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Welcome to Inflation Bites, where we explore the art of fine cooking on budget, bringing gourmet flavors to your table without breaking the bank.

Beef Cheeks in Wine Sauce with Mushrooms and Bacon (Beef Bourguignon)

gailannbrown701

Beef cheeks will make hands-down the best Beef Bourguignon you have ever tasted. Elevate your cooking while keeping your budget in check with inexpensive beef cheeks and homemade polenta.

Beef Cheek Bourguignon with Polenta
Beef Cheek Bourguignon with Polenta

I have made Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon recipe possibly 50 times in my life. It is a classic and I had come to believe that it could not be improved upon. But then I made this classic with Beef Cheeks rather than the traditional beef chuck or rump roast.

Why Use Beef Cheeks?

Beef cheeks have several advantages over other cuts of beef in Beef Bourguignon, including:

  • Beef cheeks are a bargain cut and cost less.

  • The fibrous muscle in beef cheeks cooks down to an irresistible buttery, gelatinous texture—a much different (and better) texture than chuck.

  • Beef check is served as a whole portion rather than cut into cubes, so it looks and presents more like Osso Bucco and less like a beef stew. It just looks fancier.

If you have had beef cheeks before and thought they were tough, try them again in this recipe. A tough beef cheek is just undercooked. If cooked correctly, the tough bits will become fork-tender and delicious.

Why Polenta?

This recipe calls for serving the beef on polenta instead of the more classic potatoes because the sauce becomes quite thick, and it reminds me of Osso Bucco. Traditional beef bourguignon's beef stew texture pairs well with roasted or mashed potatoes, but the thicker texture here is better suited to polenta.


A note about carrots in beef Bourguignon. In the above picture, I paired this recipe with roasted baby carrots and cherry tomatoes, which add a touch of color and acid to the plate. If I see sliced carrots in Beef Bourguignon, I know the cook didn't strain the sauce, which mildly ruins the dish for me. Strain out those overcooked carrots and onions and cook the pearl onions and mushrooms separately. Beef Bourguignon is not a "dump and go" recipe. It is a work of art and worth the effort. Otherwise, it's just a stew. If I see those overcooked carrots on the plate, it's just a beef stew.


As always on InflationBites, we are mindful of the budget, so a couple of tips for minimizing the cost of polenta and beef bourguignon are included.



Ingredients for Beef Cheek Bourguignon

Beef Cheeks

First, you will need to find Beef Cheeks. I recommend buying from Wild Fork Foods, which ships nationwide in the US. The cheeks are around $5 per pound and delicious. My local Walmart sells beef cheeks for $4.33 per pound and the quality is very good (I told you they were cheap, often half the cost of chuck.) You can also look at any butcher shop, where beef cheeks are treated like offal cuts of liver or organ meat. Beef cheeks are becoming very trendy, so they are becoming easier to find.

Beef Stock

When I make this dish, I take homemade beef stock from my freezer. I make it 3-4 times per year. While commercial chicken stock can be quite good, store-bought beef stock is always disappointing. This picture shows a pot of beef stock going to simmer on my stove. I use a recipe from the Spruce Eats website and make it whenever I can find inexpensive beef bones or scraps. Because marrow bones have become expensive, I have started using beef neck bones to make stock. Making beef stock is simple, but it needs to simmer away all day. If you don't want to make beef stock, go ahead and buy it. If you buy beef stock, you can dress it up with Better Than Bouillon or a similar product. Anthony Bourdain swore by this product and technique to make beef stock richer and more complex. Don't put off making this dish because you don't have homemade stock, but work over time toward making and using homemade stock. It will elevate all your cooking.

Mushrooms and Onions

You will need a pound of mushrooms, and I find the best place to get this is Sam's Club, where they sell 24 ounces of Baby Bella mushrooms for around $4.50 in Florida. These mushrooms are top-notch and more than good enough for this recipe. But any commonly available white or brown mushroom is fine. Aldi sells some very good mushrooms for around $4 per pound.


For the pearl onions, Walmart sells a very good frozen package for $1-2. I think they are often of higher quality than fresh. On the day I took these pictures, I found a great bag of shallots cheap at my Indian grocery, and these also work very well.

