Boeuf Bourguignon

Ingredients

1kg gravy beef
1 Tbspoon  all-purpose flour
150g speck or bacon or smoked pork belly
30g butter
1 beautiful shallot diced
2 onions diced
4/5 fresh mushrooms diced or a tin of very small mushrooms
500ml red wine ( to keep the traditional flavours of Burgundy red, use a Pinot noir)
1 glass of vegetable stock fresh or prepared with dry one
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bouquet garni (link)
2 squares of dark chocolat.
1kg small potatoes or if not small as gourmet potatoes, cut them in half
Salt and Pepper

Beurre manie (link) pronunciation : burr man-YAY !!! J (kneaded butter)

1 desserspoon of soft butter
1 desserspoon of all-purpose flour



  1. Use a large casserole  pour in a bit of butter on medium heat.
  2. Fry the bacon until golden brown and crisp and set aside.
  3. In the same casserole combine the diced onions and shallot .
  4. Cover and cook until translucent – do not allow it to brown.
  5. Set aside.
  6. In the same casserole combine the meat and butter and brown it well,
  7. Do it in batches if your casserole is not that large. Do not crowd the pot or the meat will not brown properly and will start stewing and rendering the beef dry.
  8. Sprinkle the flour and mix it well.
  9. Add 2 small squares of dark chocolat.
  10. Add the wine, the stock, the bacon, the onions and shallot, the bouquet garni.
  11. Stir well.
  12. Add salt and pepper.
  13. Bring the casserole to a simmer and cover the pot.
  14. Let it cook for 1 hour.
  15. After this hour, take off the lid, set aside, then add the potatoes and the mushrooms.
  16. Let it cook for another 1 hour.
  17. When the meat is cooked and very tender add the beurre manie (kneaded butter)(link) which has been mixed with few spoons of the cooking sauce , stir well and then mix it with the meat sauce and keep on stirring until is homogenised.
  18. Let it cook 2 or 3 minutes more.
  19. Remove bouquet garni et serve very hot, displaying the potatoes around the meat in the plate.



 Options :

You can  marinade the beef 24hours before.
Place the beef in a large bowl, pour half a bottle of Pinot Noir over the beef.
Stir in the crushed garlic and add the bouquet garni. Place in the refrigerateur for 24hours.
The next day, strain the wine marinade from the meat. Set garlic and bouquet garni to one side for later use. Place the beef on a paper towel to absorb any excess red wine. ( you will use the marinade wine for the next step of the recipe)

You can add pearl onions or spring onions peeled and blanched  at stage

You can add 1 tbsp of tomato past instead of chocolat.

The more you re-heat, the better it becomes !  Bon appetit !

 
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