French Beef Burgundy Stew: An Ode to Julia Child
Julia Child was a pioneer in making French food accessible to Americans. I fondly remember watching her show on PBS as a kid. To be honest, I was too young to appreciate her talents at that age. But now, I am so thankful that she stuck to her guns and kept forging ahead with her cooking. Watching “Julie and Julia” made me really curious about this special dish called “beef bourguignon” or French beef burgundy stew. I wondered what the big fuss was all about. There are so many different steps to preparing the ingredients and the long slow cooking process in a fancy Dutch oven that costs almost as much as my part of the rent. I assure you, you do not need to buy a $500 pot to make this delicious dish. But forge ahead and make French beef burgundy stew for your next potluck or family dinner. Trust me, your efforts will be so worth it. You will impress the living daylights out of people and they will “ooh” and “ahh” at your cooking skills. This stew is so rich, complex, and full of umami. I should have known never to doubt the almighty Julia Child.
Building Flavor in Your Stew
My version of French beef burgundy stew does not use a name brand dutch oven, but we average home cooks can use other techniques to develop flavor in the broth.
The key to creating depth of flavor lies in all the browning, sauteing, deglazing, and slow cooking processes.
What is deglazing, you ask? Why, it’s a fancy shmancy term that means to pour cold liquid into your hot pan to lift up the bits and pieces left onto it. Those bits and pieces then dissolve and become flavoring in whatever stew or sauce you’re cooking.
Also, it is important to season your beef burgundy stew through each step to really get those flavors penetrated into the dish. So if you take the time with those steps, you should be good to go, fancy equipment or not. 🙂
French Beef Burgundy for the Holidays
With the busy holidays coming up, I’m not sure how many posts I’ll be able to make. So I will make this one of my holiday posts. Beef burgundy stew is supposed to be a dish for special guests and special occasions. All the time and effort that go into the stew can be tasted with every morsel. I remember making this for my husband’s office last year. They are a small company with close ties, and there was news of the sudden passing of one of his coworkers. Everyone was blind sighted by this. It was a difficult time for everyone. It also happened to be my husband’s birthday a few days later. In hopes of cheering folks up or at least providing some comfort, I made this stew for his office-mates. After all, what is more comforting than stew? I like to think that it brought some warmth and comfort to the office.
I hope that this recipe is helpful to you when you are looking for that special dish that will uplift spirits and warm the soul. Happy Holidays everyone! And happy cooking! If you are interested in other delicious holiday recipes, please check out these other yummy dishes:
creamy potato leek casserole
caramelized butternut squash with thyme
glazed brussels sprouts with bacon
Using a Slow Cooker
When working with a slow-cooker, always be careful in the timing of your cooking and be sure to place ingredients in at different times or in layers. If you put certain veggies in at the beginning of a stew, the veggies may disintegrate by the end of cooking.
It is easy to overcook dishes when using a slow-cooker, which will result in dry meat paste. So be sure to check your meat periodically for texture and remove from the slow-cooker when it has reached desired tenderness.
Make sure you saute your mushrooms separately and then add them into your stew only at the very end of cooking. Otherwise, your mushrooms will disintegrate into the stew.
How to Serve French Beef Burgundy
I’ve made this stew and served it with cheesy polenta/grits, which works equally as well as mashed potatoes. It’s a matter of personal preference. You can also just eat it with a nice loaf of crusty fresh bread.
Choosing a Red Wine to Cook With
Choose a red wine that you enjoy drinking rather than relying on recommendations on “cooking wines.” I personally do not drink alcohol very often, so I usually just find a relatively cheap bottle of Pinot Noir in the $10 range.
French Beef Bourgandy Stew or "Beef Bourguignon"
Ingredients
Beef Bourguignon
- 5 lb tri-tip/beef stew meat
- 1 tbsp Lawry's seasoned salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 5 carrots chopped into 2 inch pieces
- 1 cup onions roughly diced
- 1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 quarts low sodium beef stock
- 2 tbsp Lawry's seasoned salt or to taste
- 4 stalks fresh thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup cremini mushrooms sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp wheat flour
Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
- 2 lbs potatoes cut and peeled
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese grated
- 1 tbsp garlic salt or sea salt or to taste
Instructions
Beef Bourguignon
- Cut beef into 2-inch cubes and season with seasoned salt and pepper. Allow the meat to sit for 10 minutes.
- In a heated oiled skillet, brown the beef. Add red wine and tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes. Season with more salt and pepper.
- Place beef mixture into crockpot/slow cooker and add in beef broth, fresh springs of thyme, and bay leaves. Slow cook on high setting for 2 hours.
- After 2hrs of slow cooking, add in carrots and onions. Allow to cook for 2 more hours or until beef is tender.
- After a total of 4.5-5 hours of cooking, beef should be tender. Taste broth and beef for seasoning. Add seasoned salt to taste.
- Meanwhile, heat a skillet on medium high heat and add in butter and olive oil. Add in mushrooms and allow to brown, with minimal turning. When mushrooms are beginning to brown, add in minced garlic and 1 spring of fresh thyme. Sauté for 1 more minute and season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Add in sautéed mushrooms to beef bourguignon.
- Heat a skillet on medium and place in butter. Allow butter to metl. Add in flour and mix thoroughly with butter to make a roux. Cook the roux on medium low heat for 1-2 minutes to cook out the raw flour flavor. Then add this to your stew to allow it to thicken ~5 minutes.
- When stew is thickened, serve with mashed potatoes (recipe below)
Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
- Boil 2 quarts of water. Place cut and peeled potatoes into boiling water. Boil until potatoes can be easily pierced by a fork ~20 minutes.
- Heat heavy cream, milk, and butter in a sauce pan. Add in salt and mix well.
- Drain potatoes and mash with a potato masher. When potatoes are mashed, add in cream mixture. Mix well into potatoes.
- To create a smoother creamier texture, use handheld immersion blender to whip potatoes. Do not over-whip as potatoes will become gummy. Add in Parmigianino cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.
