Classic French Boeuf Bourguignon is the ultimate French Winter treat. The combination of slow cooked beef, pork, carrots, potatoes and red wine is divine. If you love French comfort food, make sure you try our Flammekueche (Alsatian pizza) next!
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Who can say boeuf bourguignon without thinking of Julia Child? I love her spirit, her enthusiasm for bringing French food to American home cooks and the general joie de vivre that she exuded. In honor of Julia, let’s put on our pearls and get this Boeuf Bourguignon started!
So what role does boeuf Bourguignon play in all of this? To understand, we need to go all the way back to the beginning of 2013. Hugo and I had just met and my sister was coming to visit. I knew how well Hugo could cook already because he had already made me a first homecooked meal (Indian pork, in case you were wondering, and that recipe will definitely be coming another day!).
When Hugo heard my sister was coming to town, he suggested we host a dinner party in my apartment! I thought that was such a sweet idea. He said he would make his ultimate, classic French recipe for boeuf Bourguignon.
I was very touched that he offered to host my sister and all of our girlfriends for a traditional, homecooked French meal which made me think “wow, he is the one!” (even more than I was already thinking – we had been together for a month or two at this point).
He taught me how to make this dish and he treated my sister and several of our friends to a wonderful dinner. Since then, he has made this dish many times. It is one of our favorite traditional family dishes and it’s about to become one of yours too!
When you enjoy this meal, we hope you will think of us!
What are your traditional family dishes? We would love for you to share them in the comments below!
You may need
We recommend using a Dutch oven for this recipe. We swear by our Le Creuset Dutch oven. (Along with our KitchenAid stand mixer, it is probably our most used kitchen tool.) We love the traditional red cerise Le Creuset collection and have been collecting pieces from it since we got married.
If you are a fan of Julia Child’s and French cooking as well, we recommend having the 2 volume The Art of French Cooking collection on your bookshelf. These are 2 of our most treasured cookbooks and if you’ve been reading our blog for a while you know how much we adore cookbooks!
Classic French Boeuf Bourguignon
- Total Time: 5 hours 30 mins
- Yield: 6-8 people 1x
Description
Learn to make this classic French Boeuf Bourguignon.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg of stew beef (cut into 1-inch cubes)
- 200g of smoked pork slab bacon
- 2 or 3 marrow bones
- 5 carrots (cut into1-inch chunks)
- 2 onions (sliced)
- 1 clove of garlic (sliced)
- 1.5 bottle of good dry red wine (Burgundy wine)
- 4–5 sprigs of thyme
- 1–2 bay leaves
- Salt and pepper
- 1 or 2 tbsp of wholewheat flour
- Butter and olive oil
- 12 small potatoes
- Mustard
Instructions
- The day before serving, put the beef and the marrow bones in a ziploc bag with flour, salt and pepper and shake until the beef is covered with flour.
- Heat olive oil and butter in a Dutch oven on high heat.
- Add half of the beef/marrow bones and pork.
- Braise them until browned (approximately 2 minutes on each side).
- Remove them from the Dutch oven and repeat with the remaining beef/marrow bones/pork. If the beef has started sticking to the Dutch oven, you are on the right track! (This is because you are slowly caramelizing the meat.)
- Remove the beef, bones and pork from the Dutch oven and put aside.
- Add butter, onion and a pinch of salt and turn the heat to low. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Once the onions have absorbed the beef juice and turned light brown, add the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the beef, bones, pork, red wine, sprigs of thyme and bay leaves and cook for 3 hours.
- Remove from heat.
- Put aside until the beef is room temperature.
- When the beef has cooled, put in the fridge overnight.
- hours before serving, continue cooking the stew on low heat.
- hour before serving (once the beef has been cooking for an hour), add the carrots and cook for another hour.
- For small potatoes, begin cooking 30 minutes before serving. (For larger potatoes, begin cooking 45 minutes before serving.)
- Put the potatoes in a large pot of cold water, heat on high heat with the salt and bay leaves, until they are cooked through.
- Serve the boeuf bourguignon with potatoes, carrots and mustard on the side.
Notes
1/ The better the wine you use, the better your Boeuf Bourguignon will taste. That being said, however, you can use a less expensive wine for this dish and still have a yummy result.
2/ We recommend you drink the same wine you cooked the beef in during your meal. The result is absolutely delightful!
3/ Please DON’T cook this meal using a Burgundy Grand Cru bottle of wine… even if you are trying to wholeheartedly follow notes 1 & 2!
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 5 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: French
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We shared this post on #recipeoftheweek.
Patricia says
I understand everything except marrow bones. Help?😯
A Hedgehog in the Kitchen says
It’s the same as bone marrow or the gelatin that is inside the bone… Adding them to the Boeuf Bourguignon adds flavor and texture to the meal. You can also leave them out if you prefer, but traditionally, we add them in France. Thanks so much your question! 🙂
Aleksandra says
I assume using gluten free types of flour such as rice flour would be ok?
A Hedgehog in the Kitchen says
Yup, no problem! Happy Holidays!