Easy Boeuf Bourguignon (No Cognac, No Herman Required)

What's your favorite stew?

For a long time, I refused to make boeuf bourguignon. Here's why.

Back in college, I lived in a dorm where everyone had their own room and bathroom, but we cooked in shared kitchens. For my birthday, my dad and his girlfriend had given me two little cookbooks: one from Normandy and one from Burgundy, both full of traditional recipes. Mind you, these were not simple recipes. They came with long ingredient lists, and some of those ingredients were downright pricey!

I loved cooking even then, and nobody had internet yet. So you couldn't just look up an easier version of a recipe.

Anyway, in that dorm, a budding romance had sprung up between me and Herman, the guy who lived on the floor below. At least, that's what I thought. We'd spent a really nice evening together, just the two of us, and I'd invited him over for dinner. I picked a recipe from my Burgundy cookbook. Buying red wine for it didn't bother me much (naturally), but the cognac the recipe called for put a real dent in my student budget. So did the meat.

But hey, I wanted to keep things going with Herman, maybe even take them to the next level, so I was actually excited to cook something special. I turned the little desk in my dorm room into a bistro table, lit a candle, you get the picture. I'd even picked up some sherry for a pre-dinner drink.

I remember it like it was yesterday. We'd agreed on six o'clock, and Herman showed up right on time. I'd sort of assumed he'd bring a bottle of wine, the way you do when someone invites you to dinner. But apparently that hadn't occurred to him. And he didn't apologize for showing up empty-handed, either.

I was still putting the finishing touches on everything in the kitchen, where I'd spent the whole afternoon cooking, and I asked Herman if he'd like a glass of sherry in the meantime. "No," Herman said, glancing at his watch. "I have to leave by quarter to seven at the latest. I've got soccer, so no drinks for me."

Wow. That landed like a slap in the face.

I carried my pot of boeuf bourguignon from the shared kitchen to my room, took the candles off the table, dished up two plates, we ate, and Herman went off to play soccer.

I never did figure Herman out. Because whether or not he really had soccer that night, I took it as his way of making it very clear that I shouldn't get my hopes up. I certainly got the message, anyway. But a week later, he invited me over for dinner at his place! Weird…

And you know what I find even weirder looking back? That I actually said yes. I was very forgiving back then. I figured that whole little incident the week before must have been a misunderstanding.

But when I went down a floor and rang his doorbell, Herman led me to the shared kitchen on his floor and said, "I invited my new neighbor, too."

Huh? Neighbor?

And there, in Herman's kitchen, I met Jerome. We hit it off right away. After dessert, we thanked Herman for dinner and headed into town together. Jerome asked if I'd like to go out to dinner with him the next day at Gauchos, an Argentinian steakhouse and his favorite restaurant. His treat. And it was a lot of fun. It stayed that way for another year.

Herman? He lived right next door to Jerome, but I never saw him again.

So no, I didn't make boeuf bourguignon for a very long time. And not just because of Herman. That original recipe from my old cookbook was also pretty complicated, and pretty expensive for a student.

But these days, I've forgiven boeuf bourguignon, too. I recently had it again at an affordable little bistro in Paris (yes, those exist!), and I thought: you know, this is actually really good.

Back home, I discovered you don't need half a French deli or a budget the size of a restaurant bill to put a great pot of stew on the table.

And no, you don't need cognac. It was wasted on Herman anyway. 🤭

🍲 Easy Boeuf Bourguignon

Serves 4 — about 2½ hours

Ingredients

• 750 g (about 1⅔ lb) beef stew meat, cubed
• 150 g (about 5 oz) diced bacon
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 250 g (about 9 oz) mushrooms, halved
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp flour
• 500 ml (about 2 cups) red wine
• 250 ml (about 1 cup) beef broth
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
• 1 tbsp butter or oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Cook the bacon. Fry the bacon in a large Dutch oven until crispy. Remove it and leave the fat in the pot.
2. Brown the beef. Pat the meat dry and brown it on all sides in batches, adding a little oil or butter if needed. Remove the meat from the pot.
3. Add the vegetables. Cook the onion and carrot for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 more minute.
4. Combine. Return the meat and bacon to the pot. Sprinkle the flour over everything and stir well.
5. Add wine and broth. Pour in the red wine and broth. Add the bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil.
6. Let it simmer. Turn the heat down very low, cover, and let it simmer gently for about 2 hours, stirring now and then.
7. Add the mushrooms. Sauté the mushrooms separately in a little butter and stir them in for the last 20–30 minutes.
8. Taste. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Season with salt and pepper.

Great with mashed potatoes, fries, or a crusty baguette. And by the way, it often tastes even better if you make it a day ahead.

So what do you think, are you going to give this recipe a try? And what did you make of Herman? Kind of strange, right? Either way, I sure didn't understand him back then.

Photos -> top: nilufar nattaq - ingredients: ThermoPro - plate: Holly Spangler

P.S.: Every Saturday, I publish a mini-magazine on Substack called SATURDAYS With Diana. It's completely free to read. If you'd like, you can take a look at an issue here.