Boeuf (beef) bourguignon
Bœuf bourguignon is a traditional recipe of French cuisine (bourguignon means from Burgundy). It's chunks of meat cooked slowly with bacon, onions, carrots and mushrooms in red wine.
Last modified on: February 21th 2011
Keywords for this recipe:
800 g beef
250 g smoked pork belly (or thick cut streaky bacon)
1 
3 tablespoons 
1 tablespoon 
750 ml red wine
1 
3 
1 kg 
250 g 
1 tablespoon 
How long does it take?
Time required for this recipe:
| Preparation | Cooking | Start to finish |
|---|---|---|
| 1 hour 5 min. | 3 hours 15 min. | 4 hours 20 min. |
At what time:
- When will I finish if I start the recipe at ... ?
When should I start for the recipe to be ready at ... ? - Work this out...
Step by step recipe
Stage 1 - 15 min.
Cut 800 g beef in pieces, remove and dispose everything that is not good meat (skin, strong parts), it's the main secret of boeuf bourgignon: a perfect meat at the beginning.
Stage 2 - 5 min.
Cut 250 g smoked pork belly (or thick cut streaky bacon) in small pieces.
Stage 4 - 2 min.
In a big pan on medium fire, pour 3 tablespoons oil, when hot add grinded onion and bacon, mix well, pepper and some salt.
Stage 5 - 4 min.
Make cook for about 3 or 4 minutes, then remove pan from fire and with a skimmer put mixture in a plate, leave only some fat in the pan.
Stage 6 - 1 min.
Put back pan on lively fire, add meat pieces...
Stage 7 - 8 min.
...and make brown on each sides.
Stage 8 - 1 min.
Stage 9 - 2 min.
Add onion mix, stir again.
Stage 10 - 1 min.
Add 750 ml red wine.
Stage 11 - 30 min.
Stir well, scratch bottom pan to deglaze, then add 1 Bouquet garni, salt and pepper.
Reduce fire to slow, and let cook for 30 minutes.
If you get foam on top during this time, skim it and dispose.
Reduce fire to slow, and let cook for 30 minutes.
If you get foam on top during this time, skim it and dispose.
Stage 12 - 5 min.
During this time, peel, wash and cut 3 carrots in pieces.
Stage 13 - 2 hours
Add them in the pan, and let cook uncovered for at least 2 hours.
Stage 14 - 25 min.
During this time, peel, wash and make cook 1 kg potatoes in water.
Stage 15 - 10 min.
During this time, peel and slice 250 g mushrooms.
Stage 16 - 1 min.
Add mushrooms in the pan about 30 minutes before serving.
Stage 17 - 5 min.
You can brown potatoes in a frying pan with 1 tbs of oil, not absolutely needed, but in my opinion much better.
Stage 18 - 5 min.
Preparing sauce:
Put everything solid from pan in a strainer on another pan.
Dispose bouquet garni.
Your goal is to have have only liquid part in the pan, and all solid part in another.
Put everything solid from pan in a strainer on another pan.
Dispose bouquet garni.
Your goal is to have have only liquid part in the pan, and all solid part in another.
Stage 19 - 5 min.
Put back pan with liquid on medium fire, when boiling add 1 tablespoon cornflour mixed with some cold water.
Whip strongly to thicken sauce, then taste to check seasoning.
Whip strongly to thicken sauce, then taste to check seasoning.
Stage 20 - 10 min.
Put back meat and vegetables in the smooth and tasty sauce, slow fire, and let stay until service time.
Stage 21
Heat plates and serve with potatoes.
Remarks
Bœuf Bourguignon is one of those dishes that get better each time they are reheated, so don't hesitate to make a lot in one go and then reheat it several times.
For the wine, it should be ideally a red Burgundy made from pinot noir grapes, but if you can't get one from this area at a reasonable price, try to get another pinot noir if possible.
If you have a good butcher, ask his advice about suitable cuts of beef for bourguignon, otherwise remember you don't need an expensive cut like steak, but preferably a cheaper cut suited to long slow cooking (such as stewing steak).
Years ago it was usual to thicken the sauce with a "roux" (mix of cooked butter and flour), it's efficient but unfortunately it dulls the flavour of the sauce. Bernard Loiseau the famous French chef, in his day, suggested replacing the roux with a little carrot purée, but cornflour also works well.
For the wine, it should be ideally a red Burgundy made from pinot noir grapes, but if you can't get one from this area at a reasonable price, try to get another pinot noir if possible.
