In my humble little opinion, Boeuf (or Beef) Bourguignon is about as quintessentially home style French cuisine as you can get. Others will, I dare say, take a higher road and suggest otherwise and who knows perhaps they were thinking about MacDo. In any event, I came across this wonderful recipe as I was trolling through the various food bazaars that seem to line both sides of the Internet superhighway and after carefully examining their selections I found what I was looking for and so by way of attribution, let me give a nod of appreciation to Oliver Richard France for this most tasty little dish though slightly adapted by yours truly. In a manner of speaking, I must be regressing because BB was one of the first dishes I attempted to make as a struggling something chef and this particular rendition (poor choice of words) of BB turned out quite nicely, or in other words no bodies had to be disposed off in the dark of night. News flash: Our friendly duo, wine and cognac really helps to give this dish some real character as those little devils always do. I would also recommend that you also try and include some of the wine and cognac into the actual recipe while you still can and before you get ahead of yourself. It helps, you’ll thank me.
Ingredients
2.5 -3 lbs beef tips (or your preferred cut of beef)
20 small white onions
1/2 cup Champignion de Paris (or your favorite alternative)
5 – 6 oz of smoked bacon
1 bottle of red wine (try and use the same kind with your meal)
2 tablespoons of cognac
3 tablespoons of butter
2 large cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of oil
1 bouquet garni
salt and pepper
Directions
Cut beef into chunks and dice the bacon.
Peel the onions, wash the mushrooms and then cut into small pieces.
Heat the oil and butter in the pan then add mushrooms and whole onions just long enough to sweat. them then set aside. You want them to still have some consistency and a sense of themselves as well.
In the same pan add your cubed beef and bring them to a golden brown on either side.
Add the bouquet garni, sprinkle the flour and brown the beef a little more as you add your vin rouge, salt and pepper to taste. Technical note: Our charming colleague suggests that you add the wine warm. If you wish to be technically correct then by all means do so, otherwise well you know what I’m doing.
Bring to boil then reduce by a third. Cover your pan, reduce the heat to low and let the magic work for 2 hours, because you can’t hurry magic that’s why.
Add the cognac then fold-in your bacon bits, the onions and mushrooms.
Cover and continue cooking for 30 minutes.
Serve with baby red potatoes and a healthy appetite.
Les Vins de Selection
A Beaujolais- Village or a Chinon from the Loire Valley would work beautifully with this dish as would I think, a Minervois. The first two are classic wines if having this dish in a bistro and the other wine is classic south, southwest France, it’s a rugged wine for a great dish.