Everyday Beef Bourguignon

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

Several years ago I hosted a dinner party themed around its main dish, such that the party eventually took on its own name among the attendees: “Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner.” As you can guess, the main ingredient of the main dish was in fact, beef.

But this was a dish I had waited to cook and a party I had waited to host until the weather warranted both. This is because it takes the heart of winter to for most of us to truly deserve a large, steaming pot of beef stewed in red wine with mushrooms, and onions. This was not just any beef stew, but the classic French recipe known as beef bourguignon, a dish so rich and satisfying it certainly earns its own dinner party.

Beef bourguignon is one of the most classic of French recipes. A step above a traditional beef stew, it benefits from the addition of aromatics, a garnish of onions and mushrooms, and of course, wine. Beef bourguignon begins with the beef which is traditionally some sort of beef stew meat such as chuck or blade that is then cut into medium sized cubes. The beef is then browned in rendered bacon fat then set aside.

Chopped onion and carrots are added to the pot and sautéed until softened. The beef then returns to the pot along with a robust red wine such as a Burgundy and some beef stock. Aromatics such as thyme and bay leaf are added, then the pot is set aside to slowly cook the meat and reduce the sauce.

When the cooking is nearly done, the sauce can be thickened slightly with a paste of flour and butter. Then just before serving, pearl onions and mushrooms are sautéed and the reserved bacon is chopped for a garnish. The whole dish of rich reduced wine and beef sauce with cubes of tender meat and caramelized vegetables is served over some starchy side like mashed potatoes or egg noodles for the perfect winter meal.

This all sounds wonderful of course, if you have half a Sunday to tend to that dish. Some days I want nothing more than to taste those familiar and comforting flavors but I need it done in a fraction of the time. I have discovered that it can be done. Although not quite the same, a good, well marbled steak with a wine reduction sauce and sautéed veggies is close enough to the real thing to at least temporarily satisfy my cold weather craving.

The key to making this Steak with Beef Bourguignon Sauce work is all in the quality of the ingredients. Start with the steak. Now is not the time to fool around with a less expensive cut. Go for the rib eye and make sure your butcher gets you one that is nice and marbled. A hot oven with a preheated cast iron skillet is probably the best way to ensure that the meat gets perfectly cooked with a nice medium rare center and a crusty brown outside.

The sauce is the key to the dish and the wine is the key to the sauce. A wine sauce is only as good as the wine that goes into it. Avoid those bottles with cute animals on the labels and pick out something preferably Old World (France, Italy, Spain) that will benefit from having its flavors concentrated in a reduction, and you in turn will benefit from getting to drink the other half of the bottle that does not go into the pot.

Finally, the vegetable and bacon topping rounds out what’s needed to make this steak taste reminiscent of its longer cooking sister dish. Crisp bacon, caramelized pearl onion, and some browned sliced button mushrooms and you have the perfect topping for just about any dish of meat and winey sauce.

A dish of beef and reduced wine is a meal that suits a cold wintry day, all day cooking, and maybe even a party in its honor. But for an everyday taste of that same soul-satisfying goodness, a little wine, some good beef, vegetables cooked in bacon fat all equal a dinner just as delicious in a lot less time.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 rib eye steaks
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups good red wine
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 6 slices bacon
• 8 ounces mushrooms
• 1/2 pound pearl onions
• cooked egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or spaetzle