Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon is both hearty and delectable. This famous French dish is a rich slow cooked beef stew, where the beef is braised in red wine with onions and carrots until it is fork tender. It’s easy to make and produces wonderful leftovers. For an unforgettable meal, this should be at the top of your list.

Beef Bourguignon was made famous by Julia Child. In fact, if you’ve ever made Julia Child’s beef bourguignon, you would definitely understand the rave reviews.

One problem, however with Julia’s recipe is that it has a number of steps and is somewhat fussy. That’s why when I read The Washington Post article about Anthony Bourdain’s recipe, I knew that I had to try it. The result was not only spectacular but also relatively easy to put together.

Ingredients

The two stars of the show here are (1) beef chuck roast; and (2) red wine.

As you may know, beef chuck roast is a relatively cheap cut of meat that has a ton of flavor. It also tends to have a lot of fat. In fact, it’s not unusual that half of the weight of the beef that I purchase is fat that I dispose of.  Probably, the most time-consuming part of making this awesome dish is trimming the beef of as much fat as possible.

For the red wine, I’ve used Merlot, Malbec and Pinot Noir. Basically, any good dry red wine will do. For the vegetables, I used onions – lots of onions, and carrots. Because of the slow and extended cooking, the onions disappear, helping to create a rich luxurious sauce.  

To enhance the richness of the sauce, I added some Better than Bouillon Roast Beef Base.

Watch how I make this incredible dish in this web story. Pages will turn automatically: 

Step 1: Preparing the Beef

The first thing that I did was to trim the beef of as much fat as possible. Then, I cut it into 1-inch pieces.

Like Julia Child’s recipe, Bourdain included the step of drying the beef before it was browned. The reason is simple – the dryer the beef, the more browning that occurs and the more taste that develops via the Maillard reaction.

Therefore, I started by placing the cut beef on paper towels and blotting each piece to remove as much moisture as possible. After that, I sprinkled the beef with salt and pepper.

Step 2: Browning the Beef

Once I had blotted as much moisture as possible from the beef, I heated some oil in my Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Then, I added the meat in batches, making sure that I didn’t crowd the pan. 

The reason for not crowding the pan with the beef was to ensure that the meat actually browned. If the pan is crowded, the meat will have a tendency to steam.

Once the beef was nicely browned, I removed it from the Dutch oven and repeated the process with the remaining beef.

Step 3: Cooking the Onions

After all of the beef had been cooked, I added more oil to the Dutch oven. Then, I added the onions. I cooked the onions, stirring occasionally until they softened. This took 7 or 8 minutes. 

Next, I added the flour to the onions and stirred to combine everything. I let the mixture cook for another couple of minutes.

After that, I added the dried thyme and minced garlic. I cooked the mixture for around 30 seconds until the garlic was fragrant.

Step 4: Adding the Rest of the Beef Bourguignon Ingredients

I started Step 4 by adding the wine to the onions.

The onions had released some liquid so I was able to scrape up bits from the bottom of the pan while the onions cooked. With the wine added, I continued scraping the bottom of the pan to release more bits. These bits have a ton of flavor!

After the wine started to boil, I returned the cooked beef to the Dutch oven, along with the carrots, water and Better than Bouillon. I stirred to combine everything and brought the mixture to a boil. Next, I reduced the heat to medium-low and covered the pan.

Step 5: Finishing the Beef Bourguignon

I let the Beef Bourguignon cook for around 2 ½ hours until the beef was fork tender. During this time, I stirred the mixture occasionally to ensure that it didn’t stick to the bottom of the Dutch oven.

Because I cooked the Beef Bourguignon covered, the sauce was a bit too thin for my tastes. Therefore, I thickened it with a slurry made with Bisto and chicken broth. If you don’t have Bisto, you could use cornstarch. I also ended up adding about a ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper.

The Beef Bourguignon was show-stopping delicious and earned the envious Master Taste Tester seal of approval. I served it with steamed new potatoes, collard greens and the rest of the red wine that I had used in the dish. Yum!

Chula’s Expert Tips

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Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon is both hearty and delectable. This famous French dish is a rich slow cooked beef stew, where the beef is braised in red wine with onions and carrots until it is fork tender. It’s easy to make and produces wonderful leftovers. For an unforgettable meal, this should be at the top of your list.

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: French

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 337kcal

Author: Chula King

Ingredients

• ▢ 3 pounds beef chuck roast, untrimmed (See Tip 1)
• ▢ Kosher salt
• ▢ Freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ ¼ cup olive oil, divided
• ▢ 4 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 clove garlic, minced
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ▢ 1 cup dry red wine (See Tip 2)
• ▢ 6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• ▢ 1 ½ cups water
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons Better than Bouillon Roast Beef Base
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon Bisto or cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water or chicken broth, if needed
• ▢ Minced parsley for garnish (optional)

Instructions

• Trim beef of as much fat as possible. Cut remaining beef into 1-inch pieces. Place on paper towels and blot as much moisture as possible. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the meat on all sides. Remove to a plate. (See Tip 3)
• Heat remaining oil in Dutch oven and add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions have softened, 7 to 8 minutes. As the onions cook scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add the flour; stir to combine. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and thyme; cook for 30 seconds or until garlic is fragrant.
• Add the wine; stir and continue to scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Bring to a boil. Return the meat and juices to the pan. Add the carrots, water and Better than Bouillon. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for 2 to 2 ½ hours or until meat is fork tender.
• If sauce is too thin, thicken it with a slurry made of Bisto or cornstarch and water or chicken broth.
• Yield: 8 servings.

Chula's Expert Tips

1. Beef chuck roast typically has a lot of fat. In general, when I trim the fat away, almost half of the weight is made up of the discarded fat.
2. You can use any good dry red wine in this dish. I've used Merlot, Pinot Noir and Malbec. Just make sure that whatever you use is drinkable!
3. It's important not to crowd the meat as you are cooking it. You want the meat to brown nicely, not steam as would occur if you added too much to the pan.
4. The Beef Bourguignon is even better the next day as the flavors continue to develop.

Nutrition

Calories: 337kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 142mg | Potassium: 609mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 7661IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 3mg

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