From Julia · 2022-2023 · Reconstructed
Boeuf Bourguignon
Serve when
Serve once the beef has braised down to fork-tender and the sauce has gone glossy and dark, the way it looks when Julia plates it for the crew.
In the series
Season 1
- S1E3 · ~00:20:00 Paul and the crew build the television kitchen set around Julia's own, and the braise anchors an early rehearsal taping of the show
In the series
This is the dish the whole domestic set is built to photograph well — a braise dark and rich enough to prove that French technique, filmed in a home-style kitchen, could hold a television audience. Its slow, patient chemistry mirrors the slow, patient work Paul and the crew are doing just to get a camera pointed at it correctly.
Ingredients
- For the beef:
- For the braise:
- To finish:
Method
- Render the bacon in a Dutch oven; remove and reserve, leaving the fat.
- Pat the beef dry and brown it in batches in the bacon fat, then set aside with the bacon. Don't rush this — a real dark crust on the beef is where most of the sauce's color and depth comes from.
- Brown the carrot and onion in the same pot, pour off excess fat, return the beef and bacon, season, and toss with the flour.
- Add the wine and enough stock to just cover the meat, stir in the tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme, and bring to a simmer.
- Cover and braise in a 325 F oven, or over the lowest stovetop heat, for about 3 hours, until the beef is completely tender.
- Strain the sauce into a clean pot, skim the fat, and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon.
- Combine the beef with the sauce, the browned onions, and the mushrooms, and simmer together for 10 minutes before serving.
Substitutions
- Small white onions: if you can't find them fresh, frozen pearl onions browned in a hot pan get most of the way there.
- Wine: a solid, drinkable Burgundy or Pinot Noir; nothing rare is required, the long braise does the work.
Beyond the recipe
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