Boeuf Bourguignon

Boeuf Bourguignon is a classic French beef stew (made famous here in America by French-trained American chef Julia Child) made with stock (this recipe can be modified to use beef bones instead of chicken, but the process is exactly the same), red wine, and onions. It's a great way to learn to be comfortable with braising, and an all-around great winter comfort food everyone should have in their arsenal of soups, stews, and braises. I have designed this recipe using chuck-- specifically a chuck roast. Chuck isn't really used for steaks per se (like the ribeye, filet, strip, etc.) because it's not really suited for that kind of cooking. Steaks are meant to be cooked relatively quickly over blisteringly high heat in a pan with oil or over a fire-- but without very many liquids. Chuck, on the other hand, is far too tough for this. You can either grind chuck (and combine it with brisket and short rib) for an excellent burger patty, or you can buy a whole roast like I recommend for this. If you buy the whole roast, follow the lines of fat and sinew present in the meat (a typical chuck roast weighs anywhere from 3 to 7 pounds; 4 pounds is ideal here) and cut along them. Then, progressively break down the meat into slightly larger than bite-sized cubes.

The reason chuck doesn't work well as a steak is twofold: first, because of the length and orientation of the muscle fibers, and second, because the muscle used to work literally 24/7 to support its entire weight when the animal was still living. The best steaks are from the muscles that barely do any work at all. Because the animal's shoulder supported so much weight for so long, chuck gets chewy if not tenderized mechanically (by grinding, as I mentioned RE: burgers) or by allowing it to cook at a low temperature for several hours, as I'll prescribe here in this recipe.

Peel and chop 1 pound of carrots, and peel and slice 4 large yellow onions into rings. Wash and slice 1 pound of white, crimini, portobello, or baby bella mushrooms. (A quick note to bouef bourguignon traditionalists: yes, I know I’m supposed to use pearl onions. But I don’t have the time or the patience—and you probably don’t either—to peel the requisite number of pearl onions. I would much rather do less work for the same results (peeling fewer regular onions for the same amount of usable onion) than more unnecessary work (peeling all the baby pearl onions when the big yellow ones work just as well). If you insist on using the smaller onions, go right ahead, but for your sake, I would make sure you buy pre-peeled (usually frozen) baby onions.)

Begin by seasoning the cut chuck with salt and freshly ground pepper and lightly dredge it in flour. Coat the bottom of a large pot or dutch oven with oil. Just before the oil begins to smoke, place the chuck in the pot and sear on all sides. Your objective is not to cook the chuck all the way through-- this wouldn't do that, anyways. You just want to get some color on it and to develop a "fond" (in the American sense, referring to the caramelized bits of flavorful goodness stuck to the pan that most home cooks throw away at their peril; the French use "fond" to mean "stock").

Cut several strips of bacon parallel to the short side of the bacon to create lardons. Lower the heat in the pan to medium-low to not burn the fond, add a touch more oil, and slowly render out the bacon. Reserve.

Saute the carrots and allow the onions to caramelize in the fat already in the pan from the beef and the bacon. This will create a little bit more fond in the bottom of the pan. Use bourbon, cognac, or another liquor (or more wine, if you don't have any liquor) to deglaze the pan. Once the fond has been picked up off the bottom of the pan, add 1 quart (4 cups) of chicken or beef stock, 2 cups of water, 1 bottle of red wine, and 1 can of tomato paste to the Dutch oven and reintroduce the seared beef.

Allow to braise, partially covered, for three hours at 275 Fahrenheit. Then serve alone, with egg noodles, with potatoes, or with your accompaniment of choice.