If you have a good butcher, ask his advice about suitable cuts of beef for bourguignon, otherwise remember you don't need an expensive cut like steak, but preferably a cheaper cut suited to long slow cooking (such as stewing steak).
Years ago it was usual to thicken the sauce with a "roux" (mix of cooked butter and flour), it's efficient but unfortunately it dulls the flavour of the sauce. Bernard Loiseau the famous French chef, in his day, suggested replacing the roux with a little carrot purée, but cornflour also works well.
And to drink?
The same wine you use in the recipe, ideally a bourgogne pinot noir.
Keeping
Several days in the fridge, in a closed jar.
Nutritional information
| Whole recipe | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Energetic value | Proteins | Carbohydrates | Fats |
| 5,058 Kcal or 21,177 Kj | 213 gr | 287 gr | 269 gr |
| 253 % | 82 % | 27 % | 41 % |
| Per 100 g | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Energetic value | Proteins | Carbohydrates | Fats |
| 132 Kcal or 553 Kj | 6 gr | 7 gr | 7 gr |
| 7 % | 2 % | 1 % | 1 % |
| Per person | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Energetic value | Proteins | Carbohydrates | Fats |
| 843 Kcal or 3,529 Kj | 35 gr | 48 gr | 45 gr |
| 42 % | 14 % | 5 % | 7 % |
How much will it cost?
- For 6 people : 16.28 €
- Per person : 2.71 €
Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
Source
Home made, after Ginette Mathiot.
This recipe uses (among others)
 | Potatoes: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Super-green, super-thrifty soup, Mushroom velouté, Smooth mixed vegetable soup, Crème de foie gras, Comtoise tart for Seàn, ... All |
 | Beef : You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Upside-down Parmentier, Beef braised in reduced red wine, Carbonnade, How to slow cook meat, Home-made doner kebab, ... All |
 | Red wine: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Saucipain, Roscoff loaf, Oxtail Parmentier, Pears in red wine with blackcurrant , Upside-down Parmentier, ... All |
 | Smoked pork belly (or thick cut streaky bacon): You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Soup Cornouaillaise, Warm lentil salad, Express sauerkraut, ... All |
Other recipes you may also like
How to prepare cabbage
Cabbage can be used cooked or raw, whole leaves or in julienne. Here is how to prepare a cabbage julienne.1.1M 13.6 43 min. December 31th 2013
French baguettes
This classic of French baking is rather different from the recipe for leavened bread, it's a question of making a good crust and light crumb along the whole length. To succeed, you should know that there are two secrets: water first of all (much more than for normal bread), and the working of the...1.0M 334.6 5 hours 6 min. October 24th 2017
Potted meat (rillettes)
Potted meat (rillettes) is cooked long and slow in fat. Rillettes can be of pork or duck. Here is the pork version.400K 25 6 hours 46 min. October 3rd 2019
Italian Meringue
Italian meringue is made with sugar cooked to 120°C or 248°F. This is different from the French, which is made from caster sugar. The cooked sugar gives a softer meringue which can be added to other preparations or use as it is.454K4.3 30 min. June 2nd 2015
Pâté de campagne
Here is a personal version of the famous country pâté. It's an interesting recipe to prepare in large quantities because it keeps well and freezes easily. The secret of a good pâté is of course the ingredients, but also how it is cooked.2.0M 23.7 7 hours 54 min. October 3rd 2019
News list of cooking-ez.com
Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2023-04-02)
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Post your comment or question
Your 3 comments or questions on this recipe
- You can add a bit of chocolate in the sauce to thicken it and make it smoother...Posted by agnes january 15th 2011 at 22:37 (n° 3)
- Well, almost... ;-) I suppose that the part of femininity in me (like all mens on earth as I read), added to the great satisfaction of demystifying some famous French recipes, make me walking in Julia's foot print ?After the movie now, it's difficult to imagine her as somebody else than Meryl Streep...Posted by jh december 13th 2009 at 20:04 (n° 2)
- Are you sure you are not Julia Child is disguise? LOL:) I've been wanting to try my hand at this recipe ever since seeing the movie. Your guidance is all I needed. Thank you JH.I will be preparing this one day over the holiday season. I will let you know how I do!!!Thanks for sharing. Your site is really unfolding nicely...Posted by Louise december 13th 2009 at 19:46 (n° 1)
Follow this recipe (as 4 people already do)
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.