Boeuf Bourguignon

[Jean Blanchard]

This is on my list of fall recipes to make. I've used Julia's recipe forever. As far as the wine goes, I've used anything from a "cheap" wine to a moderately priced with good results. However, the last time I was at a restaurant in Yountville (Bistro Jeanty), I had a Rafanelli Zinfandel that the beef, coq au vin, and mussels in red wine sauce (I didn't eat them all myself, just shared bites) that went so well with each dish that I think that with a meal like this, it's well worth opening up a good bottle of whatever red you like to drink with it.

What's your favorite wine with this dish?

jb

[gourmande]

...I've used Julia's recipe forever...

So have I, but I did try Bourdain's easier version last year, and for a quick and easy version of BB it's quite good. (I did add braised pearl onions though)

[BarbaraY]

I made BB last week because it is finally cool enough to make longer cooking dishes.

I used beef chuck that I trimmed myself, blanched bacon lardoons, no pearl onions in the store so I used small boiling onions instead, a bit of tomato paste, and of course plenty of mushrooms and inexpensive red wine.

It was truly delicious. The little onions were so sweet and good that I wished I had added a few more.

No carrots or peppers in mine. It's a combination of Julia's recipe and that of Morrison Wood plus my own twists.

It's one of my favorite cool weather dishes.

[silverbrow]

Thankfully I've just read this post on Keller's BB. I was planning on making it for dinner a week on Saturday but it looks like I need to start planning, and cooking, now.

Has anyone with expereince of making it, any top tips for what to do or not do, or is it sufficient to carefully follow the recipe in the book and learn the lessons of others on this thread?

[ianeccleston]

Other wasy to get more intense flavor is to marinate the beef in red wine or using Sous vide.

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I got started on the boeuf this morning, after marinating the beef with all the vegetables, aromatics and wine overnight. I'm looking forward to the more intense taste from the marinade but - and I shouldn't be surprised at this - marinating it overnight made browning problematic. Even though I drained and patted dry the meat very well, the meat released a lot of that extra moisture into the pan during browning. Even more so for the wet vegetables. The deed is done though - I'll see how it tastes tomorrow.

Ian

[chefzadi]

Sorry, I think there was a question addressed to me earlier as well. I'm very busy with work these days and lots of other projects.

I have noticed some cuts of meat depending on where I buy it tend to release alot of moisture.

Higher heat, fewer pieces of meat in the pan, along with the other things you did.

Have to go.

[dockhl]

I asked about wine in making this on an earlier thread, and a few people suggested Gallo Hearty Burgundy.  I will try that next time.

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Oh, Pam~

I CANNOT tell you how much that warmed my heart !

When I was in undergrad at Pitt (circa 1975) I was known for having great dinner parties (exotic even !) .........one of my staples was Beef Burgundy (at it was known in Pittsburgh, PA) made with Gallo Hearty Burgundy.

I was before my time ! Who knew?

LOL~

Great memories, thanks

Kathy

[muichoi]

Best cut is cheek, second best shin. Use some port in the initial cooking-then clean the sauce very thoroughly-ie strain it then let it form a skin half off the heat-keep removing until there's no more-then add, if you have it, a glass of the very fine Burgundy you're going to drink with it. I'm afraid it makes a huge difference!

[Marlene]

I had forgotten about this!  I never did get to Bourdain's recipe, so I'm putting it on my list to make.  I'll probably make it on Sunday with the intent to serve it Monday or Tuesday.

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Ah the best laid plans. I finally got around to making Bourdain's recipe today. I had this big honkin brisket flat, that I cut in half. I've got one half marinating for a recipe from Molly's book, but what to do with the other half? I figured I was way over due for this one. I used less onions, and more wine and brisket rather than chuck, but other than that I followed the recipe.

My rather large flat:

I cut that sucker in half and trimmed off most of the fat cap. The fat cap I will keep and render tomorrow:

As Tony says, this is a ridiculously easy recipe. Gathered the onions, carrots and cubed the beef:

I finally got all the beef cubes nicely browned, then removed the beef and added the onions:

When the onions cooked down, I sprinkled flour over top, mixed that in and added the wine:

Once that came to a boil, I added the beef, carrots, garlic and bouquet garni, added enough water to just cover the mix and set it to simmer. Oh I had some demi glace so I put some of that in too.

I let this simmer for most of the afternoon. At the end, I got this:

This is amazing. Rich, flavourful, and oh so easy.

[Ling]

^I love the Bourdain recipe, but it tastes so much better the next day! I also simmer it for an extra half hour than the time the recipe specifies.

[Marlene]

^I love the Bourdain recipe, but it tastes so much better the next day! I also simmer it for an extra half hour than the time the recipe specifies.

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I simmered it for a lot longer than the recipe calls for as well. We did have some tonight but this will be dinner tomorow as well.

