The Many Ways to Bourguignon
A month ago I found myself staring at the defrosting hindquarters of a deer wondering how on earth I was going to prepare it.
I was staying with friends at their rural Massachusetts farm. It is the sort of home where eggs fresh from their hens magically appear for breakfast, where the husband spends entire Saturday afternoons chopping logs to feed the wood stove, and where defrosting a large hunk of wild game meat for dinner is a regular occurrence.
They had invited me to put my cooking skills to work on some venison, shot by my friend’s brother the season before and stored in their spare freezer. But for the moment, I was at a loss. I scoured the web with searches for "venison rump," "venison roast," "how to cook Bambi" (well, maybe not the last one) and had found little outside of dire warnings of dried out meat.
It was pretty clear that roasting the thing whole was not the ideal cooking method. If I was going to cook this deer well, I would have to make sure I gave it enough moisture, seasoning, and fat to stand up to its natural pungency. To accomplish this, I would need to break it down to bite-sized pieces. The meat would need to be simmered long in a wine and herb bath until the meat was so tender it could be broken with a fork, and so infused with rich flavors so no one would miss the fat. I would need to make, I thought, deer bourguignon.
Luckily bourguignon is the sort of one pot meal that can be made with ingredients already lying around most people’s kitchens, even those in rural environs. No trip to a grocery store was necessary for the onions, carrots, and celery I needed for aromatics. Some herbs right out of the pantry took the part of seasoning. Flour and a couple of Idaho potatoes would serve as thickening agents. Finally, a good but not overly expensive bottle of wine was sacrificed for the pot. As far as our dinner party was concerned, we did right by the deer.
A few weeks later I found myself staring at another hunk of meat. This time beef chuck, a byproduct from another recipe. Again, bourguignon was calling my name. I had all the same ingredients as with the venison. Even though I didn’t have as much meat, I realized I could make the dish with any amount of good quality braising meat, all I needed to do was adjust the quantities of the other ingredients accordingly. This time fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme took the place of the dried seasoning. An open bottle of good wine I didn’t feel like finishing was reduced down by half to concentrate the flavors. I didn’t even have beef broth on hand, but with the concentrated wine and a hearty helping of aromatics, water worked just fine top up the braising liquid.
The beef, just like the venison, was perfect in its imperfection. The vegetables might not have been chopped precisely. The sauce rich and lightly thickened might have been too thin for some. But a ladle of tender meat, root vegetables, and mushrooms spooned over a scoop of rice on a cold, dreary day was exactly what I was looking for. As Julia Child once wrote, "…there is more than one way to arrive at a good boeuf bourguignon." As I’ve found in the last few months that is most certainly true, even when the boeuf is something else entirely.
Made with fresh thyme, beef, salt and black pepper, vegetable oil, onion, garlic, red wine, flour, beef or chicken broth, fresh rosemary
Serves/Makes: 4
- 1 pound lean beef or venison, like chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
- salt and black pepper
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 cups red wine
- 1 1/2 tablespoon flour (cornstarch is a good alternative for gluten free)
- 3 cups beef or chicken broth, or water, more if needed
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 stalks celery
- 8 new potatoes
- 4 ounces cremini mushrooms
Season meat on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium high heat. Working in batches so as not to overcrowd the meat, Sear meat on all sides until brown. Transfer seared meat to a platter to rest.
Meanwhile slice onion into half circles 1/4-inch thick. Crush garlic cloves. Bring wine to a boil in a small saucepan and simmer until it is reduced by half.
When meat has all been seared, drain off all but 2 T. of the oil left in the pan and reduce heat to medium. Add onion. Saute for about 15 minutes until onion has softened completely. Add garlic and saute another two minutes. Return meat to the pan along with flour. Stir to coat for about 60 seconds to cook the flour taste out. Add the hot reduced wine to the meat. Bring to a simmer. Add broth or water just to cover and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, peel carrots. Cut only one carrot into three large pieces. Trim celery and cut each stalk into three large pieces. Add cut carrot, celery, leaves from the rosemary and thyme sprig to the pot along with some salt and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to medium low. Cover with a lid. Let simmer for an hour and a half.
While mixture is cooking, cut remaining carrot into bite-sized pieces no more than a half inch thick. Cut potatoes and mushrooms into halves or quarters, also bite-sized. After an hour and a half meat should be tender but not falling apart. Use tongs to remove the large celery and carrot pieces along with the thyme sprig and discard. Add potatoes and return pot to a boil. Reduce to a steady simmer. Cook potatoes for ten minutes. Add carrots and mushrooms and cook for another 10 minutes until both are tender.
Taste broth and adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper if necessary. Serve hot ladled over rice or egg noodles, or served simply with crusty bread.
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