Beef Burgundy is one of my favorite comfort foods for winter. It is a dish that takes time and various techniques to bring the flavor home, so make it some weekend that you want to nurse along a fancy beef stew that your diners will sop up every last delicious drop.
My recipe is a combination of a David Rosengarten’s Boeuf a la Bourguignon with Heart Shaped Croutons, posted on the Food Network’s website in 1997. I loved his now defunct show called Taste and, while his recipes from that show are no longer available, I was able save the ones that I thought I was most likely to use. The marinade is Rosengarten’s main contribution to my recipe, along with the addition of allspice berries and whole cloves.
My other two reliable recipe sources are anything from Cook’s Illustrated and the food blog, Simply Recipes. Cook’s Illustrated recipes aren’t available unless you are a subscriber, so I am not able to link to their version. I relied heavily on their recipe for the instructions and the method for cooking the garnishes. I love Simply Recipes photographs, so that you know what to look for as you go along.
- 3 cups of red of dry red wine, preferably a Pinot Noir
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/4 good brandy
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 10 peppercorns
- .5 ounces of dried porini mushrooms, rinsed
- 12 parsley stems
- 4 whole cloves
- 4 allspice berries
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 pounds of beef chuck, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 6 ounces of salt pork, cut into 1/4 by 1/4 by 1-inch pieces
- 4 tablespoons butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 1/3 cup unbleached flour
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- 7 ounces pearl onions
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 ounces of button mushrooms
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- In a large bowl combine all the marinade ingredients and the beef. Cover, and chill overnight. Remove the beef, reserving the marinade and vegetables. Pat the beef dry thoroughly and salt and pepper.
- Boil 3 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Add the salt pork and boil for 2 minutes. Drain well.
- Adjust oven rack to the lower-middle postion in the oven and heat to 300 degrees.
- Place the marinade ingredients except for the beef and the tomato paste in an eight quart Dutch oven.
- In a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, saute the salt pork until lightly browned and crisp. This should take about 12 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the dutch oven. Pour off all but two teaspoons of fat and reserve the rest. Increase heat to high and add beef in a single layer without crowding too much. Brown to a deep rich color, about 7 minutes and transfer to the Dutch oven. It may take you two or three batches. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the skillet and scrape up all the brown bits; pour into liquid into Dutch oven.
- Return skillet to high heat and add two more teaspoons of reserved pork fat. Add another layer of beef and brown as before. Use another 1/2 cup of water to transfer any delicious brown bits into the Dutch oven.
- In the emptied skillet over medium heat, add 4 tablespoons butter. When foaming subsides, whisk in flour until evenly moistened and pasty. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture has a toasty aroma and looks like light-colored peanut butter. This should take about 5 minutes. Gradually whisk in chicken stock and 1 cup of water. Turn heat up to medium-high and bring to simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened. Pour mixture into Dutch oven and salt and pepper to taste. Add water if beef is not covered except for small corners peaking above the liquid. Stir to combine and increase heat to high. Bring contents to a boil; cover and place in oven. Cook until the meat is tender for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
- With a slotted spoon, remove beef from the pot. Remove vegetables and place into a sieve. Press out liquid into Dutch oven and discard the vegetable herb mixture.
- Bring the liquid in the Dutch oven to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, until sauce is reduced to 3 cups and is thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, 15 to 25 minutes. Taste frequently near during the last half of this window of time to ensure that your sauce isn’t getting too salty. If it is, stop the reduction and go to the next step.
- While the sauce is reducing, bring pearl onions, butter, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup water to boil in medium skillet over high heat; cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, shaking pan occasionally, until onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, and simmer until all liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid released by mushrooms evaporates and vegetables are browned and glazed, about 5 minutes. Transfer vegetables to large plate and set aside. Add 1/4 cup water to skillet and stir with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. When pan bottom and sides are clean, add liquid to reducing sauce.
- When the sauce has reduced to three cups, reduce heat to medium-low and add the beef, mushrooms and onions and any juices accumulated. Cover and cook until just heated through, about 5 to 8 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve, with a dusting of chopped parsley.