Reviews on thyme and table cookware9/10/2023 ![]() ![]() This will thicken and enrich the sauce, creating a shiny, glossy gravy. Mash to a paste in a small bowl, then add to the gravy in small knobs while stirring constantly over a low heat. You can enrich it using a ‘beurre manie,’ which is a thick paste of equal quantities of softened butter and plain flour (you’ll only need 2-3 tsp of each).If the lid doesn’t have a very good seal, you can always cover the dish with foil before putting on the lid – this will help prevent evaporation during cooking. ![]() It’s best to check your bourguignon halfway through cooking to make sure the meat is still covered by liquid, as it could dry out the meat if not submerged.Bring back to a simmer over the hob, if you need to, until you get the desired consistency. Add a splash of hot beef stock or water to the pan.What happens if the sauce is too thick or thin after stewing for 2 hrs? Cooking the meat in batches helps create caramelisation – overcrowding the pan will mean there's more meat juice in the pan, which will stop the meat from browning. You only need to sear the outside of the meat before braising – you don’t need to cook all the way through. Searing the chunks of beef before slow-cooking adds extra flavour and colour, creating a richer, darker sauce due to the caramelised sugars. It’s sometimes added as a dusting over the meat before searing which creates a golden crust over the beef, or it can be stirred into the softened vegetables as they’re frying if the meat is marinated beforehand.ĭo I need to fry everything off before slow cooking? This flour thickens the sauce to create a glossy gravy that covers the meat, this is especially important as the stew is simmered covered, often in the oven, which means your meat doesn’t dry out, but you also won’t have a watery gravy when it’s done. Usually a least a bottle of red wine, and sometimes extra beef stock to cover the meat. Slow cooking also melts that important layer of fat in the beef to enrich the sauce.ĭusting the beef in flour before searing, or adding flour to the softened vegetables at the start of cooking is a really important step in the bourguignon, which often has lots of liquid. ![]() Slow cooking is an important step of bourguignon as it tenderises the meat, and reduces the wine into a lovely gravy as the alcohol evaporates. Why is the slow stewing important? Does it make the meat more tender? ![]() If you don’t have time, it isn’t a compulsory step, as the oven and slow cooking does a lot of the work in terms of melding flavours, but it does add an extra layer of richness and complexity. Marinating the beef in red wine does two things the acid in the wine starts to breakdown the proteins in the meat, allowing more of the flavours to penetrate the beef, and it also flavours the wine with more beefy flavours in return, with more time for the herbs and meat to infuse, creating a more complex and flavourful bourguignon. Should you leave the beef to marinade overnight? The meat does need a good marbling of fat to keep it moist when cooking, but you can remove any larger, tougher pieces of surface fat before cooking, and remove any sinew as this won’t break down. Chuck beef/braising steak, does it need to have fat? You can buy pre-diced braising steak but it’s often cut into very small pieces, so buying steaks or a joint of braising steak and cutting it yourself will give you more texture as the meat falls apart when cooked, and won’t dry out during slow cooking. As it does, the fat melts into the sauce creating a deeply flavoured gravy, and keeps the meat succulent, basting it as it melts. It has a decent marbling of fat in the meat, and it needs quite a lot of cooking to become tender. Often sold as braising or stewing steak, it can come from many parts of the animal, but all the hard working muscles like shin, chuck, and blade that need a low and slow approach to break down the tough muscle fibres. Which cut of beef is best?īraising steak is the classic cut of meat for bourguignon. It’s a comforting, slow cooked dish perfect for mash potato, soft polenta or simply some crusty bread for mopping up the gravy. It’s cooked until the meat is falling apart, and the wine-rich gravy thickens slightly to coat the meat. It's traditionally named from the Burgundy region in France, where it originated. A traditional French dish of slow cooked beef in a red wine sauce, with small onions, button mushrooms and bacon lardons. ![]()
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