almost beef bourguignon (instant pot)
I’m cool with rules, unless I don’t understand them. This was worse when I was a teen, because the rules were usually a) nonsense and b) in my way. Why do I have to go to school if I already know what the class is covering? If no one reads thank you notes, why write them? Who says you “have” to be a productive member of society if society is broken?
My parents had a blast. Don’t even get me started on the government.
Beef Bourguignon is definition rule food—it’s a Julia Child recipe, so of course it’s got 230983509 steps like straining the sauce and soaking the bacon before you cook it. And while Julia is probably right to do these steps, these are rules that were in my way of making this dish. But stripped back to its elemental form, beef bourguignon is almost approachable: cured pork, braised beef, soft carrots, meaty shrooms, onions, herbs, and red wine gravy. Pot roast, but French-er. Très facile!
This adaptation is probably not qualified to call itself beef bourguignon anymore, but you know what? It’s close enough. Don’t have pearl onions? Cool, me either—just use a regular one, cut in quarters. I didn’t have bacon, so I used pancetta, but guess what: they’re almost the same, plus or minus smoke. Garlic isn’t in the original recipe, but it is in mine because I like garlic. Just got an Instant Pot on Black Friday? Julia would cringe at the idea of beef bourguignon being cooked on the counter in an electric pot, but I don’t. I am here for it. I am here for YOU.
Close enough is no substitution for “the right way,” for sure. But these days, maybe close enough is as close as you need to get.
This goes very well with a super simple whipped cauliflower, French variant, along with a fat pour of the rest of the wine you opened for the dish. Bon appétit, y’all.
RECIPE
Not quite Julia Child, but close enough. Beef, mushrooms, pancetta, thick-cut carrots, and lots of red wine go under pressure in the Instant Pot for impossibly tender, fall-apart beef bourguignon that’s almost French, mostly traditional, but ready to eat in under two hours.
Effortful time: 20 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Serves: 4-6
YOU NEED
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 oz. bacon or pancetta, diced
2 lbs. beef chuck, fat trimmed and cut into 2” cubes
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1” pieces
1 large yellow onion, quartered
6 small or 3 large cloves garlic, minced, divided (4 cloves for the beef; 2 will go in the mushroom step)
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups red wine you’d be willing to drink
1 tbsp. beef flavored Better than Bouillon mixed in 1 1/2 cups of very hot water
1 tbsp. double-concentrated tomato paste (or 2 tbsp. of the standard kind)
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 tbsp. dried parsley
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp. butter
1 pound crimini mushrooms, quartered
MAKE IT
Render the pancetta. Heat the olive oil in the Instant Pot on Saute-Medium. Add pancetta and brown until fat is rendered and the pancetta is crispy. Remove to a plate, leaving the fat in the pot.
Brown the beef. In the same oil/fat, brown the beef cubes. This will take multiple batches. Using long tongs helps. Remove these to the plate, too.
Build the flavor base. Add the flour and onion and sauté until the flour is golden brown and the onions are slightly softened and browned from the pan drippings, 4 minutes. You will have a pretty gnarly, crusty, stuck-on paste forming. This is okay.
Deglaze the pot. Add a small amount of the wine and deglaze everything, scraping all the bits up. Add the tomato paste into the wine-flour-fat and scrape again. Pour in the rest of the wine. Turn off the sauté function.
Assemble the bourguignon. Put the cooked pancetta, cooked beef, carrots, salt, garlic, thyme, parsley, and bay leaves into the pot. Pour over the beef bouillon-water broth mix. The mushrooms don’t go in at this stage—the long cook time will turn them to mush, which is sometimes nice, but not here. Save them for later.
Cook the bourguignon. Seal the Instant Pot. Set to high pressure, 45 minutes. At this point, I cleaned up the kitchen and took a shower and came back to incredible bistro smells. Allow to release naturally for 10 minutes. Let the rest of the steam out manually.
Cook the mushrooms. While the natural steam release happens, heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining 2 cloves of minced garlic and sauté until just fragrant, about 30 seconds. Throw in the mushroom quarters and saute until soft and golden brown, about 8 minutes.
Finish the bourguignon. With the steam released in the Instant Pot, open it up and switch back to Sauté-Low. Pull out the bay leaves. Once simmering, add the mushrooms to marry their flavors with the bourguignon. Simmer until the sauce has slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. If you like more of a true gravy, you may want to reduce it longer.
Serve it up. Some like egg noodles, some like potatoes, but I will always love whipped cauliflower.