With the nights drawing in, the temperature dropping and autumn making itself very much at home, it's time to start rummaging around at the back of the cupboard for those casseroles and stock pots. Yes, folks, low and slow season is officially upon us, and frankly, we couldn't be happier.
A word of warning, though. Do check your pots for spiders. They've also decided it's time to come indoors, and nobody wants an unexpected eight-legged addition to their Sunday supper.
And speaking of Sundays, the clocks go back this weekend, which means we're all being gifted an extra hour. Sixty glorious minutes to do with as we please. You could spend it doing something productive, of course. Or you could put it towards a magnificent, slow-cooked Beef Bourguignon. Alternatively, there's always the pub. We're not here to judge.
As the evenings get darker and the leaves pile up outside, there's something deeply satisfying about a pot of rich, wine-soaked beef gently bubbling away in the kitchen. Proper, unapologetic comfort food, and few dishes deliver quite like this French classic from Richard H. Turner's PRIME.
Although, as Chef himself points out, there's a right way to go about it:
'Literally translated as ‘Beef Burgundy’, bourguignon is a much-abused dish that is rather delightful if good-quality ingredients are used and shortcuts eschewed. Contrary to what many cooks might tell you, cheap wine is better drunk than cooked with, and this dish will succeed or fail upon the standard of wine used. Though perhaps a Grand Cru isn’t necessary.'
And if you fancy mixing things up with the beef, which we thoroughly encourage, this recipe works beautifully with ox cheek or feather blade, cut into similar-sized chunks. Just allow another hour or so for cooking to get everything wonderfully tender.
Which, conveniently, gives you even more time to contemplate sweeping up those leaves, tackling the garden or doing something equally virtuous.
Or you could just go back to the pub.
After all, the clocks only go back once a year. Best make the most of it.
Ingredients - serves 4-6
100g Waberthwaite pancetta lardons
1tbs plain flour
1kg chuck steak, cut into 4cm chunks
50g beef dripping
20 button onions, peeled
20 button mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 faggot of herbs (bay, thyme and rosemary)
75cl bottle of good red Burgundy
250ml beef stock
Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Fry the pancetta lardons until crispy in a heavy-based casserole over a medium-high heat, then remove to a plate, leaving behind the rendered bacon fat.
Mix the plain flour with plenty of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss the beef in the seasoned flour. Add half the dripping to the same casserole and, when melted, add half the flour-coated beef.
Colour the beef in the hot pan, browning the meat generously - this is crucial. Then, using a slotted spoon, remove the beef to the plate with the bacon. Add the remaining dripping and beef and brown as before, then transfer to a plate with the rest of the beef and bacon.
Add the onions to the pan and brown them lightly. Add the mushrooms, cook until golden, then remove both the onions and mushrooms to another plate.
Return the beef and lardons to the casserole with the garlic, the faggot of herb, the wine and the beef stock. Season, then cover and simmer gently over a low heat or in a low and slow oven (preheated to 140°C/275°F/Gas Mark 1) for a good 1½ hours, until the meat is tender. This is not a recipe to hurry.
Add the onions and mushrooms to the pan and continue cooking for a further 30 minutes.
Bourguignon improves if kept, so if you can make it the day before, all the better.
Serve with mash, fine beans and plenty of bread to mop afterwards. Oh and don’t forget to get another bottle of Burgundy in!
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