Beef Bourguignon (with Simon's Pearl Onion Twist)

Tempo

1h 30

Picante

Dificuldade

Médio

Rende

6porções

Ingredientes

Meat

1 kg

acém (beef chuck, or músculo for more gelatinous), cut into 3cm cubes

50g butter, divided

30ml (2 tbsp) neutral oil

Bacon

125g streaky bacon (toucinho defumado fatiado, or bacon em cubos), diced

Aromatics + braise

garlic clove, peeled and crushed

45ml (3 tbsp) plain flour

Salt and pepper

bouquet garni (thyme + bay + parsley stems, tied)

150ml beef stock

300ml Burgundy or other full-bodied red wine (Pinot Noir if you can find one in your budget; otherwise any soft red — Brazilian Casa Valduga or Argentine Malbec works)

Onions and mushrooms (Simon's variation)

**Standard recipe:** 12 button onions (cebolinhas pequenas), peeled

**Simon's twist:** 12 button onions PLUS 2 medium onions sliced thinly — the sliced ones melt into the sauce (Carbonnade-style), the button ones stay intact for visual and texture

175g button mushrooms (cogumelo Paris ou portobello), wiped not washed

Garnish

Chopped fresh parsley

To serve

Crushed boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, or buttered noodles

Crusty bread for the sauce

A glass of the same wine you cooked with

Modo de preparo

01**Brown the bacon.** In the pressure cooker on sauté mode (P5 Refogar), melt **half the butter (25g) + 1 tbsp of the oil**. Add diced bacon. Brown quickly, then remove with a slotted spoon to a plate.
02**Brown the beef hard, in batches.** Reheat the fat. Brown beef cubes, hard, in 2-3 batches — don't crowd. About 3 minutes per side per batch. Remove to the bacon plate.
03**Build the base in the same pot.** Return all the bacon. Add the crushed garlic. Sprinkle the flour over and stir well to coat.
04**Add liquids and aromatics.** Add salt, pepper, bouquet garni, beef stock, and wine. Bring to a boil, stirring. Return the beef and any juices.
05**Pressure cook.** Lock lid, P14 (Carne) or equivalent, **45 minutes**. Natural release fully (15 min).
06
**Meanwhile, prep the onions and mushrooms.** **For Simon's variation:** **Cook them while the beef pressure-cooks:**
- Slice the 2 regular onions thinly
- Peel the 12 button onions, leaving them whole
- Halve or quarter the mushrooms
- In a separate pan, melt the remaining 25g butter + 1 tbsp oil
- Add the SLICED onions; cook over medium-low **15-20 minutes** until **deeply golden-soft** (Carbonnade-style — almost melted). Set aside.
- Add the BUTTON onions to the same pan; cook 8-10 min over medium until **glazed and golden-brown all over**, rolling them around. Lift out with slotted spoon.
- Sauté the mushrooms in the leftover fat, 2-3 min until **slightly softened, edges browned**.
07**Combine.** Open the cooker. Discard bouquet garni. Stir in the deeply-cooked sliced onions (they'll dissolve into the sauce). Add the button onions and mushrooms whole. Sauté mode for **15 more minutes**, lid off, to reduce sauce slightly and integrate everything. Taste; adjust salt and pepper.
08**Plate.** A mound of mashed potatoes or buttered noodles. Spoon the bourguignon over, with plenty of sauce. Sprinkle parsley.

Beef Bourguignon

The benchmark French braise — beef in red wine with bacon, mushrooms, and pearl onions. Classic Burgundian. Simon's variation pulls from Carbonnade Flamande: more onion presence than the standard, with the pearl onions doing double duty (some kept whole, some sliced and melted into the sauce).

The pressure cooker turns the traditional 3-hour oven braise into ~1 hour total.

Heat: 0/5. Pure savory richness from beef + wine + bacon. No chile.

Slow cooker variant (PCC20 P6 — Cozimento Lento)

After step 4 (everything in pot, beef returned, sauce built):

Lock lid, P6, 8h
Open at end, follow steps 6-8 (the onion + mushroom finish stays the same)

Even more deeply flavored than pressure version. Great with delayed start (Programar Preparo) for Sunday lunch.

Serving

Burgundy red, naturally — Côte de Beaune or Côte de Nuits if you splurge; otherwise a Beaujolais Villages, Pinot Noir from Chile, or any soft Brazilian red.

Notes

Simon's pearl-onion twist explained. Classic Bourguignon glazes 12 small button onions whole and adds them at the end. Carbonnade Flamande melts 700g of sliced onions into the sauce. Simon's version uses BOTH approaches — the slow-melted sliced onions add Carbonnade-style depth and body to the sauce, while the glazed pearl onions stay intact for the visual and the textural contrast. It's a hybrid that gets the best of both Burgundian and Flemish traditions.
Wine quality. Don't use plonk; "if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it." But you don't need a Grand Cru either — a £6/R$30 Pinot Noir or any soft red from a decent producer is the sweet spot.
Bacon matters. Smoked Brazilian bacon (toucinho defumado) works great. The streaky kind, not back bacon. Skip if vegetarian variant.
Cut choice — chuck vs shin. Acém (chuck) gives classic Bourguignon texture: tender, slightly fibrous, holds shape. Músculo (shin) gives a more gelatinous, falling-apart result — closer to what Simon Hopkinson recommends. Both are right, different characters.
Make ahead. Day 2 is dramatically better. Make Saturday, eat Sunday. The fat solidifies and is easy to skim cold.
Freezes for 3 months. Portion in 500ml containers. Reheat gently with a splash of water.
Cross-references:
- For the Carbonnade-only beer-based version, see acem_british-steak-and-ale.md — same dish-shape, beer instead of wine
- For the Provençal-style oxtail variant with orange peel and olives, see rabada_daube-provencale.md
The freezer kit version: browned beef + bacon + sliced+pearl onions + mushrooms + sauce ingredients all in a freezer bag. Day-of: dump in PCC20, P14 60 min from frozen, separate quick onion-glaze and mushroom-sauté, combine. Future kit card to be written.