As promised on Instagram, today I’m excited to share with y’all one of my very favorite cold-weather recipes! Beef Bourguignon (i.e. French pot roast). 🇫🇷 My husband calls this a “Liz signature dish”. Rest assured, there aren’t many of those! 😅 To be honest, I’m still working on my go-to dinner menu. You know like a rotating mix of easy yet delicious and healthy recipes I can put on the table week after week. Now that I’ve got a little mouth to feed, getting this figured out is more of a priority. I’ll get there eventually! Give me a couple more years.

(P.S. if you have any great recipes falling into this category, leave them in the comments!)

The cookbook that put Julia Child on the map. It’s a great gift idea for someone who loves to cook! Here’s a link to purchase via Amazon.

However, please know that traditional Beef Bourguignon does not fall into the “easy weeknight meal” category. I consider it more of a special occasion meal because of the time and work involved. It’s a great option if you’re having friends or family over and you want to impress them. Or if you’re someone like me who finds an afternoon cooking in the kitchen with a nice glass of wine a relaxing past time… this is a great dish for that.

Mastering this rich and tasty French stew is one of the few things I put on my “accomplish before turning 30” list, and I did! Now I cook it once or twice a year, usually once in November (when the weather starts getting chilly here in Texas) and again in January (when things are bleak and I need a good meal to lift my spirits).

The second time I cooked it, I really messed it up (sorry Mom and Kevin!). I started the cooking process late and rushed it. Accordingly, the meat wasn’t fall-apart tender and was chewy and gross. So be aware up front that this can’t be rushed! Also that was the one and only time I veered away from using this version of the recipe, so that could have been partly to blame as well.

Give yourself plenty of time. If you’re a first-timer, I’d start around noon or 1pm to have it ready by 6 or 7pm. This time frame means you won’t be rushing and will enjoy the process. Which is really what this is all about!

For my version of this recipe, you’ll need a dutch oven. So know that going in. If you don’t have one, there are other versions of this recipe out there for instants pots, etc. However, the instructions below are for the traditional French cooking method for this dish. In my opinion, you’ll get the best outcome using a dutch oven. Vive la France!

The recipe below is an adaptation of the OG Queen, Julia Child’s Beouf Bourguignon. If you have 30 minutes to spare, you might watch this 4-part, 30 minute YouTube video of her cooking the dish. Not necessary, but helpful! Also it’s kind of fun to see how far cooking shows have come. She truly was a pioneer!

I adapted Julia’s recipe by removing a few steps I don’t think are critical to taste, yet save some time. My apologies to Julia! I also add more carrots to my version since my husband and I love them. 🥕

You can serve the stew over mashed potatoes, rice, or egg noodles. Here I went with mashed potatoes because I found a pre-made tub of it (without weird ingredients) at my local Whole Foods. Just one less thing I had to cook myself! I also like to serve it with a baguette topped with butter and garlic. Again, this is a special occasional meal, people! 😋

And that’s a good segue way to add the disclaimer that this is not a light meal. Personally, I wouldn’t consider this meal “unhealthy” as part of an overall balanced diet, but it’s decidedly NOT light. It’s rich and buttery and there’s bacon and wine. All the good, nourishing things. 🤗

Perhaps the most important instruction I can give you is to enjoy a glass of red wine while you’re cooking. Just pour a glass of whatever wine you’re using in the dish. And speaking of… do not - and I cannot stress this enough - using cooking wine! Use a bottle of whatever full-bodied red you’d actually drink. Go for something good in the $20 range. If you want enough wine leftover to serve with dinner, then buy two bottles.

Below are the instructions. Please read them fully before beginning! It’s not hard, but it is complicated and time consuming, so get a good handle on what you’ll be doing before you begin.

BEEF BOURGUIGNON

Difficulty: Medium | Prep Time: 2 Hours (including mushrooms and onions) | Cook Time: 3 Hours

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-3″ chunks (to save on prep time, I have the butcher do it for me)
1/2 pound bacon, diced
1 bag of baby carrots (Julia’s recipe calls for one sliced carrot, but that’s just not enough in my opinion)
1 large onion, chopped (this will disintegrate, so fyi it won’t matter how pretty your dicing looks)
3 cups full-bodied red wine (Julia says to use Burgundy or Cote du Rhone, but Cabernet Sauvignon works nicely and that’s what I used since I had plenty on hand. Just make sure you cook with a bottle you’d actually drink! That’s an Ina Garten rule, and it’s one you should live by. Buy an extra bottle if you want to serve more wine with dinner.)
2 – 3 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 teaspoon thyme (fresh is best)
1 bay leaf (optional)
Serve over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice with a buttery baguette.

