Healthier Gluten-Free Beef Bourginonne

Allergen-free Beef Bourginonne is not exactly a stretch. Virtually all recipes for Beef Bourginonne can be made safe by just changing the flour that they request you use for browning the meat. The problem with Beef Bourginonne is that it’s slow, complicated and messy. The Julia Child recipe has 42 steps. In most recipes, you have to fry everything and then finish the recipe in a Dutch oven. I am so never ever going to do that.

I hate frying. I hate it because it is smelly, messy, and requires that I wash the pan. And the stove. And I do not like to wash pans or stoves. I also hate frying meat because frying meat creates something called heterocyclic amines and they are a known carcinogen. You can Google heterocyclic amines or just read this about why slow cookers are your friend.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1469314/

So how oh how to make this delicious dish without a lot of messy frying or creating too many carcinogens? It is a favorite of mine so I had to find some way to do it…and so I did. My version is heavy on the mushrooms and easy on the beef. It cooks in a slow cooker and it is much easier to clean up. Also you can indeed double it without any issues and you can freeze it which will allow you an instant dish worthy of a dinner party that will not mess up your kitchen on the day of the event. Not that I have ever done that….

You will need the following

Ingredients
1 lb stew beef cut into small chunks
1 1/2 lb button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 lb bacon (raw)
1 large yellow onion
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
2 c decent dry red wine
2 c beef broth (about 1 15 oz can)
4 T tapioca “flour” (mixed with cold beef broth and then incorporated
Frozen peas and noodles for serving

Equipment
1 large pot or frying pan (the mushrooms need to be cooked separately, but they don’t spatter or stick to the pan so cleanup is easy)
1 9 x 13 baking dish for baking the bacon (alternatively you can use precooked bacon and 1/3 cup of bacon fat)
1 slow cooker large enough to hold ingredients.
Measuring cups and spoons
Paring knife and cutting board
Bowls for holding ingredients while you chop the next one
Measuring cups and spoons

Instructions
Chop the bacon into small strips and bake them at 350 degrees until crisp.
Slice button or mini-portabello mushrooms
Take the rendered bacon fat and use it to saute the mushrooms. Do not cook too long. You just want to cook until the mushrooms darken and give up their liquid.
Put mushrooms and the liquid into the refrigerator.

Chop the onions into about a 1/2 inch dice
If the stew beef is not in small chunks cut it into 1 1/2 inch chunks
Put beef, onion, wine, beef broth, tapioca, and all herbs into the slow cooker
Cook for 8 hours in the slow cooker set on low,
Turn up to high for one final hour (to thicken sauce)
Add back mushrooms and bring to a boil for about a minute
Serve with cooked peas and over cooked noodles, bread or rice.

Theoretically serves six as long as none of them are teenagers