Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy (Boeuf Bourguignon)
During the cold winter months I like to pull out our slow cooker and prepare a meal that is both warming and delicious, and is ready to eat when the family gets home. Beef Burgundy is one of our favorites. For this recipe, I adapted the classic Julia Child recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking to work with a modern slow cooker. I also exchanged Julia’s choice of French wine with our 2012 Occasio Merlot— a substitution I think she would approve on tasting the result!
Ingredients
- 2 – 3 pounds beef chuck cut into 1 – 2 inch pieces
- 6 slices of bacon
- 1 yellow onion chopped or sliced
- 3 large carrots sliced into chunks
- 1 cup of beef broth
- 1 1/2 cups of dry red wine
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 1 – 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 lb mushrooms – sliced
- 3 cloves garlic – minced
- 1/2 pound of pearl onions – skin removed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp thyme (dried)
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Render the bacon under medium heat in a large frying pan. While bacon is rendering, blot the meat dry with paper towels. Remove the cooked bacon and reserve in the bowl of the slow cooker. Meanwhile, brown all sides of the beef in the bacon drippings. Remove the browned meat to the slow cooker with the bacon. In the same pan used for the beef, add a little olive oil and sauté the onions until they just begin to caramelize. Add the mushrooms and cook for another five minutes under medium heat. Then add the salt, pepper, and flour. Mix the flour into the onions until fully moistened, and then add the beef broth, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and tomato paste. Let this continue to cook until the beef broth begins to simmer. Add the contents of the pan to the meat. Then add the wine, just enough to cover the meat (about 1 1⁄2 c). Cook on the low setting for 8–10 hours.
This meal is usually served with boiled potatoes, although you can also serve it on noodles or rice. For low carb diets, the meal is satisfying on its own, perhaps with a green salad.
