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Mary Berry Beef Bourguignon Recipe

Mary Berry Beef Bourguignon Recipe

Mary Berry’s beef bourguignon is a slow-braised beef casserole with red wine, lardons, mushrooms, and pearl onions — the finest French dinner party dish.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 4 hours
Servings: 6 Portions
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: British
Calories: 560
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • Beef Braise:
  • 1.5 kg braising beef chuck or shin, in 4–5cm chunks
  • 200 g smoked lardons
  • 1 bottle 750ml good Burgundy or Pinot Noir
  • 2 tbsp olive oil 30g unsalted butter
  • 2 carrots and 1 onion roughly chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves crushed
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 400 ml beef stock
  • 1 bouquet garni
  • Salt and pepper
  • Garnish:
  • 250 g chestnut mushrooms quartered
  • 200 g pearl onions blanched and peeled
  • 30 g unsalted butter 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp golden caster sugar
  • To Finish:
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
  • Small knob cold butter

Method
 

  1. (Optional) Marinate beef in wine overnight. Drain — reserve wine. Pat beef completely dry.
  2. Brown lardons in hot oil 5–6 minutes until golden. Remove. Brown beef in batches in same fat — deeply golden all over. Remove each batch.
  3. Cook fresh onion and carrot 8 minutes. Add garlic and tomato purée — 2 minutes. Add flour — 2 minutes. Add reserved wine — reduce by one-third. Add stock, bouquet garni, beef, and lardons. Season. Bring to gentle simmer. Cover — cook on lowest heat or in 150°C oven 2½–3 hours until completely tender.
  4. Meanwhile cook pearl onions in butter and oil with sugar 15–18 minutes until golden. Cook mushrooms separately in hot butter until golden and dry.
  5. Transfer beef to warm bowl. Strain sauce through fine sieve — press vegetables. Reduce strained sauce 10–15 minutes until glossy and intensely flavoured.
  6. Return beef, onions, and mushrooms to casserole. Pour sauce over. Stir in cold butter. Scatter parsley. Serve.

Notes

Use wine you would drink — the wine is the primary flavour of the dish.
Brown beef in batches until deeply golden — the most important step for depth.
Cook garnish separately — pearl onions and mushrooms retain their individual character.
Strain and reduce the sauce — gives the glossy, concentrated, restaurant-quality finish.
Make the day before — improves dramatically overnight. Reheats beautifully.
Freeze for up to 3 months — the beef becomes even more tender on reheating.
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