For the brown braised onions (Oignons Glacés à Brun)

*Note: I skipped the onions this go around, so you won’t see them pictured above. I couldn’t find the frozen pearl onions. The guy at the store said they discontinued them because of a production issue (tragic 😩). Since cooking with fresh pearl onions adds about 45 minutes to cooking time, I elected to skip. But if you can find frozen pearl onions, then definitely do it!

1/2 bag frozen white pearl onions, defrosted and patted dry (Julia’s recipe calls for fresh onions, but this is 2019 - we’ve got options!)
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup beef stock or beef broth
Salt and pepper

For the sautéed mushrooms (Champignons Sautés au Beurre)

1 pound mushrooms, quartered
4 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Put on an apron. This will get messy.
Pour yourself a glass of the red wine. Begin enjoying.
Mise en place is key here! Gather and prepare all of your ingredients and measuring utensils before starting. Have everything at hand! Chop the bacon, beef, veggies, and garlic.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Arrange beef chunks on a paper towel-lined tray. Use additional paper towels to thoroughly pat the beef dry. Important: damp beef will not brown properly!
In a large dutch oven pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced bacon and cook for a few minutes until the bacon is browned and has released its fat. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon. Leave the fat in the pan.
Over medium/medium-high heat, brown the beef in the bacon fat for a minute or two on each side. Use an oven mitt to avoid burning yourself with bacon grease. Do not overcrowd the pan! If needed, brown your beef in groups. Make sure your temperature is high enough to ensure the beef quickly develops a caramelized color (it should only take about a minute on each side). Turn the beef to brown on all sides, then remove the meat and set aside. Repeat until all of the beef has been browned.
After beef is browned, add the carrots and onions to the pan. Cook for a few minutes until they develop a golden brown color. After, pour out excess bacon fat if there is any. Leave veggies in the pan.
Add beef and bacon back into the pan. Add salt, pepper, and flour. Toss.
Place the pan, uncovered, on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the mixture, cook for 4 more minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and reduce the oven heat to 325 degrees.
On the stovetop, add the wine, beef stock, tomato paste, garlic, and thyme. Add just enough beef stock to barely cover the beef (somewhere between 2 and 3 cups). Note: I know 3 cups of wine seems like a lot, but trust!
Bring to a simmer on the stove. Then, cover the pan, and place it in the oven. Cook, covered, for about 3 hours. The liquid will maintain a gentle simmer throughout the 3 hour cook time.
While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.

For the onions:

Heat the butter and oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook for about 10 minutes, shaking the pan to brown the onions on all sides.
Add the beef stock. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer slowly for about 15-20 minutes.
Check the pan towards the end of the cooking time. Most of the liquid should have evaporated and formed a brown glaze around the onions.
Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

For the mushrooms:

Heat the butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Note: mushrooms will appear to absorb the melted butter, but eventually mushrooms will release their own liquid. As the liquid evaporates, the mushrooms will acquire a golden brown color.
Season with salt and pepper, then set aside.

Now, back to the stew.

After 3 hours, remove the stew from the oven. The meat should be fork tender, and the sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. NOTE: At this point, Julia says to strain the sauce and it’s a whole thing. I’ve never found this step to be crucial, so I skip it!
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, if you think it needs it.
Keep the heat off, and let it cool a bit. If there’s any excess fat, it will rise to the surface when resting. Use a spoon to collect and discard it.
You could add the mushrooms and onions to the dutch oven at this point, but I like to keep them on the side so people can add however much they want since some people don’t like mushrooms or onions.
Serve over mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles. Julia recommends a side of buttered peas, but honestly I much prefer a buttered, garlicky baguette.
Enjoy… with more wine!

There ya have it, people! I hope you love it. 😊

And one more note… this dish heats up really nicely. Great for leftovers. Just bring it back up to a simmer on the stovetop until all the components are heated through.

I know it’s a lot of work, but I really do think it’s SO worth it! If you make it, be sure to tag me on Instagram. I love when people try my recipes!

XOXO,

Liz

PRODUCT LINKS

Here’s a link to the Julia Child cookbook pictured above. It’s a great gift idea! My mother-in-law bought me mine. Links to my outfit (the Chanel espadrilles were my birthday present and I LOVE them) + some of the kitchen items you see pictured above are in the widget below.