Finding the Perfect Wine for Beef Stew
From the Dallas Morning News
by Tina Danze
THE MISSION: Find wines that cost less than $20 to pair with Beef Stew in Red Wine With Onions and Mushrooms.
THE FOOD: Beef Bourguignon (the French name for the stew described above), served with a side of garlic mashed potatoes.
THE TASTERS:
•Hunter Hammett, sommelier, Pyramid Restaurant at The Fairmont Dallas.
•George Howald, Serendipity Wine Imports
•James Tidwell, master sommelier and certified wine educator, Cafe on the Green, the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas
•Barbara Werley, master sommelier; wine director, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
•Cathy Barber, Taste editor
•Tina Danze, freelance writer
The wine panel at the Dallas Morning News debated this month’s pairing entree: Would it be a rustic Beef Stew in Red Wine With Onions and Mushrooms, or the classic Beef Bourguignon that Julia Child translated for the American kitchen?
Actually, the two are the same dish. Julia simplified the technique somewhat for the stew recipe in the ’90s. But each name conveys a slightly different image. If you want an earthy, peasant-style dish for a casual family gathering or pumpkin-carving party, call it beef stew. If you want a traditional French dish for a stylish dinner party, call it Beef Bourguignon.
If you’re going to the trouble of cooking for hours and marrying the flavors overnight, you want a wine that enhances your culinary achievement. Too bold or tannic, and the wine can overwhelm the stew; too light or uncomplicated, and the wine falls flat.
After tasting 14 wines with the stew, here are the top 2:
2004 Lungarotti Rubesco, Italy
Elegant yet earthy, this wine came in a close second for our panel pick. “It’s an approachable wine,” said Hammett. “It’s delicious with a bite of the onion and mushroom, and it rounds out nicely on the finish.” Tidwell liked the wine’s complexity, which meshed well with that of the stew. “It has an earthiness and a fruitiness which complements the dish without overwhelming it,” he said. Both Werley and Howald hailed it as a versatile, solid food wine. $12
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2004 Taurino Salice Salentino Rosso Riserva, Italy
Although not a wine that panelists would uncork for sipping solo, this lesser-known varietal turned out to be the best match for the stew. Barbara Werley said that Southern Italian wines such as this one are made for food like this – comfort-food dishes that have complexity. “This wine becomes bright on the mid-palate. Its earthiness gives way to fabulous fruit,” said Werley. “I wouldn’t serve it as an aperitif, but with the meal, it’s perfect.” James Tidwell identified a “mushroom earthiness” in the wine that he found compatible with the dish. $14
Which wine did we cook with?
2008 Cartlidge & Browne Pinot Noir, California
Often Beef Bourguignon tastes too winey – a result of cooking with overly assertive or tannic wines, or just too much wine.
The goal was to find a fruity, medium-body wine, such as this domestic pinot noir. To keep the wine from dominating the dish, the wine was supplemented with canned beef broth, adding just enough to cover the beef.
A terrific stew can be made with any number of wines. Julia Child recommends a zinfandel, and many recipes call for a burgundy. But bear in mind, the wine matches were tailored to the dish, which was made with a fruity, medium-body California pinot noir. Feel free to experiment.
Here’s the Recipe:
Beef Bourguignon – Beef Stew in Red Wine with Onions and Mushrooms
Beef Bourguignon is a classic French dish of inexpensive beef simmered with vegetables in a wine-based broth.
INGREDIENTS
4 pounds boneless beef chuck cut into 1 ½ – to 2-inch cubes
Vegetable oil for browning the meat
2 cups sliced onions
¾ cup sliced carrots
1 bottle of medium-body, fruity, young red wine (divided use)
4 or 5 large unpeeled garlic cloves, smashed
2 ½ to 3 cups canned beef broth
2 ½ to 3 cups canned drained Italian plum tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
24 small frozen pearl onions, defrosted
3 cups quartered fresh mushrooms (such as cremini)
5 tablespoons softened butter (divided use)
3 tablespoons flour
Dry the meat thoroughly with paper towels – damp meat won’t brown well. Film a frying pan with 1/16 inch of oil and set over moderately high heat. When very hot but not smoking, brown as many pieces of meat as will fit in one layer without crowding. Turn frequently to brown on all sides – 3 to 5 minutes; this is a very important flavor step, so don’t take shortcuts. Transfer the pieces as they are done to a 3-quart, heavy-bottom, flameproof casserole or Dutch oven.
