Beef Bourguignon Three Day Recipe
2 pounds good quality stew meat, cut into 2 inch cubes
|
½ pound of lardons (thick bacon cut into rectangles)
|
1 bottle of Burgundy red wine
|
2 carrots
|
1 medium
onion
|
10 or so small white (Pearl) onions
|
2 bay leaves
|
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
|
1 bouquet garni
|
3 cloves of garlic
|
Olive oil
|
2 squares of really dark (bitter) chocolate (80 % cocoa or more)
|
2 tablespoons of flour
|
salt, pepper
|
Day 1
1.
In a large pot, pour the wine
2.
Add the carrots cut into large pieces, the
medium size onions roughly cut, the bay leafs, the peeled garlic cloves and the
bouquet garni.
3.
Bring everything to a boil for about 10
minutes.
4.
Let it cool down to room temperature and put
it in the fridge for 1 or 2 hours until cold.
5.
If needed, cut the meat into large chunks and trim the excess fat.
6.
Once the marinade is cool, pour it over the
meat into a non reactive dish/pan, cover and put in the fridge overnight
(minimum 8 hours).
Day 2
1.
Take the marinade and meat out of the fridge.
2.
Take all the meat pieces out and using paper
towels, make sure they are as dry as you can.
3.
Set aside the marinade.
4.
Leave the meat out for 30 minutes so that it
comes back to room temperature
5.
Put your oil in a thick skillet and heat.
6.
When the oil is really hot, sear the pieces of
meat 5 or 6 at a time to make sure you don’t crowd the pan. Try to get as much
of a crust onto the meat as possible.
7.
Add pepper and salt to the meat only right
after you dropped it in the pan
8.
Put aside.
9.
When beef is done, discard any remaining oil
from the pan and put in the ‘lardons’ (bacon) on high heat. Stir so that they
get a nice color then take them out of the pan and put them with the meat.
10.
Lower the heat to a medium fire under the pan
11.
Strain all the solids from the marinade (keep
the bay leaf and bouquet garni aside) and put them into the pan.
12.
Cook for 5 or 7 minutes until you start seeing
some color, make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the nice
bacon and meat bits that stuck.
13.
Sprinkle the flour and mix it in so that it
doesn’t lump up.
14.
Add salt and pepper.
15.
Put the wine back into the pan and add the
meat, bacon, bay leaves, bouquet garni and tomato paste. Cover and let it cook
slowly.
16.
In the mean time, peel the Pearl onions
17.
Roast Pearl onions slowly in a pan with a bit
of olive oil. You are looking to get some color but to also cook the onions
through (don’t overcook them, since they’ll cook some more in the bourguignon
and then need to hold their shape, yet be tender). Do the same with the
mushrooms, if included.
18.
After about 1 hour of cooking, incorporate the
onions and mushrooms with the rest of the bourguignon and check the seasoning
and adjust if needed
19.
At this point, add the squares of dark
chocolate.
20.
Cook gently for another 30 minutes and turn
the heat off.
21.
Let it sit a few hours until it’s cool enough
to put in the fridge overnight.
Day 3
1.
Take the dish out of the fridge and using a spoon, remove as much
as the fat from the top as you can.
2.
Turn your oven to 180C (about 360F).
3.
When the oven is hot, put the Boeuf
Bourguignon in a covered oven safe serving dish
4.
Reheat for 20 minutes
