Beef Bourguignon

Method

1. Render the bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat until crispy. Remove bacon, leave the fat.

2. Sear the beef in the bacon fat in batches. Season with salt and pepper. Sear 3 minutes per side until deeply browned. Remove to a plate.

3. Build the base. Add onion, carrots, and celery to the pot. Cook for 6–8 minutes until softened. Add garlic and tomato paste. Cook 2 minutes until the paste darkens.

4. Deglaze with wine. Pour in the entire bottle. Scrape up all the fond. Bring to a simmer and reduce by a third — about 10 minutes.

5. Braise. Return the beef and bacon. Add broth, bay leaves, and thyme. The liquid should barely cover the meat. Cover and cook at 325°F for 2.5–3 hours until the beef is fork-tender.

6. Prepare the garnish. In a skillet, sauté pearl onions in butter for 8 minutes until golden. Add mushrooms and cook 5 more minutes until browned.

7. Finish the sauce. Remove the beef. Strain the sauce. Make a beurre manié: mash 2 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons flour. Whisk into the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes until thickened. Return the beef, pearl onions, and mushrooms.

8. Serve over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or with crusty bread. Garnish with parsley.

Equipment

• Dutch oven with lid Recommended: Lodge 6-Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven · Also good: Lodge 6-Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• Large skillet (for mushrooms and pearl onions) Recommended: Joyce Chen 14-Inch Carbon Steel Wok
• Tongs Also good: Wok Spatula

Chef Notes

• The most important thing: Use an entire bottle of good red wine. This is not the place to skimp. The wine reduces over 3 hours into a concentrated, complex sauce. Cheap wine makes a thin, acidic braise. Use a wine you'd drink — Burgundy, Pinot Noir, or Côtes du Rhône.
• Sear the beef in small batches until deeply browned. This is the most important step. The fond from searing is the flavor foundation. Crowding the pot steams the meat instead of browning it.
• The bacon renders first and provides the fat for searing the beef. The smoky pork fat infuses the entire dish.
• Pearl onions and mushrooms are cooked separately and added at the end. This preserves their texture — if braised for 3 hours, they'd dissolve into mush.
• This is Julia Child's signature dish — the recipe that taught America to cook French food. It's worth every minute of the 3-hour cook time.

Common Substitutions

Ingredient	Substitution	Notes
Beef chuck	Beef short ribs (bone-in)	Richer, more collagen
Burgundy wine	Any dry red (Pinot Noir, Côtes du Rhône)	Avoid sweet wines
Pearl onions	Shallots, halved	Easier to prep
Bacon	Pancetta	Less smoky
Beurre manié	Cornstarch slurry	Lighter thickening

What You're Practicing

Beef bourguignon teaches you the complete French braise — the most important technique in classical cooking. Render fat, sear protein, build aromatics, deglaze with wine, braise low and slow, finish the sauce. Every step builds on the last. Visit Techniques for more on braising.

You're also learning beurre manié — kneading butter and flour into a paste to thicken sauces at the end of cooking. This is a French thickening technique that's faster than a roux and works on any liquid. Explore more at Pan and Daughter Sauces.