The first challenge with cooking this dish is being able to pronounce the name correctly. Here is a link describing how to say Bourguignon correctly.
This delicious dish takes some planning, but the recipe is not complicated. You just need to be thinking a few days ahead in order to marinate the Oxbow beef for 1 to 2 days, and then when you do cook it, it is a long slow cook taking 2 to 3 hours. Let us assure you, it is definitely worth the planning and waiting! This recipe serves 6 to 8, and here are the ingredients:
- 4 pounds of Oxbow grass-finished sirloin, brisket,
tri-tip, or trimmed chuck roast, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes - 4 cups fruity red wine (Merlot, Bourgogne), which equals one bottle
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons thyme
- 3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 1 pound bacon chopped
- 1 pound pearl onions or 1 large Vidalia onion, roughly chopped
- 2 large carrots, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 head (not clove) of fresh garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups beef stock, plus more as needed
- 1 1/2 pounds small button mushrooms or larger mushrooms, halved
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- kosher salt
The marinade…
- Combine the wine, bay leaves, thyme, and one tablespoon of the pepper in a large resealable plastic bag, and then add your Oxbow beef cubes. Marinate this at least overnight, or up to 2 days.
2 days later…
- Remove the grass-finished Oxbow beef cubes from the marinade and make sure to save the marinade!
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- On your stovetop, heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and cook the bacon until just crispy, then remove and reserve it. Pour off all but a tablespoon of the grease and reserve it.
- Add the onions and carrots and cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Using the additional bacon grease if needed, brown the Oxbow beef cubes in batches to sear on all sides, about 4 to 5 minutes per batch. Add enough bacon grease to keep them from sticking.
- Add the flour and garlic to the last batch of Oxbow beef and stir until light browned, about 2 minutes, then add the tomato paste, reserved marinade, and beef stock. Make sure to stir and scrape the bottom to release all of the crunchy little bits of beef stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Return the Oxbow beef and about 1/3 of the sautéed vegetables to the pan.
- Place the pot, uncovered, in the oven for 1 hour, stirring occasionally and checking when the Oxbow beef begins to shred when pulled apart with two forks.
- When the beef can be pulled apart and shredded with two forks, stir in the rest of carrots and onions.
- Make sure to keep an eye on the liquid level and add more stock as needed. We never had to add any additional stock.
- After adding the carrots and onions, cook another 35-45 minutes, just so the vegetables soften, but do not melt into the stew.
- With about 15 minutes left in the cooking time, melt the butter in a pan and sauté the mushrooms.
- Just before serving, add the sautéed mushrooms and cooked bacon.
Oxbow Beef Bourguignon can be served as a stew, or accompanied by potatoes, egg noodles cooked al dente, or anything else you feel it will pair well with. Make sure to have some good, fresh bread to soak up the sauce.
This wonderful recipe is out of the awesome Montana cookbook, Open Range by Jay Bentley and Patrick Dillon. This cookbook was brought to our attention by one of our great customers Stewart Long. Thank you, Stewart, for directing us to this superb cookbook and for buying Oxbow beef!
