I guess for this to be a peasant dish, you have to make this where cheap wine is readily available. I would hate to think of the cost of making this dish using 3-4 bottles of red wine, even cheap wine, from my local Canadian liquor store.

Some people say to use a good wine, but I don't agree -- after all you are cooking it. I don't think it really matters. I wouldn't be surprised if grape juice gave the same result (I should try it some time -- no, one of you other people should try it and report back here.).

That's like using the finest scotch for a 'whiskey and Coke'.

K - I hope you meant rye, not scotch!

Good wine does make a difference IMO. I have tried both and, maybe I was fooling myself, but there was a difference.
I ascribe to the French cooking methods of using the best and freshest ingredients possible.

t2l2 - I wish. I was poking fun at myself. I am a recipe follower, malhereusement.

I also think there is a difference in the wine you use. I've ruined recipes by using cheap wine. I've made some things with a half bottle of "left-over" good stuff from the night before and it made a world of difference from when I've done the same recipe with cheap stuff.
Don't get me wrong. I think the subtleties of a particularly good vintage would be lost when cooking, but the difference between different qualities of wine will show up in the results.

robjame wrote: "Good wine does make a difference"

I don't wholly agree. Bad wine makes a difference, and I wouldn't cook with a wine that I did not consider to be acceptable for drinking. But no way is any of my depleting stock of Pinot Noir going into a stew!

Let's not get too carried away on this: Boeuf Bourguignon is good hearty rustic food, not haute cuisine.

Okay, that means that we need to make two different boeuf bourguignon dishes -- one with good wine and one with ordinary wine -- and serve it to people who don't know to get their reaction.

I do know that just about anyone in France who serves kir (although the fad passed 10 years ago) uses cheap white wine and not good white wine to do it. Once you mix the wine with the cassis liqueur, the wine is dead.

Well, rob, you got me good. Guess I should be paying closer attention and stop skimming posts sometimes!

I think lots of chefs would agree that using a medium wine for most cooking preparations would be sufficient. I would not use my best, either, but would definitely only use wine I would drink myself.

Padraig, you are so right when you say that we're making too big of an issue over this. BB is what it is - no more, no less. Not at all gourmet but good, honest, down-home comfort food.

Today I was watching Passport to Europe with Samatha Brown and she ordered this dish that was in a cast iron pot with a big bone,and beef chucks/pieces with leeks and other vegetables. What is the name of that dish? It looks really good!

Some sort of daube de boeuf, I'd imagine.

Or it could just be a "pot au feu", which doesn't have wine it it. I don't usually think of a bone in the meat in daube, but I suppose it could, while the pot au feu is likely to be an actualy "joint" of beef and a bone is quite likely. Essentially it is beef and vegetables boiled together (traditionally over an open fire) in a pot with broth. I usually think daube of boeuf has some wine or at least a thickening in it, more like a stew. But of course all these dishes sort of overlap in style and presentation.

StCirq and Neo,

Thank you. I will try to do something like this soon. Calling Travel2live2, could you help?

I've cooked many versions, and the one I like the best was from Cook's Illustrated magazine (www.cooksillustrated.com). You need to subscribe to get the recipe, but it's worth it!

The contrary comments about this dish have been haunting me so I decided to look it up. Not to say that this is gospel but it IS interesting:


Beef Bourguignon is one of many examples of older recipes being slowly refined into haute cuisine.


Over time, the dish became a standard of French cuisine.


The recipe that most people still follow to make an authentic beouf bourguignon was first codified by Auguste Escoffier.

"my favorite is barefoot contessa's recipe as well..."

robjame, We had made a few Beef Bourguignon recipes in the past that didn't seem worth the time, but, yes, the barefoot Contessa's was remarkably good. I'm glad you like it, because I always enjoy your food reviews of places you have traveled and respect your food opinions.

By the way, only on Fodor's could there be a little hostility on a thread about Beef Bourguignon. That's entertainment!!!

((H))

Well, with a bone in, perhaps it's like a jarret de porc, only with beef? Is there such a thing as a jarret de boeuf?

I just dug out my 1936 edition of L'Art Culinaire Moderne by Henri-Paul Pellaprat and looked up Boeuf Bourguignon: Here's his recipe (and I do apologize because I cannot get my laptop to allow me to use English-International keyboard setting, and without it I can't do accents):

Employer le collier, les jumeaux, la joue, etc.... en un mot des parties prises dans la deuxieme categorie et coupes en des assez gros. Faire rissoler a la cocotte dans de la graisse chaude, quand la viande roussit, la poudrer avec une cuillere de farine pour 1 kg. de viande (8 personnes). Ajouter deux gousses d' ail hachees, laisser aussi roussir la farine, mouiller le boeuf avec miotie vin rouge et moitie eau de facon a la baigner. Saler,poivrer, ajouter un bouquet. Faire revenir a la graisse dans le poele 125 gr. de lardons maigres et 30 petits oignons que l'on ajoute au boeuf. Couvrir et cuire lentement 3 heures. Ajouter 200 gr. de champignons avec une cuillere de puree de tomates. Encore 10 minutes de cuisson. Degraisser et servir.

So, big chunks were in in the 30s:)

Ina G. just made it on her show a half hour ago & used beef tenderloin cut into fillets.

carrybean

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I have been home all day. Watching the Food Network. My Husband called and wanted to go to the mall ( I hate the mall) with our grandbaby so she could run wild with the other children in the play area. So now I missed it. Oh well.

Was talking with a customer last night and He said when he ate BB in Avignon the meat was a big chunk. Oh well.

So you're saying somebody made beef bourgignon with filet of tenderloin? Have they committed this person yet? I assume this is some new version, cooked for a few minutes and lightly flavored with some wine? I can't imagine anyone stewing filet of tenderloin in wine for hours.

Yeah, no kidding. That must be The Hamptons version.

If you look at the Pellaprat version I posted, you're supposed to use the cheeks, the neck, all the stuff that's left over after the choice cuts are gone.

At Le select bistro in Toronto the BB is beef cheeks. (Chunk BTW)

If you are in TO, Le Select is an excellent place and worth a visit - the closest to Paris that I have found.