Cowboy Beef Bourguignon

Y’all may have heard of this type of stew before as it was made famous by Julia Child… beef bourguignon. But we’re simplifying it and putting a cowboy twist on it.

Now, me and Julia agree on one thing for sure and that is to start off with quality meat. Stew is not a hard dish to prepare. But don’t buy stew meat. You never know what they cut it from or where it’s coming from. Today we’re using a chuck roast and we’ll cut it up ourselves.

Step 1:

Start off with 4 lbs. chuck roast. Now, you’ll see this beef has a road map as to where you need to cut it. All those white lines and connective tissue is where you follow along and cut. You want to separate all those pieces out and trim off any large pieces of fat.

Be sure to check out our video below to see this step in action!

After you get that all separated go ahead and cut them into about 1-inch chunks.

The next step is very important, you need to pat this meat dry before you begin to season it so that seasoning will stick. You can season it with salt and pepper, but you know me, I like season it with Red River Ranch Original Seasoning. Give it a pretty generous coating on all sides.

Step 2:

Heat some olive oil in a large cast iron skillet and add about half of the meat to it. We don’t want to brown this all the way through, just around all the edges.

You want to brown the meat in at least 2 batches, because you don’t want to overcrowd the meat in the skillet. Then transfer the meat into a Dutch oven- today we used a 12-inch deep Lodge, or about 8 quarts.

At this point, I recommend that you deglaze your skillet to extract the remaining flavor from browning that meat. Just pour a little red wine in there and mix it around a scrape lightly along the pan (be sure you use wood on cast iron), and then pour the contents of the skillet in the Dutch oven.

Step 3:

Take 8 slices of thick-cut bacon and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Add a little olive oil to a hot skillet and cook the bacon until nearly done. Remove the bacon from the skillet and set aside. You want to keep as much grease in the skillet as you can, so I like to mash the bacon slightly to keep any of that extra bacon grease in the skillet. Add the bacon to the Dutch oven with the meat.

Step 4:

Add the carrots and onions to the skillet with the bacon grease and cook them for about 8 to 10 minutes, until those onions start browning. I like to cut the carrots in about 1-inch chunks because that will help them stay whole when we get to cooking this.

When the onions have browned, stir in 4 minced garlic cloves and cook it for another minute, stirring continuously or they will burn. Then, transfer all of that into the Dutch oven.

Step 5:

Add the pearl onions into the mixture. The reason I like to use these is because they hold their shape while cooking and don’t dissolve.

Step 6:

Now let’s add the liquid. You’ll need a bottle of red wine. I like to use a stout, dry red like Merlot or Pinor Noir. Stir that into your Dutch oven and then add 3 to 4 cups of beef broth. You want to pour it to the level where it just covers right above the meat and vegetables.

Stir in the thyme and tomato paste.

Note: Red wine has a lot of acid in it, and if you have a new piece of seasoned cast iron, I don’t recommend cooking this in it. Acid can be hard on cast iron. Pick something that you’ve been using for a long time and is seasoned well or use enamel coated cast iron.

Step 7:

Place the Dutch oven over a medium-high heat and bring it back to a really good simmer. When it gets to that point, put the lid on and pop it in the oven at 300 degrees F. and let it simmer good for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat gets fork tender.

Check out the video to see us cook this outdoors with coals.

Step 8:

Right before that 1 1/2 hours is up, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter to your skillet. Let it melt and add 1 pound of thinly sliced mushrooms. Cook them for about 8 minutes or until they brown and just begin to get tender.

Stir in 2 more tablespoons of butter. When it melts, add the flour and stir until combined.

Step 9:

Stir the mushroom mixture into the stew then sprinkle in the garlic salt. Place the stew back on the heat and let it come to a good simmer for about 15 minutes. This will allow for that flour we added to the mushrooms to thicken our stew a bit.

Folks, now get your spoon and taste the broth because it is the star here. There are different ways to serve this but I like to serve it over mashed potatoes or even just with some garlic bread.

Thank y’all for stopping by and hope you enjoy this cowboy version of a class French dish- Beef Bourguignon and as Julia says, “Bon Appetit!”

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Beef Bourguignon - Cowboy Kent Rollins

Prep Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 4 lb. chuck roast chopped into 1-inch chunks
• Red River Ranch Original Seasoning or salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 1 750 ml bottle dry red wine Merlot or Pinot Noir
• 8 slices bacon roughly chopped
• 2 white onions roughly chopped
• 2 cups carrots sliced into 1-inch pieces
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 lb. frozen pearl onions
• 3 to 4 cups beef broth
• 2 teaspoons ground thyme
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter unsalted divided
• 2 teaspoons Garlic salt
• 1 lb. sliced mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Mashed potatoes or garlic bread for serving optional

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• After you’ve cut the chuck roast into pieces, pat the meat dry with a paper towel, generously season all sides with the Red River Ranch Original, or salt and pepper.
• In a large cast iron skillet, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add half of the meat to the skillet and cook about 8 minutes, or until browned on all sides. Transfer the meat to a deep 12-inch Dutch oven (8 quart). Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet repeat with the remaining meat.
• Add about ¼ cup of red wine to the hot skillet to deglaze. Stir around the pan and scrape the contents into the Dutch oven.
• Return the skillet to the heat and add the bacon. Cook over medium heat just until browned. Strain the bacon from the pan, leaving any grease in the skillet, and add the bacon to the Dutch oven.
• Add the white onions and carrots to the skillet with the bacon grease and cook over medium heat until the onions begin to brown, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper, to taste.
• Stir in the garlic and continue cooking for another minute, stirring constantly. Stir the contents of the skillet into the Dutch oven.
• Stir the pearl onions into the Dutch oven. Add in the remaining bottle of red wine. Pour in enough beef broth to just cover the meat and vegetables. Stir in the thyme and tomato paste.
• Place the Dutch oven over medium-high heat and bring the stew back to a good simmer. Cover the Dutch oven with lid and transfer to the oven. Bake for about 1 ½ hours or until the meat is fork tender. Remove from the oven.
• Meanwhile in the large skillet, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter. Melt the butter over medium heat, then stir in the mushrooms and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until they begin to brown. Mix in the garlic salt.
• Slowly mix in the flour and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir the mushrooms constantly until the flour is absorbed. Add the mushroom mixture into the Dutch oven.
• Place the Dutch oven over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes to let the mixture thicken slightly.
• Serve on top of mashed potatoes or with garlic bread, if desired.