Beef braised for three hours in red wine with smoky lardons, mushrooms and little onions. A Burgundy classic that tastes even better the next day, made with blade roast, thick-cut bacon and a Pinot Noir or Gamay from the liquor store.
Bœuf bourguignon is beef braised slowly in red wine until it falls apart under a spoon, finished with lardons, mushrooms and small onions cooked on the side. The sauce should be dark, glossy and thick enough to coat a spoon. It goes in the oven after lunch and asks nothing of you until dinner, which makes it a good Canadian winter weekend dish.
I grew up with bœuf bourguignon: it was on the table all the time, and it's still the dish I make when I want a Sunday that tastes like home. It also crosses the ocean well, because the method doesn't change at all.
What changes is the shopping. Blade roast does the job of paleron very well once you cube it by hand, but a lot of Canadian bacon is sweet-cured, so I read the label and skip anything with maple or brown sugar. The wine means a trip to the liquor store, and I'd pick a Gamay before an expensive Pinot. A whole bottle of wine goes in the pot, so pick it up with the one you'll drink.
Which cut replaces paleron?
Canadian butchers don't sell paleron. Buy a whole blade roast and cube it yourself: pre-cut "stewing beef" is often a mix of lean and fatty pieces, and the lean ones turn dry and stringy long before the rest are tender.
How it should look after three hours
A cube of beef should break in two when you press it with the side of a fork, with no resistance in the middle. If the sauce still tastes sharp and winey, it needs more time, not more seasoning.
Making it in Canada
The 5 French ingredients, and what to buy for them in Canada.
Paleron ou macreuse→Boneless blade roast or chuck
Both come from the shoulder, with enough fat and connective tissue to stay moist over three hours. Cut it into 5 cm cubes and trim only the thick outside fat: the seams of gelatin inside are what make the sauce glossy.
🛒 Boneless blade roast is sold at Metro in Quebec and at Loblaws. Ask the butcher counter for about 1.5 kg in one piece.
Lardons fumés→Thick-cut smoked bacon, or packaged smoked lardons
Lardons are batons of smoked pork belly, the same cut as side bacon. Stack thick slices and cut them crosswise into 1 cm pieces. Avoid maple or brown-sugar bacon: it sweetens the sauce.
🛒 In Quebec, Metro sells Plaisirs Gastronomiques smoked lardons in 200 g packs, exactly the amount here (also listed at Voilà). Elsewhere, Great Value Thick Sliced Naturally Smoked Bacon (Walmart) or President's Choice Dry-Cured Thick Cut Naturally Smoked Bacon (Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore), both 375 g. Skip PC Old-Fashioned extra-thick: it's smoked over maplewood.
Vin rouge de Bourgogne→Dry Pinot Noir, or a Gamay on a budget
Burgundy reds are almost all Pinot Noir: light, fruity, with soft tannins. Canadian Pinot from Niagara, Prince Edward County or the Okanagan is rarely a budget bottle, so any dry, light red with soft tannins works, and Gamay is the closest match. Avoid big oaky reds such as Cabernet or Shiraz: their tannins turn harsh as the sauce reduces.
🛒 Gamay options: at the LCBO, Albert Bichot Beaujolais Sélection Parcellaire or Cave Spring Gamay VQA; at the SAQ, Miss Gamay Beaujolais-Villages. Pick a bottle you'd happily drink: the sauce concentrates whatever is in it.
Fond de veau ou bouillon de bœuf→Less-sodium beef broth, in a carton
French cooks often add a spoon of fond de veau; carton broth does the same job here. Pick a less-sodium one: the sauce reduces for three hours, and regular beef broth (about 890 mg sodium per cup) ends up too salty.
🛒 Campbell's 30% Less Sodium Beef Broth (Walmart) or Campbell's Less Sodium Beef Broth with Red Wine (Voilà), both 900 mL cartons. You need 500 mL, a little over half a carton.
Petits oignons grelots→Frozen pearl onions
Fresh pearl onions take ages to peel. Frozen ones are already peeled and brown nicely straight from the bag.
🛒 Freezer aisle, near the frozen vegetables.
Good to know: Buy the beef as one whole blade roast and cube it yourself, trimming only the thick outer fat.
Ready to cook?
Beef Bourguignon
Bœuf bourguignon
Beef braised for three hours in red wine with smoky lardons, mushrooms and little onions. A Burgundy classic that tastes even better the next day, made with blade roast, thick-cut bacon and a Pinot Noir or Gamay from the liquor store.
Prep time
40 min
Cook time
3 hr 30 min
Total time
4 hr 10 min
Servings
6
Ingredients
Original recipe: 6 servings.
Instructions
Heat the oven. Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F) with a rack in the lower third. Season the beef all over with salt and pepper.
Render the bacon. In a large Dutch oven (5 L or more), cook the bacon over medium heat for 6–8 minutes, until browned and most of the fat has melted out. Lift it out with a slotted spoon and set it aside, leaving the fat in the pot.
Brown the beef. Add the oil and turn the heat to medium-high. Brown the beef in three or four batches, without crowding, 3–4 minutes per side, until dark brown on at least two sides. Move each batch to a plate. Crowding the pot steams the meat instead of browning it.
Cook the vegetables. Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion and carrots and cook 5 minutes, scraping up the brown bits. Add the garlic and tomato paste and stir for 1 minute.
Add flour, wine and broth. Return the beef, its juices and half the bacon to the pot. Sprinkle over the flour and stir for 2 minutes so it coats the meat. Pour in the wine and broth, add the bouquet garni, and bring to a simmer. The liquid should nearly cover the meat.
Braise. Cover and put the pot in the oven for 2½–3 hours, until a piece of beef breaks apart easily with a fork. Check after 2 hours: the liquid should barely bubble. If it's boiling, turn the oven down to 140°C (275°F).
Cook the garnish. About 30 minutes before the end, melt the butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Brown the mushrooms 5–6 minutes and set aside. Add the pearl onions with a pinch of salt, brown them 5 minutes, then add 60 mL water, cover and cook 8–10 minutes until tender.
Finish. Remove the bouquet garni. Stir in the mushrooms, onions and the rest of the bacon. If the sauce is thin, simmer it uncovered on the stove for 10–15 minutes until it coats a spoon. Taste for salt, sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Equipment
Staub 5.5 L round cocotte: A heavy enamelled pot holds the low, even simmer for three hours without scorching the wine.
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Notes
For a deeper, more traditional flavour, marinate the cubed beef overnight in the fridge with the wine, onion, carrots and bouquet garni. Drain it in a colander set over a bowl, keep the wine for step 5, and pat the beef very dry before browning: wet meat steams instead of browning.
Keeps 4 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer. Reheat gently, covered, with a splash of water.
A slow cooker works for the braise: do steps 2–5 on the stove, then cook 8 hours on low. Reduce the sauce in a pot at the end, since slow cookers don't evaporate.
Use a heavy oven-safe pot of 5 L or more, ideally enamelled cast iron, such as the Henckels 5.2 L or 5.8 L Dutch oven at Costco. Bare cast iron isn't a good match for three hours of wine.
Course: Mains · Cuisine: French · Adapted for Canadian kitchens
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