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Skim all but a spoonful of fat out of the frying pan. (If burned, discard all the fat and add fresh oil.) Add the sliced vegetables, stirring and tossing for 3 to 4 minutes to brown lightly before scraping them out over the beef. Pour a cup of the wine into the frying pan, swishing and scraping up any browned bits and coagulated juices. Pour the liquid into the casserole. Add the garlic, the remaining wine, and beef broth to the casserole to cover. Fold in the tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme and salt to taste. You should have enough liquid almost to cover the beef; add more beef broth if needed.
Bring the mixture to a simmer on top of the stove. Cover and transfer to the preheated oven and cook for about 3 hours, turning and basting the meat several times, until just fork-tender. Check the dish after 15 minutes to make sure it is not boiling; reduce oven temperature if it is bubbling too vigorously; it should maintain a simmer.
While the dish simmers, prepare the pearl onions and mushrooms. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy saucepan or skillet over moderately high heat until the foam subsides, then sauté onions, stirring occasionally, until browned in patches. Season with salt and pepper. Add water to come halfway up the sides, then simmer, partially covered, until onions are tender, about 15 minutes. Boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to a glaze, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
Heat the 1 tablespoon butter in a large, nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides. Add mushrooms and sauté, stirring, until brown and any liquid that the mushrooms give off is evaporated, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
When beef is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a colander set over a saucepan to collect all the liquid. Wash out the casserole and return the pieces of beef to it. Press the juices from the solids in the colander into the saucepan. Degrease the cooking liquid and taste very carefully for seasoning. You should have about 3 cups of liquid. Boil it down rapidly if its flavor needs concentrating. Remove from heat.
Using clean hands, blend flour and remaining 3 tablespoons of the butter into a paste with your fingers. Whisk the butter-flour paste into the degreased sauce. When thoroughly incorporated, bring the sauce to a boil to thicken. If not thick enough, repeat the process using ½ tablespoon each of flour and butter.
Add the sauce, prepared onions and sautéed mushrooms to the beef in the casserole and simmer for 2 minutes to blend the flavors. This dish is best if made a day or two ahead of serving, as its flavors meld and develop overnight. Cool, uncovered, before chilling, covered. If making ahead, it’s easier to remove fat from the surface after chilling. If you can’t make it a day or two before serving, at least time the preparation so that it sits at room temperature for 1 hour before serving. The dish may be reheated, covered, in a 350 F oven. For faster reheating, remove stew from the refrigerator an hour before putting in the oven.
Makes 8 servings.
SOURCE: Julia Child, The Way to Cook
The right stew meat
Chuck roast is the best choice of stew meat for this dish because it can hold up to long, slow cooking and has enough marbling to baste itself as it cooks. Don’t be alarmed by the layers of fat within each cube of chuck; the fat melts out, leaving behind flavorful, fork-tender meat. After the dish is cooked, you will have an opportunity to remove the grease; it’s easiest to do this after chilling the dish overnight in the refrigerator.
Leaner cuts of stew meat will not be as tender or flavorful, so resign yourself to degreasing after you cook the dish, rather than avoiding the fat on the front end.
And consider this pearl of wisdom from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook (Alfred A. Knopf, 1989): “Cuts like the rib and rump will fall apart, and something like the eye of round will shred.” That’s not a pretty prospect, so stick with the chuck.
Flavor tip: Cook a day in advance
The secret to the best stew is making it a day (or even two days) ahead. A day in the fridge gives the flavors a chance to meld and develop. Working ahead has other advantages too: You won’t be nervously monitoring your stew in front of your guests, and you can degrease the stew easily when the chilled fat solidifies on the surface.
