Beef Bourguignon - Farmhouse Style (Recipe)

This delicious recipe for Beef Bourguignon was shared by our friend Rachael Van Laanen from Mystery Bay Farm. It is featured in a cookbook we are producing together called Mastering The Art Of Farmhouse Cooking.

Haha. Just kidding! We're not making a cookbook. But if we did, this fantastic farmhouse version of Julia Child's classic recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking would have to play a starring role.

What makes it a farmhouse recipe? Rachael aptly summed it up when she said, "After my first few times following the recipe (Julia's) I realized that it's really just a good 'ol farmhouse recipe - start in the early afternoon with whatever you have and let it cook while you do all your afternoon/early evening chores. Then come inside to a warm, yummy smelling house where dinner is ready!"

Featuring One Straw Ranch beef rump roast and bacon, this is a dish to lift your spirits and warm your senses. We can vouch that it really does make your house smell divine, and it tastes as good as it smells! As Rachael says, "My family LOVES it and prefers that I don't invite anyone over for dinner when we have this (haha)." Praise from your family just doesn't get any better than that!

This is a Julia Child inspired recipe, cooked farmhouse style. The quantities of ingredients are based on the adapted recipe found here on Epicurious. The cooking instructions are Rachael's much abbreviated and quite accessible version, also tested to great success in the One Straw farmhouse kitchen. Follow our shortened list of cooking steps or combine it with some of the steps we left out (though you're going to have more dishes to wash!) and use what you have on hand. (see footnote)

Beef Bourguignon - Farmhouse Style

Ingredients

6-8 oz bacon

3 lb beef rump roast, cut into 1-2" cubes

1-2 carrots

1 onion

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 T flour

3 C red wine

2-3 C beef broth

1 T tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, mashed

1/2 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large oven and stovetop safe casserole or pan, dice bacon and fry until golden. Remove from pan and set aside. Brown beef cubes in bacon drippings. Remove from pan and set aside. Saute carrot and onion in the same pan. Add beef and bacon back to pan. Sprinkle with flour and put it in the preheated oven for 5 minutes to brown the flour. Reduce the oven to 350 degrees. Return the pan to the stovetop. Add wine, broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Bring it to a boil. Cover and return to the oven for 3-5 hours. Add more broth/wine if it starts to cook away - make sure not to let it go dry! Serve over potatoes or egg noodles.

Enjoy! Leftovers are, if possible, even more flavorful the next day. If you have any...

Footnote: Neither Rachael nor I ever seem to have mushrooms on hand (called for in the original recipe), though I'm going to try adding them someday! I added extra carrots and will use even more in the future. I didn't have beef broth so used pork bone broth. Baby Grace distracted me and I doubled the tomato paste (gotta blame something on the baby). Ours was "beef Syrah" instead of "beef Burgundy," and yes, I did enjoy a few sips while cooking - for good luck.