Traditional Beef Burgundy

Why This Traditional Beef Burgundy Works

At the start, the beef and bacon are browned in the pot, so the outside of the meat dries a little and forms a crust. Those brown bits stick to the bottom and stay in the pot. Later, when the wine and beef stock go in, the liquid loosens all that browned stuff and it spreads through the stew. The flour cooked in with the vegetables swells in the wine and stock, so the liquid slowly turns from thin to a smooth, thick sauce that clings to the beef and vegetables instead of staying watery.

As the pot sits in the oven for a few hours, the steady, gentle heat breaks down the tough parts in the beef chuck. The meat starts out chewy, but over time the tight fibers loosen and the fat melts, so the cubes end up soft enough to cut with a spoon. While everything cooks, the bacon, tomato paste, thyme, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and pearl onions all share the same pot, so their juices mix into that thickened wine sauce and soak back into the beef.

Mistakes To Avoid

Crowding the beef in the pot during searing makes it steam instead of brown. The cubes stay pale, give off a lot of liquid, and never build that dark crust, so the sauce ends up thinner and the meat tastes flat and a bit boiled instead of rich and roasty.

Starting the stew in the oven with tough or still-bubbling-high heat can dry out the beef. When the liquid boils hard instead of gently simmering, the meat fibers tighten, and even after hours in the oven the cubes stay stringy and chewy instead of soft and spoon-tender.

Skipping the step of cooking the flour for a minute leaves the flour raw and pasty. It doesn’t thicken the liquid as smoothly, so the sauce can stay a bit grainy and feel gummy on the tongue instead of silky.

Adding the mushrooms and pearl onions too early in the oven makes them collapse. They give off a lot of water, the sauce gets watery, and the vegetables turn mushy and dull instead of keeping some bite and shape.