Ancien Régime France · France
Menon's Beef Bourguignon
From La Cuisinière Bourgeoise · Menon · 1746
Verified from original source
The 1746 version of the French classic — beef braised in Burgundy wine with bacon and small onions.
History
Beef Bourguignon emerged from Burgundian peasant cooking, originally a slow braise of tough beef in local red wine. Menon's 1746 'La Cuisinière Bourgeoise' codified an early bourgeois version, making it accessible beyond aristocratic kitchens. The dish combined beef, lardons, onions, and Burgundy wine, tenderising cheaper cuts through long cooking. It remained regional until the 20th century, when Auguste Escoffier refined it and Julia Child popularised it internationally through 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' (1961). Today it represents classic French bistro cuisine, though modern recipes often add mushrooms and pearl onions—elements absent from Menon's original.
Sources
- Menon, La Cuisinière Bourgeoise, 1746
- Auguste Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire, 1903
- Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 1961
- Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, Savoring the Past: The French Kitchen and Table from 1300-1789, 1983
- Philip Hyman and Mary Hyman, scholarly translations of Menon's works
- Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food, 1999
Serves
6
Prep
25m
Cook
180m
Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients
- · 1.2kg beef chuck
- · 200g lardons
- · 500ml Burgundy or Pinot Noir
- · 300ml beef stock
- · 20 pearl onions
- · 300g button mushrooms
- · 2 carrots
- · 3 tbsp flour
- · Bouquet garni
- · 2 tbsp butter
- · 2 cloves garlic
Method
- 1
Cube beef. Brown in oil in Dutch oven; remove.
- 2
Render lardons; add pearl onions and carrots, brown 5 min.
- 3
Return beef, sprinkle flour, cook 2 min.
- 4
Pour in wine and stock, add garlic and bouquet garni.
- 5
Cover and braise 160°C for 2.5 hours.
- 6
Sauté mushrooms in butter separately; fold in last 15 min.
- 7
Rest 15 min before serving.
