Beef Bourguignon is a delicious, traditional French stew that involves many steps if you listen to Julia Child. One of the reasons French cuisine tastes so good, I believe, is because it builds tension and suspense as you wait for the food to be prepared and cooked.

My simplified version still takes four hours to simmer, plus time in advance to gather and prep ingredients. This is ample time to build an appetite and have the smell of simmering beef and wine permeate the apartment. The method I suggest here is less fussy in the preparation time, without sacrificing flavour.

Let’s begin, because as you waste time reading my blather, you could have peeled those pearl onions:

INGREDIENTS:

The meat:
3 lbs beef brisket
1/2 lb bacon (I use slab bacon)

The produce:
1 large carrot, or enough small carrots to make one large carrot
1-2 large onions, diced (use two if you are omitting the pearl onions)
1 head garlic, peeled and minced (you want at least six cloves)
1 lb mushrooms, halved (or quartered if they are large)
Potatoes, for mashing for the side dish

Pearl onions, if you insist. I found them here in a punnet of about 24 onions. Use them all, or use as many as you can before your fingernails bleed from peeling them. You are putting them in to be pretentious, not for flavour.

The herbs and spices:
Fresh thyme (I used a generous teaspoon of dried)
Bay leaves (I used 4 assorted assorted sizes of large and small)
Salt
Pepper

The pantry items:
2 tbsp olive or canola oil
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 900 mL container beef stock
1 beef bouillon cube
2 tbsp tomato paste

From the fridge:
Butter (for the mushrooms and mashed potatoes)
Milk or cream (for mashed potatoes)

The wine:
You need at least one bottle of red, but suggest two, so you can serve the same wine at supper time. I like to use a French red to keep with the theme, either a burgundy or a pinot noir.

How I Made It:

I prep everything I need in advance because I am one of those people who needs to feel in control. Feel free to wing it if you are one of those relaxed individuals who sleeps peacefully knowing full well there is an unrinsed coffee mug sitting in the sink.

Preheat your oven to 350F

Peel and chop the onions, set aside
Peel and mince the garlic, set aside
Peel and slice the carrot, set aside
Cube brisket into stew sized pieces (about 2″)
Cut bacon into lardons (small pieces)

In your best, large, oven safe stewing pot, sizzle up the bacon on the stove top. When the fat is rendered and the bacon irresistible to taste testing, pull out the bacon and set aside, leaving the bacon fat in the pot.

Next, in small batches, brown your beef. It took me four batches to brown 3 lbs of beef. As it browns, remove it from the pot and set aside with the bacon.

Check the fat. You want a good few generous tablespoons of fat on the bottom of the pot. If there is too much (you will feel your arteries thickening looking at it) take some out.

Add the onions and the carrots to the pot. Stir, and let soften. Use medium to low heat, and take your time. When it’s nearly done, add the garlic and allow to cook another few minutes.

Add back the beef and bacon, add some salt and pepper, give it a stir.

Sprinkle the flour over the meat, and give it another stir. The flour is added to thicken the stew. Let it cook over medium low heat for a few more minutes.

Now you want to add your liquid. I pour out a glass of wine for myself as a reward for my hard work, and put the remaining wine in the pot. You will want to top off the liquid with beef stock until your meat is just covered.

Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, the bullion cube, thyme and bay leaves. Stir, and allow it to come to a nice stewy burble on the stove top.

Cover your pot and put it in the oven. Forget about it now for at least four hours.

As you approach the four hour mark, rouse yourself from your nap. Here is where you’d take the pot out of the oven, add your pearl onions to the pot, give it a stir, and put back in the oven for a bit longer.

The sensible will skip that step, and move on the mushrooms. On the stove top, melt a few tablespoons of butter and add your mushrooms with a sprinkle of salt. Stir, and once they’ve shrunk a bit and become brown, add them into the stew. Stir.

Some beef bourguignon camps will have you strain the liquid out of the pot and reduce it, then add the meat back in so you have a thick gravy. Please do this if you have a lot of liquid. However, my recipe results in a nice thick gravy without the need of this step. I’m gravy gifted.

You can eat this now, or, put it back in the oven to stay warm until you have made your mashed potatoes.

I leave potato mashing to my husband as it is his specialty: He peels and quarters big baker potatoes. He boils these in unsalted water until they are soft. He drains out the water, slashes the potatoes (his words) with a sharp knife, then mashes them with a fork, ignoring the potato masher that is less than 12 inches from his work space. He then adds an assortment of dairy from the fridge – it almost always involves butter, but could also include sour cream, whipping cream, or milk, depending on what is available. He finishes them with salt and white pepper. It has to be white pepper, because he finds black pepper unsightly in his potatoes. They always turn out perfect, creamy and lump free.

Proper food bloggers include photos of their steps and the creations. I didn’t because, well, I just didn’t think I’d end up blogging about it.

However, this morning I was inspired to write and share the recipe, so am now remorseful for the lack of picture.

In desperation, I opened the fridge and looked at our left overs, and thought well, that’s not very photogenic. But it’s real, not stolen from the net, and is what your beef bourguignon will look like the next day too.