First of all, the beef bourguignon recipe is basically a French beef stew and it is a little more difficult to do with the American version of beef stew. Therefore, a person is going to need a lot of time and ingredients for the beef bourguignon recipe.
Ingredients for the beef bourguignon recipe:
- 2 pounds of beef chuck (needs to be cute into 1 inch cubes)
- 1 cup of a medium celery stalk (needs to be diced up)
- 1 cup of a medium carrot (needs to be diced up)
- 1 onion (needs to be diced)
- 6 garlic cloves (needs to be peeled and crushed up)
- 6 ounces of white button mushrooms (needs to be washed and diced up)
- 1 bottles of red wine (use a wine that you do not mind drinking)
- 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs of parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon of black peppercorns
- 6 tablespoons of canola oil
- 1 slice of smoked bacon (this is only used if you want to give your stew a smokey flavor)
- 1 cup of rum or brandy (use a rum or brandy that you do not mind drinking)
- 2 cups of chicken stock
- 6 tablespoons of flour (needs to be all purpose)
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Directions for the beef bourguignon recipe:
The first step in the beef bourguignon recipe is to combine the beef, the celery, the carrots, the onion, the garlic, the mushrooms, and the red wine together in a large bowl. Then you will wrap the thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and peppercorns up as a sachet in the center of a small piece of cheesecloth. Then you can put the corners of the cheesecloth together and tie those corners off with a kitchen twine. Then just add the mixture into the beef and vegetables. The mixture of herbs, beef, and vegetables should marinate together overnight in your refrigerator.
The second step in the beef bourguignon recipe is in the morning when you get up strain the beef and vegetables that have been marinating overnight in your refrigerator. Make sure to save all of the wine that is left over. Then you will put all of the beef and vegetables onto a baking sheet. As you are doing this, the beef and the vegetables should be separated from each other. This allows them to cook a little more evenly. Then you will season the beef very well with the salt and pepper.
The third step in the beef bourguignon recipe is to put the wine that you had left over into a saucepan. Then you will bring that sauce up to a boil. Make sure to remove all of the foam off of the top when it starts to boil. This is because you do not want to taste that foam in your stew while you are eating it. Then the wine starts to boil remove it immediately off of the heat. This is so that it does not burn.
The fourth step in the beef bourguignon recipe is to heat up the canola oil into a very heavy stock pot. You are probably going to have to do this by the batches so that you do not overcrowd the pot. The beef will not cook properly if the pot gets too crowded. Just put the beef into the stock pout and cook it very slowly over a medium high heat until all of the beef is a nice brown on all of the sides of the beef. Watch the beef carefully so that it does not overcook.
The fifth step in the beef bourguignon recipe is to take the beef out of the pan. Then remove all but just 1 tablespoon of canola oil in the pan. Add some bacon into the pan and make it really crispy. While the bacon is getting crispy, add the celery, the carrot, the onion, the garlic, and the mushroom into the pan. Cook the vegetables until they have a light caramelization on them. This will probably take about 5 to 7 minutes to do this.
The sixth step in the beef bourguignon recipe is to take the vegetables and bacon out of the pan and deglaze all of the bits and pieces that are left from the vegetables and bacon with the rum or brandy. Then you will add the beef, red wine, and chicken stock into the pan with the rum or brandy. All of these ingredients to a boil. Once they are boiling, reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer for about 1 and a half hours or until the beef is tender. Then you will stir in the flour with about 1/4 a cup of water. Slowly whisk the flour into the stew. Then you will cook the stew for another half a hour until the broth is thick and the beef is very tender.
NOTE:
If you would like to add some extra flavor to your beef bourguignon recipe, serve it over some cooked carrots.
Ingredients for carrots:
- 4 medium carrots
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 1/4 cup of parsley (needs to be chopped up)
- fine sea salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions for carrots:
The first step in preparing the carrots is to peel them and slice them very thin. Then place the sliced carrots in a saute pan and add water to barely cover up the carrots. Then you add the butter to the pan. Make sure to lightly season up the carrots with some of the salt and pepper. Then let the carrots simmer until they are tender. This will take about 6 to 8 minutes to do. Then you will garnish the carrots with a little bit of the chopped parsley. Then you will pour the stew on the top of the beef bourguignon.