Chef Daddy Cooks Food Your Kids Will Eat: Beef Bourguignon

On cool winter nights, it just seems right to make some stick-to-your-ribs comfort food classics. One of my family's favorites is beef bourguignon.

This timeless dish of beef braised with red wine and vegetables is easy to make and I have yet to find anyone who doesn't love it. It's one of my dinner party staples, since you can throw it all together in the early afternoon and just let it go on the stove so you can socialize instead of slave away in the kitchen.

One of the other great things about beef bourguignon is that you can make it from an inexpensive cut of meat like chuck, which the long braising time renders tender and delicious. I like to buy locally raised grass-fed beef from Marin County producers, like Stemple Creek Ranch and Marin Sun Farms, when I can, and this is a great way to prepare a quality ingredient without breaking the bank.

I've been tinkering with a recipe for years, and I've modified and adapted various versions until I've found one that my family likes best. Some versions call for sautéeing pearl onions and mushrooms separately and adding them at the end, but I'm really from the "throw it all in the pot" school of cooking so that's what I do. I usually don't even bother with the mushrooms, since my kids claim to be fungiphobic, so it's not the end of the world if you leave them out.

We usually end up with enough leftovers for another meal, which is great since beef bourguignon actually tastes better when it's sat for a day or two. Anyhow, put together a pot of this and you'll learn why the late great Julia Child called it "certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man."

Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 2–3 hours

Ingredients

• 2–2 1/2 pounds grass-fed beef chuck or stew meat, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1/4 pound bacon or pancetta, diced
• 1/2 pound pearl onions, peeled and left whole
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks (we like lots of carrots)
• 1 large celery stalk, cut in half
• 2–3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2–3 sprigs parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Half a bottle (about 2 cups) red wine, like pinot noir
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Heat a Dutch over or heavy pot and add bacon, rendering out some of the fat and cooking it until it's browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove bacon from pan and set aside; pour off most of the bacon fat from the pan.

Return pot to the heat and add 3 tablespoons butter. When it's melted and bubbly, add beef cubes in batches and brown on all sides. Don't crowd the pan! If you add too much meat at one time the temperature will lower and the meat won't brown properly. (In fact it will just sort of boil which is kind of gross.) After browning each batch, remove to a bowl and set aside. While you're doing this, you'll notice a lot of brown burned looking stuff sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is a good thing—the French call it fond, and it's going to give your dish a lot of flavor. (More on this in a bit.)

When the meat's done browning, add a little more butter, if needed, and toss in the carrots or onions. If you don't want to deal with the pearl onions, feel free to substitute a couple quartered or sliced yellow onions. If you can find spring onions at the farmers' market, then by all means use those (throw them in whole). Sauté the vegetables for a few minutes, then return beef and any accumulated juices to the pot. Stir to combine, then add flour and mix until it coats everything.

Now increase the heat a little, add the red wine, and bring to a boil. Remember the fond I mentioned? While the red wine is boiling away, scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen all that brown stuff into the sauce (this is called "deglazing"). As TV's Guy Fieri might say, it's the offramp straight into Flavortown.

You'll want to use a decent bottle of wine for this dish. As a rule, don't use anything you wouldn't consider drinking on its own. Of course don't use a really expensive bottle, either (save that for your dinner guests), but an inexpensive bottle of California pinot from Trader Joe's is perfectly acceptable.

Pour in the beef stock and tomato paste and mix thoroughly. Add freshly grond pepper to taste and stir in the garlic.

Now you take your celery stalks and herbs and make a bouquet garni. What's a bouquet garni? It's a little bundle of flavor that you tie together so it's easy to fish out of the stew when it's finished cooking. I usually give this job to one of the kids, since they think it's fun to put together. Take the parsley, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and a few celery leaves if you have them and sandwich them between the two pieces of celery stalk. Tie together with some kitchen string and nestle it into the pot with the meat and veggies.

Put on the lid, turn the heat down to low, and let it cook for 2 to 3 hours or until meat is fork tender and sauce is thickened.

Serve with buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes, as well as plenty of crusty French bread to mop up the sauce. Bon appetit!