Boeuf Bourguignon, · 5 servings

Put 800 g beef chuck, 300 g large carrots, 16 pearl onions, 1 leaf bay leaf, 3 sprigs thyme and 750 ml Pinot Noir or other dry red wine in a large non-reactive dish or a zip-lock bag, making sure the meat is covered. Refrigerate overnight.

Tip everything into a colander set over a bowl to catch the wine. Pick out the beef, the carrots and the onions into three separate bowls; keep the bay leaf and thyme.

Bring the wine to the boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and let it bubble hard, skimming off the grey scum that rises, until it has reduced by half. Set aside.

Heat the oven to 180 °C (180 °C fan).

Spread the marinated beef on a tray lined with paper towels and pat it thoroughly dry, then sprinkle with 4 ml salt and 2.5 ml black pepper.

Heat 30 ml olive, canola or vegetable oil (two thirds) in the pot over high heat. Brown a third of the beef hard on every side, lift it into a bowl and repeat with the rest, adding a little more oil if the pot looks dry.

Add 150 g slab bacon to the pot and fry for 3 min, until golden, then add it to the beef.

Fry 200 g mushrooms in the bacon fat for 5 min, until golden, then scoop them into a new bowl.

Add a splash of 15 ml olive, canola or vegetable oil (the rest) if needed and fry the marinated onions for 5 min, until they have golden patches. Add them to the mushrooms.

Melt 50 g unsalted butter in the pot, add the marinated carrots and cook for 3 min to 4 min, until patched with gold. Add 3 cloves garlic and cook 1 min more.

Stir in 30 ml tomato paste and cook for 2 min, then sprinkle over 90 ml plain flour and cook, stirring, for another 2 min.

Pour in 750 ml beef stock slowly while stirring, so the flour dissolves without lumps, then add the reduced wine and stir until smooth.

Return the beef and bacon with any juices, add the thyme and bay leaf from the marinade, 1.5 ml salt and a grind of pepper, and stir well.

Bring to a simmer on the stove, cover and transfer to the oven for 1 h.

Take the pot out and stir in the browned mushrooms and onions.

Cover and return to the oven for 1 h 30 min, until the beef is falling-apart tender.

Taste the sauce and add salt only if it needs it. Fish out the thyme stalks and bay leaf.

Ideally cool, refrigerate overnight and reheat gently on a low flame. Serve over mashed potato, scattered with 30 ml flat leaf parsley.