Drowning Burgundy Beef Stew with Wine

I guess only the French obsession with wine would lead them to drown their meat with it. Or maybe Burgundy has too much red wine, thus they have to find all ways to drink them to the last drop without getting drunk.

So, the Burgundy Beef Stew is born, which involves soaking 1.5kg of beef in 1 whole bottle of red wine overnight, if you're planning on cooking for your whole family of 5-6 people.

Our initial objective was simply to put our newly bought beef casserole to tasty use. When we found out last night that the recipe involved marinating the meat overnight, we hastily plucked parsley from our garden, chopped the vegetables and meat, all at 11pm, so that we could have a nice stew for dinner the next day. And yes, we used up 1/3 of our bottle of red wine. The stew tonight better be good.

Recipe translated from Les Classiques de Camille.

Boeuf Bourguignon (Beef stew Burgundy style)
serves 2

500g beef casserole or stew, cut to chunky pieces
50g bacon
1 carrot, sliced
1 big onion, chopped
1/3 bottle of burgundy red wine (25cl)
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs of parsley
1/3 tablespoon flour
salt and pepper

Marinate beef with carrots, onion with meat, salt, pepper, herbs and wine overnight.

The next day, strain the beef. Stir fry the bacon in a stew pot. Once the fats have broken down, add the beef and cooked until golden on both sides. Set aside.

Add onions into the stew pot. Once cooked and softened, add meat, pour the flour in slowly. When the meat is golden, add the meat marinade. Season with salt and pepper.

Simmer under low fire for 3 hours. Add more water/wine if the juice dries up too much.

Serve with steam potatoes and some parsley. Also possible to serve with rice or cous cous.