In the 2008 film Julie & Julia, Beef Bourguignon is a character in itself. Maybe, even, the villain. In the film, Julie, a 30-something in Brooklyn played by Amy Adams, devotes a year of her life to cooking through Julia Child’s 20th-century masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the cookbook that familiarized the average American with French cuisine.
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When it comes time to make Julia’s famous Beef Bourguignon, however, Julie makes one big mistake after putting the stew in the oven: she falls asleep on the couch. Hours pass, and the Beef Bourguignon is overcooked beyond recognition. It’s one of my favorite food scenes in any film, and, spoiler alert, she starts the dish over, picture perfect, and the day is saved.
Just as I was encouraged to make Beef Bourguignon as a teenager after watching Julie & Julia for the first time, so were millions of American families after the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume 1 in 1961. The book made Julia Child an American household name, and with it, iconic dishes such as Beef Bourguignon.
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Beef Bourguignon is a traditional rustic French stew of beef, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and bacon, all braised slowly in red wine. For home cooks, it can look intimidating. An easy air fryer dish this is not, but at its core, Beef Bourguignon is very straightforward and includes pantry and produce staples you probably already have in your kitchen at home.The ingredients can be bought on the cheap, so the most this dish will cost you is a few hours of your time while the beef bubbles away. Thankfully, as many of us across the country are stuck at home due to freezing temps outside, we have nothing but time. Alas, it’s the perfect month to familiarize yourself with Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon.
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IngredientsHere’s what you’ll need to make it:
Grayson Samuels
–6 ounces of pre-sliced bacon
–3 pounds of chuck roast, or other stew beef
–1 onion, sliced
–1 carrot, sliced
–2 teaspoons of salt
–1 teaspoon of pepper
–2 tablespoons of flour
–1 bottle of dry red wine, such as a Burgundy or Chianti
–1 to 2 cups of beef stock
–1 tablespoon of tomato paste
–2 cloves of garlic, minced
–2 teaspoons of dried thyme
–1 bay leaf
–1 12-ounce bag of frozen pearl onions
–2 tablespoons of butter
–8 ounces of whole crimini mushrooms
When I went to the grocery store to shop for my ingredients, I knew I already had a bottle of red wine, salt, pepper, flour, thyme, butter, garlic, and bay leaves. The total cost of the rest of the ingredients came to $44.61. Since the dish serves six, that comes to about $7.44 per serving, an extremely cost-effective and cozy dish for the rest of the winter months.How To Make Julia Child’s Beef BourguignonSTEP 1: I start by preheating the oven to 450ºF. Next, I chop six ounces of pre-sliced bacon into what Julia calls lardons — small sticks about ¼-inch thick.
Grayson Samuels
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STEP 2: In a large Dutch oven, I sauté the bacon until crispy, rendering off the fat that will become essential to the rest of the dish. With a slotted spoon, I remove the crispy bacon bits and transfer them to a plate lined with a paper towel, leaving behind the bacon grease.
Grayson Samuels
Then I start working with the beef, which is where the dish can potentially get expensive. Thankfully, this is not the time for a New York strip! At my grocery store, I was on the lookout for three pounds of chuck roast, a fattier cut of meat, and often the cheapest at the butcher counter. If you can’t find the chuck roast cut into two-inch squares, you can always ask your butcher to do it for you — a great way to cut back on time.STEP 3: I pat the squares of beef dry with a paper towel and begin browning the meat. Working in rounds, I sauté the beef over medium heat in the rendered bacon fat until browned on both sides, about two to three minutes per side, and transfer the browned beef to another plate lined with a paper towel.
Grayson Samuels
STEP 4: While the rendered bacon fat is still hot, I add one sliced onion and one large carrot, chopped, and cook until the onions begin to soften, about five minutes.
Grayson Samuels
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STEP 5: When the vegetables are soft, I transfer the browned beef and crispy bacon back into the pot, along with two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of pepper, and two tablespoons of flour, tossing lightly to combine and coating the vegetables and meat in the flour.STEP 6: I transfer the baking dish, uncovered, to the center rack of the hot oven for four minutes, then I lightly toss the meat and vegetables to combine before transferring back to the oven for four more minutes.
I love this part of the recipe — it cooks the flour and creates a light crust around the meat. It feels superfluous, but I really taste the difference when I skip this step.
STEP 7: I remove the baking dish from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325ºF, setting the dish on the stove and off the heat.STEP 8: Next, I pour an entire bottle of red wine (!!!) into the baking dish. Since Beef Bourguignon literally translates to “Beef in the Style of Burgundy,” the French region from which it originated, it’s traditional to braise the stew in a Burgundy, or a similar full-bodied red (Julia recommends a Chianti). Honestly, I find myself using whatever red wine I have on hand. With the red wine, I add one to two cups of beef stock, or just enough so that the cooking liquid barely covers the meat and vegetables.
Grayson Samuels
A red wine blend aged in bourbon whiskey barrels did the trick this time, an inexpensive gift from a friend several months ago gathering dust on my wine rack.
Grayson Samuels
STEP 9: Bringing the stew to a simmer on top of the stove, I add in one tablespoon of tomato paste, two cloves of minced garlic, one teaspoon of dried thyme, and one bay leaf (all ingredients that are more likely than not already in your pantry at home). I stir gently to combine, and once the stew has come to a simmer, I turn off the heat and cover it, transferring it to the oven where it will continue to cook for two and a half more hours.
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STEP 10: This is where Julia’s recipe gets more complicated than we need it to be, and where I make some adjustments. In her recipe, she asks the cook to strain the liquid from the finished stew and reduce it to a thicker gravy in a saucepan. Instead, I remove the lid from the baking dish when there are 45 minutes left on the timer, which allows the braising liquid to evaporate and reduce in the baking dish itself. At this point, I also add in one 12-ounce bag of frozen pearl onions to the stew, another adjustment that differs from Julia’s recipe, in which she asks the cook to peel individual pearl onions and braise them in beef stock.STEP 11: While the stew reduces during the last 45 minutes, I slice about half a pound of mushrooms (any kind will do, but I like crimini) and sauté them in two tablespoons of butter until browned.
Grayson Samuels
STEP 12: Removing the stew from the oven, I stir in the cooked mushrooms. Julia recommends serving the finished Beef Bourguignon over boiled potatoes or buttered egg noodles, but I served mine over buttery mashed potatoes instead.
Grayson Samuels
Every time I make this dish, I am reminded that the most important ingredient isn’t one you can find at the grocery store or in your pantry at home, and that is the element of time. With time, the bottle of red wine reduces and marries the fat of the chuck roast, building a glossy gravy that you won’t want to waste a drop of. With time, the beef yields to the heat of the oven so that by the time it hits your tongue, it melts like butter. It’s a great beef stew, cozy and familiar, and it’s no wonder that it made Julia Child a household name so many years ago.
Grayson Samuels
As Julie prepares the Beef Bourguignon in Julie & Julia, she laments, “As I cook it, I almost feel as if Julia and I are communicating over space and time on a deep spiritual and mystical level.” When I cook Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon, I feel that way, too. But I feel connected to all the other home cooks that have made this dish for the first time, taking that fantastic first bite, communicating over space and time, telepathically connecting over one great big, “Yum.”
Grayson Samuels
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