Traditional Boeuf Bourguignonne

This is a streamlined boeuf bourguignonne, the French Burgundian stew that turned beef chuck into one of the most celebrated braises in Western cooking. Eight core ingredients, two hours of low simmering, and you have a deeply savory red wine stew with tender meat and silky gravy.

The key technique sits in the first step: toss the cubed beef in seasoned flour before browning. The flour coats every surface so it sears into a crust, and that crust becomes both flavor and thickener once the wine and water hit the pan.

Bacon renders its smoky fat alongside, browning the beef and garlic. It stays in the pot for the full simmer where it breaks down into background richness. Skip the bacon and you lose the depth that distinguishes a Bourgogne stew from a generic beef braise.

Adding carrots, onions, and mushrooms browned separately in butter at the end is the move. Cooking them apart from the stew keeps each one’s flavor distinct rather than letting them dissolve into the gravy.

Chef Tips

• Pat the beef cubes dry before flouring. Wet meat steams instead of searing, and the flour clumps into gluey patches.
• Brown in batches, not all at once. Crowding the pan drops the temperature and switches you from searing to stewing.
• Use a drinkable dry red wine, not cooking wine. Cooking wine is salted and flat. A Pinot Noir or Côtes du Rhône works better in the pot and the glass.
• The stew is even better the next day. Cool overnight and reheat slowly so the flavors marry.

Variations

• Add a tablespoon of tomato paste with the wine for a slightly sweeter, more tomato-forward gravy.
• Use pearl onions instead of standard onions for a more traditional French presentation.
• Serve over buttered egg noodles or mashed potatoes to soak up every drop of gravy.