sauce gets thicker and you don't over cook the meat.
• Cook on low and stir often making sure to add water if necessary to prevent the dish from burning on the bottom. Cooking on high for a long time will only result in tough, not fork-tender meat.

Frequently asked questions

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Recipe

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