The JQ List may earn a commission when you buy through links in this article.

Boeuf bourguignon began as a farmhouse dish in Burgundy, the region of Charolais cattle and Pinot Noir, where tough cuts of beef were braised for hours in the local red wine until they surrendered. It is peasant food, but made with the ingredients of one of the world’s great wine regions.

It has a Boston story too. Julia Child included it in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961, and when her television series The French Chef began on WGBH in Boston in 1963, boeuf bourguignon was the dish she cooked in the first episode. Her kitchen from her house in Cambridge is now preserved at the Smithsonian. For many American cooks, this is the recipe that made French cooking feel possible.

Two places to feel the story

In Burgundy, drive the Route des Grands Crus between Dijon and Beaune and order bourguignon in a village bistro. At home, follow our historic Boston walking tour and finish across the river in Cambridge, where Julia Child lived and cooked for decades.

What makes the difference

Use beef chuck, cut large. Brown it in batches without crowding, so it sears rather than steams. Cook the mushrooms and onions separately and add them at the end, as Julia insisted, so they keep their character.

Ingredients

Serves 6.

For the stew

• 6 oz (170 g) thick-cut bacon or lardons, cut into batons
• 3 lb (1.4 kg) beef chuck, cut into 2-inch pieces and patted dry
• 1 carrot and 1 onion, sliced
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 bottle (750 ml) red Burgundy or other Pinot Noir
• 2 cups (480 ml) beef stock
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bouquet garni of thyme, bay and parsley
• Salt and black pepper

For the garnish

• 18 to 24 pearl onions, peeled
• 1 lb (450 g) small cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• Chopped parsley

Method

1. Render the bacon. Heat the oven to 325°F. In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove it and keep the fat.
2. Brown the beef. Season the beef and brown it well in batches in the bacon fat. Set aside. Brown the carrot and onion in the same pot.
3. Build the braise. Return the beef and bacon, sprinkle with flour and toss for a minute. Add the wine, stock, tomato paste, garlic and bouquet garni. Bring to a simmer.
4. Braise. Cover and cook in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the beef is tender enough to cut with a spoon.
5. Cook the garnish. Meanwhile, brown the pearl onions in a tablespoon of butter, add a splash of stock and simmer until tender. Sauté the mushrooms in the remaining butter until golden.
6. Finish. Skim the fat from the sauce and reduce it on the stove until it coats a spoon. Add the onions and mushrooms, season and scatter with parsley.

How to serve it

With boiled potatoes, buttered noodles or crusty bread. Like every braise, it is even better the next day.

What to pour

Red Burgundy, of course: a village Pinot Noir from the Côte de Beaune or Côte de Nuits. For a fuller wine, our notes on Graves and Pessac-Léognan wines offer good alternatives.

Make a menu of it

Start with our French onion soup and finish with a tarte tatin. For a lighter braise, see our slow cooker coq au vin, and find more recipes At the Table.

Photo: balise42, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0