Wine

In terms of the wine, choose a reasonable pinot noir or other burgundy-type red. I like the Aldi house brand, which is $4-5 per bottle. Don't use horrible wine, as it will destroy the dish, but don't waste an expensive bottle on the cooking pot. Trader Joe's also has some excellent options for inexpensive medium-bodied dry red wines.

Cornmeal (Polenta)

Yes, I make my polenta with good-old Quaker cornmeal. It is inexpensive, and the medium grind produces a wonderful polenta. You can spend four times as much to buy the bag that actually says polenta, but here is the thing: they are both medium-grind cornmeal and are virtually identical. You don't need to pay more for someone to tell you that it will become polenta if you soak and cook it long enough.


The secret to a good polenta is to soak your

Polenta soaking in water, add stock later.
Polenta soaking in water, add stock later.

cornmeal for 24 hours in advance. If you don't have 24 hours, soak it for as long as you can. I soak 1 cup of cornmeal with 4 cups of water, and when it's time to cook it, I add an additional cup of chicken stock. (You can leave the soaking cornmeal on the counter if you wait to add the chicken stock until you are ready to cook the polenta.) I follow the ratios of water to cornmeal suggested by the Serious Eats post on polenta.


There are many schools of thought on making polenta with water, stock, or cream and milk. I don't like to use chicken stock for the entirety of the fluid because it covers up the flavor of the corn. But a little (about a cup of stock to 4 cups of water) adds some flavor and complexity without overpowering the natural corn flavor. I do not add cream or milk to my polenta when I serve it with this recipe. You want a contrast of textures, and this Beef Bourguignon is rich. To place it on a bed of rich polenta is to turn this meal into a heavy experience. Lighten it up and serve it with polenta made with water (and a little stock).

Instructions

Several hours before you wish to serve your dish (or even the night before), mix 4 cups of water with one cup of medium-grind cornmeal. Stir and set aside.


Preheat your oven to 425. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or a large oven-safe pot. Add the sliced bacon or salt pork and sauté until lightly browned and crisp. Remove from the pot and set aside. Dry the pork cheek portions completely and put them into the fat rendered from the bacon.



Brown the beef cheeks well on both sides. Brown the sliced onions and carrots in the fat left by the beef cheeks.

Add the beef cheeks bacon and beef cheeks back to the pot and sprinkle in the flour. Stir. Place in the 425 degree oven.

Cook for 4 minutes, stirring the pot. Turn over the beef cheeks and bake for another 4 minutes on the other side. Remove the pot from the oven and place it back on a burner. Turn the oven down to 350 F. Turn the burner to medium-low and add the wine, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add the beef broth until the pork cheeks are 90% covered and peaking up like alligators. Add the pressed or minced garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Cover with an oven-safe lid or tin foil and place in 350 oven for 2-3 hours, until the beef cheeks are very tender.


Ready to cover and cook in the oven.
Ready to cover and cook in the oven.

While the beef is baking, put 1 1/2 T of butter and 1 T of olive oil in a small saucepan on medium heat. Add 18-24 peeled pearl onions or shallot when the butter is foaming. If using frozen, thaw ahead of time. Brown your onions lightly, then add 1/2 c. of stock and a couple of sprigs of thyme (or use dried thyme). Cook on medium heat until the stock boils away and the onions are tender. Set aside.


To cook the mushrooms, add butter and oil to the pan, then saute' the mushrooms for about 5 minutes until they are tender. Set aside.


When the beef is tender, remove the pot from the oven and set on a burner. Turn the oven off. Pull the beef out with tongs carefully (they will be fall-apart tender). Put the remainder of the contents of the pot through a sieve. Pull out the bacon lardons, press the juices from the remaining contents, and discard. Put the sauce you have sieved back in the pot and heat over medium heat until the sauce is thickened and reduced by about half. Taste and correct salt and pepper. Add the beef, bacon lardons, mushrooms, and pearl onions.



Keep warm and make the polenta. Place the soaked polenta in a saucepan on the stove under medium heat. Heat until it is simmering and stir. Continue stirring until the mixture is thick, about 20-30 minutes. Cook and stir until it is no longer gritty and is smooth and thick. Take off the burner and add 3 T. butter. Whip until thick and correct salt.



Place 1/4 of the polenta on a plate or bowl and place one portion of beef cheeks on top. Spoon the mushrooms and onions over or on the sides and add sauce. I serve it with roasted carrots for color and roasted cherry tomatoes to add color and acid to the plate.



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