[Pille]

I wanted to make Boeuf Bourguignon as well, and finally found a link to Bourdain's recipe here. Absolutely delicious! As I write on my blog, then I simmered it in the oven for about 3 hours in total (2.5 hours on the first night, then kept it in the cold garage overnight and re-heated for half an hour in the oven before serving) and it was melt-in-your-mouth and lip-smackingly good indeed

The browned meat:

The finished dish just before serving:

On the plate, meat falling apart:

[jmcgrath]

I recently made this for a dinner at my sportsmen's club. I mostly used Julia's recipe scaled up to feed 80. 60 pounds of beef chuck tenders, a case of Ravenswood Zin, five pounds each of carrots and yellow onions, three pounds of sliced mushrooms, etc., etc.

I browned everything on hotel pans in our commercial ovens, deglazed with some of the Zin, and then moved everything into two large stock pots. I added the remaining Zin and then topped off with beef stock. I simmered everything for a few hours, moved the pots to our walk-in cooler and went home for the night. The pots went back on the range-top at three the next afternoon, for dinner at 6:30. Towards the end, I thickened with beurre manie. I served it with a mixed green salad, egg noodles, and warm rolls.

I didn't blanch the bacon, and couldn't find enough pearl onions to make it worthwhile using them. The most labor intensive part of the prep was peeling the silver skin from the chuck tenders.

Jim

[James Kessler]

Anyone ever try to make BB in a slow-cooker? Any good results? Care to share the recipe please? OR should I make sure to stay far away from my crockpot for this dish?

[dockhl]

James~

I'd probably just do what you see here but on low all day, and then taste/garnish before eating. Are you used to crock pot cooking?

[Anna N]

This is just a personal opinion so take it for what it is worth. I have made BB a la Julia in the traditional way and in the crock pot and there is no comparison. Something about that long, long time in the pot does something to the flavours and they are simply not right! It can be a crowd pleaser though for those who have not had an opportunity to try the real McCoy.

[Shalmanese]

After looking at a bunch of recipes, I'm deciding to go with a version that's even more involved than Keller's if you can believe it.

I'm using beef short ribs & I reduced the wine down into a syrup with the aromatics except at that point, I threw in only the browned beef bones into the braising liquid and topped it off with beef stock. This has been on the stove for 3 hours now. The next step is to strain out everything, brown the rib meat and then have the rib meat braise in the enriched stock at 70C overnight. From there, I'll rejoin Keller's recipe except to use glazed onions & carrots rather than just boiled. I'll report back in 2 days with how it all turns out.

[Doodad]

Anyone ever try to make BB in a slow-cooker? Any good results? Care to share the recipe please? OR should I make sure to stay far away from my crockpot for this dish?

I do it in my crock pot now everytime. I combine a little Keller with Bourdain's in that I cook the meat (no marinade) and vege until starting to get the meat tender and then strain and refresh all the vegetables and add mushrooms the only time. Makes a better, thicker sauce and tender but not mushy vegetables.

[ldubois2]

Made BB from Julia's recipe last Saturday. Read through the comments on this post first. Have the Keller recipe, the Bourdain and Julia's and followed hers adding the Beef Demi-glace as Bourdain recommended instead of the canned broth Julia's calls for. Wonderful...served the next day to a dinner party of 10. My pictures are not as artistic as Pille's. Made it in Le Creuset large dutch oven.

[qrn]

Made some using Kellers recipe...(along with bits from others),,,Put a tad of tomato paste in it ,,,that ruined it,,,Had lotsa leftovers , but threw em away,,,will try again....

Bdu

[chefzadi]

i make it with beef cheeks now.

[ChrisTaylor]

Tonight I'm making Larousse Gastronomique's version using chuck steak instead of the prescribed rump and a heavily reduced, freshly made beef stock. I'll let you know how it goes.

[milkman]

Reading through all these posts it is easy to see Boeuf a la Bourguignonne is no longer just a red wine stew of beef, onions, and mushrooms. Carrots (and even peppers!) now seem to be a necessity. I do not think those recipes should really be referred to as Boeuf a la Bourguignonne.

It is interesting to look back on the history of the dish - there is a good summary of the dish in French cookery books(in French) from Escoffier in 1902 onward http://www.apartes-uchroniques.org/index.php/post/2008/10/27/Un-boeuf-a-la-bourguignonne

I have noted carrots only seem to make an appearance in recipes around the time of the WWII so perhaps they were more a way of extending the meal (and continued in bistro versions to reduce the cost)? Or possibly the carrots (and tomato puree) were added as a shortcut to producing a stock with characteristics similar to sauce espagnole of Escoffier? My collection of both French and English cookery books seems to show a similar transiton. Richard Olney (The French Menu Cookbook 1970) does include carrots whereas James Beard (American Cookery 1972) does not.

Of the versions I have in more recent books, I think Simon Hopkinson (The Prawn Cocktail Years) comes nearest to the spirit of the original in ensuring a rich, well-flavoured stock and the addition of a pig trotter. The version at http://forkncork.com/boeuf-a-la-bourguignonne/ is very similar to the Hopkinson version although he includes carrots and redcurrant jelly (and eight cloves of garlic) in the red wine reduction.