This Hearty Beef Stew Is French Country Food at Its Finest

For the last several weeks, my house has been filled with the aroma of delicious beef slowly braising in full-bodied red wine. It’s smelled so much like big, bold reds lately that my family is now insisting I take a little break from cooking with wine altogether. The reason for this is that I’ve been perfecting my bold, full flavored Gascogne-style beef and root vegetable stew—and I've loved every minute of it, no matter what my family says.

The Gascogne region is in Southwest France, tucked between Bordeaux and Spain. The region is popular among culinary aficionados for its earthy flavors, duck and goose foie gras, and other robust, lavish dishes. Because the region is so well known for its poultry, especially duck, it’s not hard to see why it has a reputation for rich food. As with most regional cuisine, you cook with what’s local. In the case of Gascogne, that means duck fat instead of olive oil, tannic and exceptionally bold red wines, dried prunes from abundant plum trees, and the uniquely nutty and caramel-flavored brandy called Armagnac. All of these flavors are incorporated into this beef stew.

Tips for Success When Cooking the Stew

The technique for making this stew is fairly straightforward: Sear the chunks of beef and render bacon to develop a rich fond, add aromatics such as garlic, carrots, and parsnips for earthy flavor, deglaze with delicious Armagnac, add the wine and broth, then cook at a low temperature for several hours until flavorful and tender. A handful of chopped prunes stud the stew for a welcome sweetness that complements the acidic wine. 

Heat management is key throughout the recipe. When searing the meat, make sure the pan is hot enough to actually create a crust on the beef but avoid too high of a temperature or you could scorch the pan. Similarly, cook the stew in a very low oven to ensure the muscle fibers and connective tissue in the beef chuck slowly transform into meltingly soft and moist gelatin. It's that gelatin that makes the meat still seem moist and tender even after the long cooking.

The Best Wine Options for Gascogne-Style Beef Stew

The challenge with developing a recipe like this is selecting the right ingredients. Daube de Boeuf à la Gasconne reflects the rich, earthy, and bold flavors notable in the cuisine there. The major question is when to stick with traditional ingredients that define the recipe, and when changes are needed to make it approachable for home cooks like me who live outside of France.

The main ingredient in question here is the wine. The right wine in this recipe is quite important (a full bottle is used, after all!). Traditionally Madiran, a red wine from the Gascogne region, is used in the stew. It’s a tannic red wine made with tannat grapes, which produce a very strikingly bold flavor. I actually found it difficult to enjoy drinking this wine, but it hits the right complex, bold flavor when simmered with the beef in the stew. 

But Madiran can sometimes be challenging to find in US wine stores, so I also tested with more common French red wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. And while these wines can certainly produce a tasty stew, these stews didn’t feel quite rich or complex enough when compared to the stew made with Madiran. A solid wine option, and far easier to find, is Cahors, which is predominantly made with malbec grapes. If Madiran and Cahors are unavailable, you can substitute a good quality malbec wine in a pinch.

Recommendations for a Balanced Stew

Looking through old cookbooks, especially Escoffier: Le Guide Culinaire, I found that a daube was traditionally made by marinating beef in red wine and aromatics. This is one area I do think it’s worth breaking from tradition. In my tests, cooking wine-marinated beef resulted in an overly boozy flavored stew. 

I do, however, recommend following the common traditional method of letting the stew cool down and then chill overnight in the refrigerator before serving. In my tests, I found this produced a richer, more complex flavor compared to eating the stew when freshly prepared. I know it can be hard to plan in advance and to wait a full day before tucking into the stew, but in my opinion, if you are going to splurge on a good bottle of wine and duck fat for the dish, it would be a shame to not let it develop as much flavor as possible. I found that refrigerating the stew overnight deepens the flavors and allows them to marry. 

When you're ready to serve the reserved stew, simply spoon off any residual layer of fat from the top before reheating. You will be rewarded with a lusciously rich dish that’s decidedly rustic yet complex, earthy, and delicious enough to mirror the traditional flavors of Gascogne.

Adjust oven rack to bottom position and preheat oven to 275℉ (135℃).

Trim off any large and hard fat pieces from chuck roast, then cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Pat dry with paper towels and sprinkle all over with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

Heat olive oil or duck fat in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook half of beef until browned on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Adjust heat to avoid burning. Transfer the browned beef to a plate, then repeat with remaining beef.

Reduce heat to medium and add the bacon to the pot with the rendered beef fat. Cook, stirring frequently, until just starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the onions, carrots, and parsnips, and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables start to soften, about 3 minutes, adjusting heat as needed to avoid scorching the vegetables. Sprinkle vegetables with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

Add the garlic and flour and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and no dry flour remains, about 1 minute. Remove pot from heat, add the brandy, stir, then return to heat and cook for 1 minute.

Slowly whisk in wine, stock or broth, thyme, and prunes. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the beef and juices from the plate to the pot. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook until the beef is fork tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Remove stew from oven. If necessary, place over a burner and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for up to 20 minutes to reduce and thicken stew to desired consistency. Use a ladle to skim excess liquid fat from top of stew and serve right away, garnished with parsley. Or—for the best tasting stew—omit skimming step, cool stew, and reserve for the next day. To serve the next day, let stew rest at room temperature until no longer hot, about 1 hour, then cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, spoon off hardened fat from the top and reheat stew on stovetop over medium heat until hot, about 15 minutes. Garnish with parsley before serving.

Special Equipment

Large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, ladle

Notes

Armagnac provides this dish with a distinct robust flavor, but you can substitute your favorite brandy if Armagnac is unavailable. 

The red wine in this recipe is an important ingredient. If possible, use a good quality Madiran wine from the Gascogne region of France. A good substitute is Cahors, also from southwest France. If both are unavailable, reach for a malbec.

Make-Ahead and Storage

The stew can be cooled to room temperature and then refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 2 months. Remove the fat layer before reheating on the stovetop. Garnish with parsley just before serving.