Beef bourguignon the way Julia actually meant it
Deep, wine-soaked, long-braised beef with bacon, pearl onions and mushrooms over pappardelle or mash.
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg beef chuck or gravy beef cut into 4 cm cubes
- 200 g thick-cut bacon or speck cut into 1 cm lardons
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 large brown onion diced
- 2 carrots sliced into 1 cm rounds
- 4 fat garlic cloves smashed
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 750 ml red wine Pinot Noir or Cotes du Rhone
- 500 ml good beef stock
- 1 bouquet garni thyme, bay, parsley
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 250 g pearl onions peeled
- 300 g mushrooms halved if large
- 2 tbsp butter extra, for garnish
- chopped flat-leaf parsley, to finish
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 150°C fan.
- Cook bacon lardons in olive oil in a heavy cast-iron pot over medium heat, 5 to 6 minutes, until golden. Lift out.
- Brown the beef in three batches in the bacon fat, 6 to 8 minutes per batch, getting a proper dark crust. Remove to a plate.
- Add butter. Soften the onion and carrots over medium heat for 8 minutes. Add garlic, stir 30 seconds.
- Sprinkle over flour, stir for 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste, cook another minute.
- Pour in wine. Bring to a simmer, scraping the fond. Simmer 5 minutes.
- Return beef and bacon with their juices. Add stock, brown sugar, bouquet garni. Season.
- Lid on, oven 3 hours. Check at 90 minutes, stir, top with a splash of stock if dry.
- In a separate pan, saute pearl onions in butter for 10 minutes until golden. Remove. Saute mushrooms hard for 5 minutes until browned.
- After 3 hours, stir onions and mushrooms through. Return to oven 15 minutes.
- Taste, adjust seasoning. Serve over buttered pappardelle or mash. Scatter parsley.