Difficulty: Moderate

Prep time: 5-10 minutes

Active cooking time: ~90 minutes

Intro to Beef Burgundy

Beef Burgundy, or Boeuf Bourguignon, is one of the most recognizable classic French dishes. It’s essentially just a beef and red wine braise that was popularized in America by cookbook author and TV show host Julia Child. Julia’s original recipe for Beef Burgundy took 6 hours and this was already a paired-down version compared to how the old-school French kitchens made it.

Fast forward decades later and there are many adaptations of this dish. The good news is that most recipes have reduced the time to about 2.5 to 3 hours total, some even 2 hours. The bad news is that that’s still a really long time to make one dish. But if you follow this recipe or are familiar with braises, there are ways to make this dish in 90 minutes.

First, what is a braise? A braise is a technique of cooking meat and/or vegetables that involves first using high, dry heat and then using low heat in a liquid for a long period of time. The basic formula is:

• Sear or sauté: Establish flavor by cooking the meat or vegetables on high heat with oil in a pan to brown the outside but not fully cook the inside. This step also creates fond on the bottom of the cooking dish, which is the brown bits you see after you sear something like steak in a pan

• Deglaze: Deglazing involves adding liquid to a cooking vessel in which you’ve already seared something and using the liquid as a way to loosen all the brown bits stuck on the bottom of the cooking dish. Once you add the liquid, you need to scrape the bottom of the dish to release all those bits into the liquid because they are packed with flavor. A deglazing liquid is usually wine or some form of stock

• Stew: Aftering deglazing, add back all the meat or vegetables to the liquid and then finish cooking either at a low simmer or in the oven for anywhere from ~30 minutes to 2 hours for everything to finish cooking and all the flavors to meld

So how is this a “fast” beef burgundy? I’ll preface this by saying that cooking cannot be rushed. Julia Child’s 6-hour version is probably going to be better than a version made with this recipe. But most 3 hour versions you’ll find in other recipes will likely only be marginally better if not equal. There are two aspects that speed up this dish: First, many beef burgundy recipes will call for steps that are not totally necessary and if you skip or modify them, it will not affect the taste or quality of the end dish. Second, we are breaking the rules and prepping as we go. Yes, this is typically a big no-no and for most people getting comfortable in the kitchen I would not recommend doing this. But if you have made beef burgundy or braises before and are confident in the kitchen, there are a lot of places in this recipe that have the perfect amount of downtime to prep for an upcoming step, and when you’re already cooking for over an hour why make it longer than it needs to be?

If you are newer to cooking or prefer your mise-en-place as you should, I’ll lay out an option to prep everything beforehand and it’ll only add about 15 minutes to the total time.

Ingredients: (~4 servings)

• 2 pounds boneless chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces (a beef stew mix well work as well as long as there are no bones)

• 2 strips uncooked bacon

• 1 large white onion

• 1 pound carrots

• 1/5 pound button mushrooms

• 1 cup pearl onions (bottled or frozen only, cocktail onions can substitute, can adjust amount to taste)

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 2 cups dry red wine

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 3 tablespoons flour

• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

• Several sprigs fresh thyme

• 2 bay leaves (fresh or dried)

• (Optional) 5 whole black peppercorns

• (For serving) Recommended to serve with crusty bread, over polenta, mashed potatoes, or long pasta

Preparation:

*Prepping as you go in this dish cuts down the overall time in the kitchen, if you would like to prep everything in the beginning, ignore the cues to prep throughout the recipe

Step 1:

• If prepping throughout [recommended]: Cut the bacon into small pieces. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

• If prepping all at once [for beginner cooks or first-time braisers]: Cut the bacon into small pieces. If beef is not already cubed, cut into 1-inch cubes, pat dry, and season with salt and pepper. Medium dice onion. Peel and chop carrots into large 3-inch chunks. Cut mushrooms into quarters. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Step 2: In a large dutch oven or oven-safe vessel with a lid, add a teaspoon of oil (any kid is fine) and add the bacon while the pan is still cold. Start the heat on low and sauté the bacon, working your way up to medium as needed until the bacon is golden and crispy. While the bacon is cooking, prep your beef by cutting into 1-inch chunks, patting dry, and seasoning with salt and pepper. Once bacon is cooked, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside

Step 3: Use the bacon fat to sear the beef. Turn the heat to medium-high and sear beef chunks for 3-5 minutes on each side until a good crust has developed. Make sure each piece has full contact with the bottom of the pan. You may need to work in batches depending on the size of your pan. While beef is cooking, dice the onion into medium pieces and peel and chop carrots into 3-inch chunks. Once beef is seared, remove it from the pan and set aside

Step 4: Add onions and carrots to pan and sauté on medium heat until onions are soft but not browned, add salt to taste during this process. While vegetables are cooking, prep mushrooms by cutting them into quarters. Once onions and carrots are sautéed, remove from pan and set aside

Step 5: Add tomato paste to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until paste has slightly darkened in color. Add red wine and scrape the bottom of the pan vigorously to loosen fond at the bottom

Step 6: Add herbs to wine including thyme, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Bring up to a simmer

Step 7: Add back bacon, beef, onion, and carrots to pan. Add uncooked mushrooms and stir. Add pearl onions and bring everything up to a boil

Step 8: Cover and bake in the oven at 375. After 20 minutes, remove lid, stir and return to oven uncovered for an additional 20 minutes

Step 9: Once out of the oven, return to stove and remove all solids from the liquid and set aside. No need to strain but you may if you’d like. With only the cooking liquid remaining in the pan, turn heat to medium. In a separate bowl, mash together butter and flour to form a paste. Add a few spoonfuls of the cooking liquid to the butter and flour mixture and whisk to combine. Add the mixture into the cooking liquid and mix everything to combine. Simmer sauce for a few minutes until slightly thickened

Step 10: Serve vegetables and meat with thickened sauce over bread or over polenta, mashed potatoes, or pasta. Will keep for several days in the fridge or longer in the freezer.