Beef bourginon in new STOK cast iron oven


 
S

Sandy B

TVWBB Super Fan
I picked up my STOK cast iron dutch oven this week from the sears deal so I wanted to put it through its paces, so I decided to weberize a classic french dish, Beef bourginon. It also helped that in the freezer I still had a chuck roast ( 2.5 lbs) from a previous BOGO deal.

So here are the principles


Clockwise from the top the new stok dutch over, about 1/2 pound of bacon for lardons, 2 diced white onions, 2 diced cloves of garlic, 1/2 pound of baby carrots, sea salt and pepper, and yellow tail pinot noir ( 1.5 l). In the middle is the chuck that I cut to about 2 inch pieces, cut out the deep veins of fat, dried them off with paper towels to get a good crust on them and then salt and pepper.

I started off by rendering the bacon which went really well on the cast iron. using a slotted spoon I transfered the bacon to a stainless steel bowl then did the beef in two batches over very hot bacon fat



when they had a good crust to them ( 3-4 min per batch) I moved them and added them to the bowl with the rendered bacon. I then removed about 80% of the remaining fat, then sauteed the carrots and the onions in the remaining fat for about 15 min



when they were done removed them from the oven and moved the dutch oven over the coals to get it really hot. Deglazed the pan with about a cup of wine, threw the onions carrots back in, added the garlic then added about one full bottle ( 750 mls) of the wine. let the cast iron rest right over the coals to get the wine going, I added a can of beef broth that my neighbor volunteered. Once it was simmering ( about 15 min) put on the lid (it is heavy) moved it indirect and then adjusted the temp to the goal of 250. I overshot a little (270) but that's okay. Kept it on the grill for 75 min this is what it looked like before the indirect



and somewhat from the side



At about 60 min in, sauteed some quartered button mushrooms in butter. Brought the cast iron inside put in on the stove top on high to boil it, added a 1:1 ratio of butter and flour to thicken it, boiled for about 4 min then back to simmer. Added the sauteed mushrooms then put some frozen pearl onions in the hot sautee pan ( no butter) to brown them up a little then they went for a swim into the simmering pool for about 5 min.

The classic accompaniment for this is wide egg noodles but these always seem both bland and watery to me so I thick cut some atersenal bread and toasted it under the broiler ( i wanted to grill it but the charcoal was spent and people were getting restless, no time for a refire, next time I will). Started the plate with the toasted bread


then added the beef from a slotted spoon ( not too wet) and garnished with some chopped parsley



I also took some of the cooking liquid and transfered it to a gravy boat. Toasting the bread was the bomb, the soft centers sopped up the liquid like a sponge but the crust still had a great mouth feel to it. The beef was tender but not fall apart tender and you could still taste the crust. Having the gravy ad libitum also helped it from being a soggy mess. I'd give it a 7/10 my wife loved it she was thinking 9/10.

The good thing is that there is more than enough ( largely due to the size of the stok pot) for me to be able to test the hypothesis that it is better the next day. I dont know how it compares to lodge or other pots but so far I'm a big ban of the pot. if anyone is wondering its about 5 and a half quarts by my approximation.

hope everyone is having a great weekend.
 
John Solak said:
Another fine looking cook Sandy!!!! Never new Stok made CI dutch ovens.
Click to expand...

Yeah it fits the insert on the grates (that Im still waiting for) is pretty heavy and no plastic anywhere. The lid fits flush and the handle is great to move from grill to inside.

It cleaned up pretty well afterwards and of course it held heat really really well
 
Boeuf bourguignon is a favorite dish in our family. I've never tried it on the grill. Your looks very good!
 
Thanks for all of the kind words, although I am not so sure that they are all well deserved. This was extremely easy to do if you have the time, the temps are not all that important an the hardest part was that when you brown the beef in the really hot bacon fat, you REALLY have to make sure the beef is dry because the fat will spit ( I have a tiny little grease burn near my wrist). Then there is the problem of removing the excess fat before you add the onions and carrots. I'd like to get like one of the injectors or perhaps a stainless steel baster to remove the excess. instead I put on side on the lip and then spooned out the excess hot grease with a big spoon. but it is important that you remove it, a lot of recipes worry about the fat rising to the top after the addition of wine that you have to remove, I'm much more in favor of being proactive as there was more than enough left to saute the onions and carrots.

if you have a good way to remove the fat the whole thing is easy peasy but if you do it, I would go with more than a single chimney so that you could toast the bread on the grill. while its cooking at 250 for the 70 min is when I should have added more coals, I suspect the increased smoke of new coals would not have much of an effect as the lid is pretty tight and if it did, it might be better.

if you have had beef bourginon but never over thick cut toast I whole heartily recommend it, in my mind its WAY better than over noodles.


If I can find my candy thermometer the next thing will likely be steak fries in the Stok dutch oven. I've been using a deep fryer outside ( I cant abide the smell of French fries in the house that lingers for like a week) and the fryer I have is pretty small so I might be able to single batch it in the dutch oven, and at worst it will re-season it. that or perhaps fried chicken.

but again for everyone who said nice things, thanks !
 
Looks delicious. Like to cook with the DO out on the grill too. My wife didn't like the smell of fries either. Last winter got her a Actifry. We sure do like it.
 
Great Dutch Oven cooking on the kettle..I do this often and it's fun and always results in great eats!

Nice!
 
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