Wok Beef Burgundy
Submitted by blacgurl
Beef Burgundy cooked entirely in a wok with red wine, pearl onions, mushrooms, and thyme. A clever one-vessel take on the French classic that braises to fork-tender in 90 minutes.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
2 hrsREADY
2 hrsThis beef Burgundy trades the traditional Dutch oven for a wok, and the results are surprisingly great. The wok’s wide surface area gives you better browning on the beef cubes, and the sloped sides make it easy to push finished pieces aside while you sear the next batch.
Blanching the pearl onions first in the wok softens them just enough that they hold their shape through the long braise instead of dissolving into the sauce. Then the wok gets dried, the beef gets dusted in flour and browned in batches, and everything comes together with red wine, beef stock, mushrooms, and herbs.
The flour dusting on the beef serves double duty: it creates a seared crust on each cube and thickens the wine sauce as it simmers. After 90 minutes of low, covered simmering, you get fork-tender meat in a rich, glossy burgundy sauce.
Pro Tips
- Brown the beef in small batches of 6 to 8 cubes. Overcrowding the wok drops the temperature and you steam the meat instead of searing it.
- Use a full-bodied red wine you’d actually drink. Cooking concentrates the flavors, so cheap wine tastes worse, not better.
- Serve over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or thick slices of toasted buttered bread to soak up the sauce.
Variations
- Add diced carrots and celery with the onions and garlic for a heartier stew.
- Stir in a tablespoon of tomato paste with the wine for a deeper, richer sauce.
- Use a Pinot Noir from Burgundy for the most authentic flavor, though any dry red works.
Ingredients
Directions
In wok, add water and heat to boiling over high heat.
Add onions and blanch 3 minutes;then drain.
Discard water and dry wok.
Dust beef with flour.
Heat oil until it bubbles in the wok.
Add 6 to 8 beef cubes at a time and quickly brown on all sides.
Remove beef and keep warm.
Lightly brown onions and garlic.
Return the beef to wok.
Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer over low heat about 1½ hours or until meat is tender.
Remove the bay leaf.
Serve on toasted buttered bread, noodles or mashed potatoes.
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