How to Make Short Rib Bourguignon
“There are many gastronomic paradises in France, but there is a paradise of paradises — Burgundy. ”
Boeuf a la Bourguignonne is perhaps Burgundy’s most iconic dish. It is a rich beef stew made infamous in America by Julia Child, prepared from marinated beef slowly simmered in local red wine with a calves foot, pearl onions, bacon lardons, herbs, and button mushrooms.
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Beef Bourguignon undoubtedly started life as a humble, peasant dish used to cook tougher pieces of beef. I have seen a few websites claiming its first appearance is in an Escoffier book, but I would argue the recipe is timeless and has been published several times prior without the word ‘bourguignonne’ attached to the title.
Most of the older French recipes mention larding the beef and adding a calves' foot to the pot to provide a certain unctuousness. Larding, or inserting strips of pork fat into cubes of beef, is the proper way to take tough cooks of beef and render them tender.
Author’s note: I certainly would advise adding a calf’s foot if you can find one; try looking in ethnic Asian or Mexican markets where they have a better selection of animal parts than typical mainstream grocery stores.
Three Recipes and few Tips
I am sharing 3 recipes for Beef Bourguignon, one from legend Paul Bocuse, one from his mentor Mere Brazier and a simple version I got while having a spirited conversation with a butcher in Burgundy last year while on a culinary adventure.
Beef a la Bourguignonne is always better the next day or even 4 days later like any other stew on the face of the planet. It really needs time to mature and have the flavors marry together. When you are ready to serve, ladle out hearty portions and serve with a starchy side like fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, macaroni gratin, pasta, and even risotto. Sprinkle with parsley and for god’s sake, drink a great Burgundy with this.
What cut of beef to use? Avoid what most stores call stew beef, it usually is devoid of fat and cartilage, two things absolutely necessary for stewing. I generally prefer meat from the shoulder or cheeks, oxtails, short ribs, or shanks.
I would advise staying away from strongly smoked bacon as it imparts too smokey of a flavor for a dish as subtle as this. The French would always blanch the bacon first in boiling water to help remove some of the fat.
Whichever method you choose, try making this classic this weekend.
Beef Bourguignon, a recipe from the Butcher
I once stopped at a small butcher shop in a tiny Burgundian village. I asked the butcher for some beef, and he inquired what I was cooking. At first, I found the question a bit awkward; I mean, why was he so interested in my meal? Then, I realized the question was asked to get a better sense of what I needed rather than trying to pry. Sensing that I was a foreigner, he guided me. The cut I’d asked for was too expensive for braising; in France, they used a secondary cut more gelatinous and better suited to long, slow braising. After a lengthy conversation, I left his shop with not only my beef but also his wife’s secret recipe scribbled on a crumpled piece of butcher paper. To be honest, my best recipes have come from this sort of counterintelligence (pun intended).
Prep Time 20 minutes; Cook Time 3 hours; Servings 4
Ingredients
2 pounds beef shoulder cut into 2-inch large pieces (or about 3 pounds of beef short ribs)
1 calves foot split
1 bottle red Burgundy wine, or pinot noir
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 tablespoon pork fat
1/4 pound slab bacon cut into large dice
16 pearl onions
1/2 pound button mushrooms
2 stalks celery finely diced
2 carrots diced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups beef stock
1 head of garlic
parsley for garnishing
Instructions
In a large nonreactive bowl, combine the beef, wine, bay leaf, and thyme. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight.
Heat the pork fat in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add the bacon, and cook until lightly browned, stirring, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions and bacon to a plate. Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Remove to the plate with the bacon.
With tongs, remove the beef from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Pat it dry with paper towels. Season with salt and cracked peppercorns to taste. Turn the heat to medium-high. Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides, about 10 minutes per batch. Transfer the beef to a plate.
Add the celery and carrots to the pot and cook until soft and lightly browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle over the flour and stir into the vegetables. Add the reserved marinade, as well as the stock, beef, and garlic and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 2 hours. The meat should remain partially submerged in liquid; if it starts to look a little dry, add water, red wine, or stock.
If you want a more refined dish, transfer the beef to a plate; place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain the sauce, discarding the carrots, celery, and garlic. Return the beef to the pot. Add the mushrooms, bacon, and onions. Simmer until the beef is fork-tender, about 1 hour. Serve sprinkled with parsley.
Paul Bocuse’s Beef Bourguignon
This is Paul Bocuse’s recipe from his cookbook Paul Bocuse which was translated into English in 1977. His recipe is far more technical and may require an additional bottle of wine to drink while googling phrases like bouquet garni.
Monsieur Paul served as an inspiration to me and fed the dream to become a chef. To Chef Paul, I raise a glass in his honor.
