isithalal.food · Recipes

Beef bourguignon without wine

French beef stew braised in stock, grape juice and a little vinegar instead of red wine, with smoked beef in place of bacon and Halal braising beef.

French · Main · Moderate · 6 plates · 210 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

Bourguignon is beef braised in a bottle of red wine with lardons of pork belly; both need replacing, and the beef needs Halal slaughter.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Red wine: Classic bourguignon braises the beef in a whole bottle of red wine. Long cooking does not remove all the alcohol, and wine is Haram regardless. Use stock, red grape juice and red wine vinegar as here. See Wine and Vinegar.
• Lardons: The traditional garnish is lardons of salted pork belly. Use smoked beef, beef bacon or Halal pastrami. See Pork.
• Beef and stock: Stewing beef and beef stock cubes are rarely Halal unless certified; stock cubes can include beef extract or pork fat. Halal beef from a Halal butcher, and a certified or homemade stock. See Beef.

Ingredients

Braise

• 1.4 kg (3 lb) Halal beef chuck or shin, in 5 cm chunks
• 150 g (5 oz) smoked beef (beef bacon or pastrami), in thick strips
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) neutral oil
• 30 g (¼ cup) plain flour
• 250 g (2 large) carrots, in thick slices
• 150 g (1 large) onion, chopped
• 15 g (3 cloves) garlic, crushed
• 30 g (2 tbsp) tomato paste
• 750 ml (3 cups) Halal beef stock, or homemade
• 250 ml (1 cup) unsweetened red grape juice
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) red wine vinegar
• 4 (4) thyme sprigs and 2 bay leaves
• 10 g (1½ tsp) fine salt
• 2 g (1 tsp) black pepper, ground

Garnish

• 250 g (9 oz) small pearl or button onions, peeled
• 300 g (10 oz) chestnut mushrooms, quartered
• 30 g (2 tbsp) butter or oil
• 10 g (¼ cup) flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. Brown the smoked beef and the meat. Heat the oven to 160 °C (fan 140 °C). In a heavy casserole, fry the smoked beef in 1 tbsp oil until crisp; lift out. Pat the beef chunks dry, season, and brown them in the fat in three or four batches, 4–5 minutes per batch, adding oil as needed. Do not crowd the pot; deep brown crust is where the flavour comes from.
2. Build the base. Lower the heat, add the carrots and onion and cook for 8 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste for 1 minute, then sprinkle over the flour and stir for 2 minutes more.
3. Replace the wine. Pour in the grape juice and vinegar and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the stock, thyme and bay, and return the beef, the smoked beef and any juices. The grape juice gives the fruit and colour of the wine, and the vinegar the acidity that balances the richness. Wine vinegar is Halal: the alcohol has turned to acetic acid.
4. Braise. Bring to a simmer, cover and braise in the oven for 2½–3 hours, until the beef is tender enough to cut with a spoon. Check after 2 hours and add a splash of stock if it looks dry.
5. Garnish and finish. Near the end, brown the small onions in the butter for 8–10 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook until golden. Stir them into the stew for the last 15 minutes. Taste; if it needs more depth, add another teaspoon of vinegar. Scatter with parsley and serve with mashed potato, noodles or bread.

Allergens

gluten (flour), milk (if finishing with butter)

How this recipe was researched

Method specified editorially from French boeuf bourguignon technique (beef chuck browned in batches, braised slowly with aromatics, finished with glazed onions and mushrooms) with the wine replaced by beef stock, red grape juice and red wine vinegar, and the lardons by smoked beef, using this site's Wine, Vinegar, Beef and Pork pages. Timings follow published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph of a plated beef bourguignon from Flickr, not the finished dish from this recipe.