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Dijon and Cognac Beef Stew
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Dijon and Cognac Beef Stew

Cognac and two mustards flavor this rich, hearty traditional French stew.
Course Main Course, Meat, Stew
Cuisine French
Servings 4 generous servings

Equipment

  • Dutch oven

Ingredients

  • 4 slices bacon
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 to 3 shallots, chopped
  • 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
  • unsalted butter, as needed
  • 2 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1- to 1-1/-inch cubes
  • flour for dredging beef
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup Cognac or brandy (see Kitchen Notes)
  • 1-1/2 cups beef broth unsalted or reduced sodium
  • 3/4 cup dry red wine, divided
  • 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided
  • 1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard or coarse-ground
  • 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced on a diagonal
  • 1/2 pound mushrooms, stemmed, cleaned and quartered (button mushrooms are fine, but you can also use crimini)
  • dried wide egg noodles, cooked according to package instructions (see Kitchen Notes)

Instructions

  • Sauté bacon in large skillet over medium heat until just crisp. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and reserve.
  • Add onion and shallot to skillet and sweat over medium heat, adding a little of the butter, if your bacon didn’t leave enough fat. Add garlic and cook another minute. Transfer with slotted spoon to a Dutch oven.
  • Season beef cubes lightly with salt and generously with pepper. Dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Add some butter to same skillet, as necessary, and brown meat on all sides, working in batches to avoid overcrowding. Transfer to Dutch oven as it is browned.
  • TURN OFF THE FLAME UNDER THE SKILLET. Pour Cognac (or brandy, which I used) into skillet. Holding skillet away from stove, turn on burner (I did the first part, but not the second, and the brandy caught fire impressively—see Kitchen Notes). Reduce by half. Stir in stock and 1/2 cup wine and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits.
  • Stir in 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and the whole grain mustard. Pour over beef and onion mixture in Dutch oven. Crumble/tear bacon into Dutch oven and stir to combine everything. Bring to simmer, cover partially, and cook about 2 hours. Add carrots and cook another 30 minutes.
  • Heat 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet (perhaps the same one, which you washed while the beef and carrots were simmering) over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until juice from the mushrooms cooks down and they begin to brown. Add remaining wine and remaining Dijon mustard and cook about 30 seconds. Stir mushroom mixture into stew and simmer another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt, if needed.
  • Meanwhile, cook egg noodles. Divide egg noodles among 4 shallow bowls. Spoon stew over noodles and serve.

Kitchen Notes

Cognac? Brandy? While both are refined spirits made from wine, all Cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is Cognac. It is only produced in the spcific region of southwest France that bears its name, following very specific traditional production methods. Brandy can be made anywhere, and the production methods can vary greatly. That said, if you don’t typically keep Cognac in stock (we don’t), brandy will work just fine for this dish.
Fire in the hole. Cognac and brandy have significantly higher alcohol content than wine. They will catch fire. Turn off the stove before adding either to your pan. Then hold the pan away from the stove when you relight the burner. If you don’t do this and your pan bursts into (beautiful blue) flame, cover it with a lid, and the fire will go out.
Cook more egg noodles. I cooked almost twice what the package described as serving sizes. That was the right amount. If you end up with leftover egg noodles, pop them in the fridge. You can nuke them later and toss them with butter for a nice side or snack.