The French mother of all stews — beef braised in burgundy wine with mushrooms, bacon and pearl onions.
Popularized in the English-speaking world by Julia Child, bœuf bourguignon is a Burgundian peasant dish elevated to haute cuisine. The three-hour braise transforms tough beef into silky, wine-infused perfection. It is one of the few dishes that is genuinely better the day after cooking.
Serves 6
Combine beef with wine, carrots, garlic, thyme, bay leaves. Refrigerate overnight. This deepens the flavour and tenderizes slightly.
Remove beef from marinade. Pat completely dry — wet beef steams instead of sears. Reserve the marinade.
Render lardons in a Dutch oven until crispy. Remove. In the same fat, sear beef in batches over very high heat until deeply browned on all sides. Remove.
In the same pot, add cognac and flambé or reduce for 1 minute. Add tomato paste. Add strained marinade (or fresh wine if not marinating) and stock. Return beef and lardons. Bring to a simmer.
Cover and cook at 150°C / 300°F for 2.5–3 hours until beef is completely tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened. Alternatively, cook on the stovetop at the barest simmer.
30 minutes before serving: sauté pearl onions in butter until golden and glazed. Sauté mushrooms in butter over high heat until browned. Add both to the stew for the last 15 minutes.
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Make it the day before — bourguignon is one of those rare dishes that genuinely improves overnight.
Use a wine you'd drink — the wine's quality directly impacts the sauce.
The flour dusting before searing helps thicken the sauce — skip if you want a clearer broth.
Coq au vin: substitute beef with chicken, halve the cooking time.
Vegetarian version: substitute beef with large mushrooms, celeriac and root vegetables.
Refrigerate up to 4 days. Freeze up to 3 months. Always better next day.
Bœuf bourguignon is from Burgundy (Bourgogne), France, a region famous for both Pinot Noir and Charolais beef. The dish was codified in French culinary tradition by Auguste Escoffier and popularized globally by Julia Child's 1961 Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Yes — significantly. A good $15–20 Burgundy will produce a far superior sauce to cheap cooking wine. Never use wine you wouldn't drink. Cheap wine means sour, harsh sauce.
Yes — sear the beef and lardons first as directed, then transfer everything except the mushroom and onion garnish to a slow cooker on low for 7–8 hours. Add the sautéed garnish in the last 30 minutes.
Chuck or shin are ideal — they're well-marbled with connective tissue that breaks down into gelatin over the long braise, making the sauce silky. Leaner cuts like sirloin turn dry and stringy.
Per serving (400g / 14.1 oz) · 6 servings total
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