Beef Bourguignon
Cubes of beef braised in red wine until they're incredibly tender, then simmered with lardons, mushrooms and pearl onions: That's the French stew known as boeuf bourguignon. Soulful and delicious, it's a dream of a dish for a dinner party, as it can be made entirely in advance – even the day before.
It’s also a dish that fills your living place with wonderful smells, and gets even better the next day — making it an ideal cooking project for when you want to cozy up inside. Feel free to take liberties with the ingredients, as long as you use chuck, short rib, shank, or another fatty, long-cooking cut for the beef. (Those are the kinds of cuts that will result in tender meat at the end of a long braise.)
Precede it with a green salad (or maybe roasted cauliflower soup with brown butter), then serve it with boiled or mashed potatoes, or buttered noodles – and crusty French bread for sopping up the wonderful sauce. If you're looking for a small cheat or you don't find nice, small pearl onions, buy a bag of frozen ones, already peeled. To peel pearl onions easily, drop them in boiling water first, let boil about 10 seconds, then drain, rinse in cold water and use a small knife to trim and peel.
Look for meat that’s well marbled. A beef shank, with its marrow-filled bone, adds wonderful richness. But if you don't find beef shank, don't worry; go ahead and use all beef chuck (about 3 1/4 pounds total), or swap in some short rib for the beef shank. Don't worry if the cubes you cut the beef into are irregular; it'll still be awesome.
Serves 6.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt, divided
2 pounds (907 grams) beef chuck, cut into cubes of about 1 1/2 inches / 4 cm (more or less)