This is a classic hearty french stew that pulls its flavor from red wine simmered beef, mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, and aromatics. It is also referred to as Beef Burgundy, a reference to the wine used, in a number of sources. Simple enough in concept but to truly make it exceptional there are a couple of steps you can do.
Firstly, when choosing your meat go for the tougher cuts that are cheaper; top round, bottom round, rump, etc., because you will be marinating the meat over night, then searing it and simmering it for a fairly long time to reach the proper tenderness. Spending the money on costly cuts are unnecessary. Also when you marinate the meat, a splash of vinegar also helps tenderize the protein and intensifies the flavor. That being said, too much will give the dish a sour taste and it will ruin the final product.
In that same vein you don't want to overwhelm the flavor of the dish with red wine by adding too much during the cooking process. If you marinate the steak properly the beef will carry a lot of the flavor you are looking for. Also when cooking with wine (really any alcohol) make sure you use one that you wouldn't mind drinking. Don't splurge on expensive ones, but don't buy the cheapest stuff. It will carry it's flavor into whatever you are making. If you have a good beef broth on hand that is awesome. As I don't make beef stock that much I frequently find the need to buy stock from the store. For richer soups and stews I will add a couple of teaspoons of beef base, such as the Better Than Bouillon paste you can buy. I don't like using that as the only product, but it's good to fortify in a pinch.
The vegetables that you use can vary, but a base of carrots, onions, potatoes, and mushrooms are the foundation that I use. I added parsnips to this recipe for a little sweetness, but you can add almost any vegetable to the dish. You also want to keep in mind how you cook them. If you throw everything in at the same time and let it cook, your final product will be braised beef with mushy vegetables. Since you do want the flavors to marry, but you want to keep more texture to the veggies, you add them after the majority of braising and reducing is finished.
Lastly I can't stress the importance of fresh herbs enough. You can tie them up into a kitchen bouquet, or you can pick the stems out and add them into the stew after a rough chop.
For the garnish on this dish I used the pickled onion recipe on my site, but swapped out the onions for shallots and parsley leaves for color and texture.
Enjoy.
Ingredients
Marinade
Red Wine 1/2 cup
Red Wine Vinegar 1/2 tsp
Mustard, Dijon 1 tsp
Garlic Oil 1 T
Avenue Spice 2 tsp
Top round, in strips 2 lbs
Garlic Cloves, sliced 2 ea
Stew
Top round, marinated, diced 2 lbs
Onion, julienned 2 ea
Red Wine 2 cups
Beef Stock 3 qt
Beef Base 2 T
Carrots, diced 4 ea
Parsnips, diced 3 ea
Potatoes, diced 6 ea
Mushrooms, creminis 1 lb
Thyme, stemmed 1 oz
Roasted Garlic 1/4 cup
Tomato Paste 2 T
Avenue Spice 2 T
Oil to sear
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Roux 1/2 cup
Garnish
parsley leaves and pickled shallots (though this recipe is for pickled onions, just swap out the shallots)
Method of Procedure
Cut your top round (or other cut) into manageable strips.
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade.
Marinate the steak for at least 1 day.
After marinate slice and cube the steak to 1-2" pieces.
Turn the heat up on your soup pan and begin to sear your cut meat using oil. Work in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan continue until all the meat is seared.
Return all the meat to the pan and add your onions and 1 T Avenue Spice to the mix. Keep searing on high heat until the onions begin to get color.
Add your tomato paste and stir to coat the mixture.
De-glaze the pan with your red wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape the fond off the bottom of the pan.
Dice all your vegetables and reserve.
Add your beef stock and your beef glace and bring to a simmer for 1 hour.
Put your carrots, potatoes, and parsnips to the mixture and cook for an additional 1/2 hour.
Bring a separate pan to high heat and add oil. Saute your mushrooms until you get color and stir around. Add your thyme, roasted garlic and remainder of Avenue Spice.
Add your sauteed mushrooms and garlic into your stew and bring back to a simmer.
Make your roux in a separate sauce pan and add 1 quart of the liquid from your stew to the roux*.
Bring the mixture to a soft roll and pour back into the stew through a strainer**.
Continue to cook the soup on a medium heat so that it thickens and reduces for another hour.
Season to taste and serve.
Garnish with parsley leaves and pickled shallots.
*You can add the roux earlier in the procedure to skip the separate pan, but doing it in this manner helps you control amount you need based upon the thickness of your broth.
**Straining the thickened broth reduces the chance of clumps of in your bourguignon.
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