Prep Time 30 minutes; Cook Time 5 hours; Servings 4
Ingredients
3 pounds flank steak, or rump steak cut in 2-inch chunks
1/3 pound fresh pork fat with skin removed
1/2 cup cognac
3/4 cup Burgundy wine
1 calf’s foot
7 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1-quart of beef stock
1 bouquet garni
1 pound mushrooms
1/2 pound slab lean bacon cut into 1/4 inch slices
24 small onions peeled
Instructions
This dish will take approximately 5 hours to cook, prepare yourself for the assault of delish scents that will tempt you. Insert slivers of pork fat into the cubes of meat, and place in a marinade of cognac and wine for 3 hours.
Have your butcher bone the calves foot; retain bones. Plunge into boiling water for 10 minutes, rinse and tie in a cheesecloth. Break the bones into tiny pieces and plunge pork skin into boiling water and rinse.
Drain the meat, wipe dry, and brown in 4 tablespoons butter.
When the meat is well browned, remove and set aside on a plate; add flour and brown mixture slowly, stirring constantly.
Dilute with the marinade and the stock. Bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk, and place the meat into the sauce, which should just cover the meat.
Add bouquet garni, calves foot, the bones, the pork rind, and the stems of the mushrooms, well cleaned. Cover and braise very slowly in a 325°F oven for 4 hours.
Plunge the bacon slices in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain, and wipe dry. Brown in a frying pan with the remaining butter; remove to a plate, and in the same pan with the butter, brown the onions.
After 4 hours, remove the beef and the calf’s foot; then strain the sauce through a fine sieve.
Dice the calf’s foot thickly and return to pan with the beef; add the bacon, the onions, the mushroom caps, quartered, and the strained sauce.
Bring slowly to a boil, and continue cooking in the oven covered, very slowly — at a simmer — for 1 hour.
At the end of this time, the sauce should be reduced to 3 cups. If more remains, boil the sauce until it is reduced to this point.
To serve, arrange the meat on a platter, surround with the garnishes and pour the sauce over.
Beef Bourguignon ‘Mere Brazier’
Mere Brazier was Paul Bocuse’s mentor. He once said of her “This exceptional woman… taught all of us about flavors and gave us a taste for hard work and work well done. There would have been no success for any of us without her.” She was the world’s first chef to have two simultaneous three-star Michelin ratings, a full 60 years before the first male chef.
This recipe is taken from the incredible book ‘La Mere Brazier: Mother of Modern French Cooking’ released in 2014 in America. I strongly suggest buying the book and reading about her incredible life story and fantastic recipes from the period. Her recipe is more bare-bones than Bocuse’s and relies upon you already know how to cook. Use the other two recipes as references for quantities and more precise methods.
Prep Time 15 minutes; Cook Time 2.5 hours; Servings 4
Ingredients
1 pound beef chuck cut in 2-inch chunks
1 spoonful of lard
6 small onions
1 spoonful flour
1 clove of garlic
1 bottle of red wine
1 spoon of tomato puree
bouquet garni
streaky bacon
salt/pepper
mushrooms
parsley
Instructions
Choose meat that is not too lean. Cut into large cubes and brown in lard in a pan on high heat. Add small onions, brown them. Add flour, let cook a minute. Add garlic and cover with red wine. Add tomato puree, bouquet garni, and some diced, sweated, streaky bacon cut into small lardons; salt and pepper. Cover and cook for about 2 hours. Add raw mushrooms and cook another 15 minutes.
Serve hot, scattered with chopped parsley. Serve with a puree of potatoes or fresh noodles.
François de Mélogue’s earliest attempts at cookery began with the filleting of his sister’s goldfish at age two and a braised rabbit dish made with his pet rabbits by age seven. He eventually stopped cooking his pets and went to the highly esteemed New England Culinary Institute where he graduated top of his class in 1985.
Chef François has over 30 years of cross-cultural culinary experience and brings an impressive culinary history and a unique Mediterranean cooking style. After graduating top of his class from the notable New England Culinary Institute, Chef François began his career in a number of highly acclaimed kitchens across the country, including Chef Louis Szathmary’s restaurant The Bakery in Chicago, Old Drovers Inn, a Relais and Chateaux property in New York and Joel Robuchon Gastronomie restaurant in Paris, before opening award-winning restaurant Pili Pili in his hometown of Chicago, rated in the Top Ten new restaurants in the World by Food and Wine magazine in 2003.
While staging with Robuchon, Chef François began to shape his personal culinary philosophy of “Cuisine Actuelle,” which showcases the natural flavor in the ingredients used to create his dishes. In line with his belief that food should be prepared without unnecessary distractions or alterations, François creates honest, healthy, and delicious cuisine that is approachable and always delightful. François specializes in simply prepared French-inspired cuisine, specifically the rustic cuisines of Lyon and Provence.
François resides in Vancouver, Washington with his wife Lisa and nine-year-old son Beaumont, who has proclaimed himself the family baker. He has written two cookbooks, the latest ‘French Cooking For Beginners‘ explores classical French cuisine. There are 75+ recipes that will bring the flavors of France into your kitchen. In addition to Pistou and Pastis, he writes for Simple French Cooking and Medium. His travel and food photography can be seen on his Instagram feed. He publishes weekly cooking videos on YouTube.
