Beef bourguignon consists of braised red wine marinated beef cubes simmered in a seasoned red wine sauce with bacon, mushrooms, carrots, and pearl onions. The bistro dish is a French classic and is usually served with pasta or spaetzle.

Marinate the meat: Cut the meat into 1 inch cubes, trimming off fat, skin and connective tissues. Place the meat in a large non-reactive bowl. Add the garlic, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, rosemary, carrot sticks, cut onion and red wine. Cover the meat with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Start the stew: Drain the meat and vegetables in a strainer set over a large bowl. Discard the aromatic garnish from the meat, and reserve the strained wine. Heat of the oil in a large sauté pan over high hea t and brown half of the meat with salt and pepper. Then, place contents in a pot or a casserole. Add the remaining vegetable oil and repeat the process for the second half of the meat. Remove the browned meat. Add the cut bacon to the sauté pan on medium-high heat and brown the bacon. Add to the meat; keep the pan aside. Sprinkle the flour on the top of the meat; mix well with a wooden spoon until well coated. Bake at for 5 to 10 minutes. This process is called "singer" and allows the gluten to be cooked while eliminating the flour taste.

Remove the pot from the oven. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes at . This will allow the tomato paste to "roast," and its characteristic bitterness will be removed.

Heat the reserved pan and remove any grease from it. When heated, add the red wine from the marinade. Bring to a boil and skim off all impurities with a skimmer or small sieve. This will allow the wine to clarify. Remove the pot from the oven and place on low heat. Add wine, veal stock, bouquet garni, sliced carrots and chopped garlic. Stir well, making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Wash and quarter the mushrooms, add them to the pot and cook covered for about 1 hour on low heat.

After 1 hour of cooking, place the pot with the lid into the oven at , and cook for an additional hour. Stir from time to time during the cooking process. In the meantime, soak the pearl onions for 15 minutes in hot water; this will help you to peel them more easily. Peel and keep aside. After 2 hours of cooking, the meat should be tender when pierced with the tip of a small knife. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Add the pearl onions, stir, cover and bake for 30 more minutes.

When the meat is cooked, remove the bouquet garni, taste the sauce and adjust seasoning, and serve the Beef Bourguignon hot.

History: Beef Bourguignon is one of many examples of older recipes being slowly refined into haute cuisine. Most likely the particular method of slowly simmering the beef in wine originated as a means of tenderizing cuts of meat that would have been too tough to cook any other way. The slow cooking and simmering in the wine tenderized the meat, while keeping the meat flavor in the dish.

Over time, the dish became a standard of French cuisine. The recipe that most people still follow to make an authentic boeuf bourguignon was first codified by Auguste Escoffier. That recipe, however, has undergone subtle changes, owing to changes in cooking equipment and available food supplies.