Anthony Bourdain is one of my all time “food” heroes (along with Ina Garten and Eric Ripert), and “No Reservations” is easily one of my favorite shows of all time. I probably cook more recipes and learn more from those 3 people then all other chef/authors combined. They each teach me different things, they each have a different perspective, and I love them all. Everything I’ve ever cooked that has come from watching or reading something from them has been an absolute success without ever being difficult or stressful.
No Reservations had a unique episode where they featured several world renowned chefs demonstrating how to cook some “basic” (basic meaning things every chef should be able to do perfectly) dishes that they love. Throughout the episode, clips would cut back to Anthony, in his kitchen at Le Halles, cooking Beef Bourguignon. This was super exciting for me, because while he is a chef on tv, you rarely get to see him actually cook.
Back to the Bourg. This is a dish I had never attempted, the name leading me to think it was complicated and stuffy. Quite to the contrary, it seemed perfectly simple, relaxed, and delish. So the very next day I made it. It was perfect. So easy, in fact, that I made it again a month later, and am making it again now!
Ingredients:
The 1st thing you need is 4 hours. If you don’t have 4 hours for this to cook this then it’s not going to come out the way you want it. Out of the 4 hours, only 1 hour of it total is active time from you.
Cheap meat, enough for 2 people +leftovers – I prefer boneless beef short ribs. Something cheap with fat, because you are about to cook the HELL outta that sucker. So cheap meat, cut into large chunks (I used 3 long boneless short ribs, each cut in half and that seems to be perfect)
A whole bottle of red wine (burgundy is traditional. I like cab)
2 large carrots - cut into hearty chunks
1 yellow onion – chopped
2 garlic cloves – chopped
Butter, oil, salt and pepper
(Bourdain stops here. The following I add just for fun.)
1 bay leaf
1tsp dried or fresh thyme
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
Directions:
Salt and pepper the meat pretty liberally. Heat up a large pot pretty hot with some butter and oil in the bottom, and sear off the meat in small batches, getting each side nice and crusty brown. Once done, set the meat aside in a separate bowl, turn the heat to medium in the pot and add a little more oil to coat the bottom. Add the all the veggies and herbs to the pot and cook until the onions are soft.
Add the meat back into the pot with any juices that collected, and pour in almost the entire bottle of wine (you will need enough to cover the meat) let it start to boil to de-glaze the bottom of the pan. At this point, I prefer to transfer it to a smaller pot. One that’s just big enough to hold everything, but it’s probably not totally needed if you are using a nice quality pot with a heavy bottom. I just like to so that I can clean the large pot, and keep the operation on a smaller scale for the rest of the day.
Once it’s in the pot you want to use, cover it, turn the heat as low as possible, and leave it there for AT LEAST THREE HOURS. The longer the better. Just stir it every 20 minutes. Uncover it for the last hour. The sauce will reduce down. At this point I like to sauté the mushrooms in a separate pan with butter and then add them in as well. When you are ready to eat, add a tablespoon of butter. Serve it up alone, or over mashed potatoes, or polenta, whatever. The meat should fall apart. The juice should be a thick, dark syrup. %&$* it’s good.
Tonight mine came out a little runny still, if this happens you can just use a fork to combine a tablespoon of butter to a tablespoon of flower into a paste and dump it in. It should thicken right up. I didn't feel like it.
Things you can do for 4 hours while this cooks:
Clean the bathroom
Do some yoga
Do your laundry
Watch Gone With the Wind
Play Monopoly
The Hero's: Anothony, Ina, and Eric
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