One of our favorite dishes that we had when we went to Paris was Beef Bourguignon at a restaurant called Atlas in the St. Germaine neighborhood. We had it the first night on the trip and haven’t stopped talking about it over a year later. Atlas’s recipe was different than a traditional beef bourguignon recipe because it was made with short ribs instead of stew meat. The result was the most decadent beef dish, accompanied by mashed potatoes that were likely equal parts potato and butter. It was heaven on this earth and we have insisted that every person who has gone to Paris since eat this dish and send us a photo so that we can live vicariously. After sending yet another friend there this winter, we decided to recreate the dish at home. We used Julia Child’s recipe as a starting point and modified for cooking the dish with short ribs. We ate this with some sautéed cremini mushrooms and our famous Best Ever Mashed Potatoes to replicate our Paris experience. Not to brag, but we did a pretty awesome job. Make this dish on a lazy Saturday when you have hours to let this cook on the stove. It only gets better the longer it cooks and the results are well worth the wait.

Beef Short Ribs Bourguignon
Makes: 6 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 4 hours Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 oz thick cut bacon, chopped into bite size pieces
• 4+ lbs bone in short ribs (this is two packages at our local store but if you are choosing fresh, estimate two short ribs per person)
• salt and pepper
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped into large pieces
• 1 yellow onion, chopped into large pieces
• 2 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 3 tbs flour
• 3 cups red wine (use a bold red like Bordeux or Chianti)
• 3 cups+ beef stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Heat a large soup pot or cast iron pot over medium heat. Add the bacon to the pan and cook on medium heat for about 6 minutes to render the fat out of the bacon. You don’t want the bacon to brown excessively, but rather slowly cook to melt the fat. Remove the bacon from the pan into a large bowl and set aside.
3. Season the short ribs generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Increase the heat in the pot to medium-high and let the pot get nice and hot. Brown the short ribs for 3 minutes per side on all sides, including their ends. If you need to do this in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pot, do this in two batches. Remove the first batch into the same bowl at the bacon and repeat until all of the short ribs are browned.
4. Reduce the heat back to medium. If there is enough fat in the pan at this point, remove all but a 2-3 tbs of fat from the pot. If you don’t have enough fat in the pan, add olive oil until you have 2-3 tbs in the pot. Add the carrots and onion to the pot, cooking on medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the onions have started to caramelize. Add the garlic to the pan and cook an additional 2 minutes.
5. Add the tomato paste to the pot. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the flour to the pot and stir well to make sure that everything is coated. Add 1 cup of the red wine and use a whisk to make sure all of the liquid is absorbed. Continue to add the wine 1 cup at a time, whisking well to combine, for each of the three cups of wine.
6. Add the bacon and short ribs back to the pot, making sure that the short ribs are meat side down on the bottom of the pot. Add enough beef stock to the pot so that the short ribs are just covered. This should be about 3 cups of stock, but judge according to the size of your short ribs compared to the liquid in the pan.
7. Remove the pot from the heat, cover with the lid or foil, and bake in the oven for four hours. After four hours have passed, remove the pot from the oven.Give the entire dish a good stir so that everything can mix together. Serve the short ribs over mashed potatoes and use a ladle to scoop a bunch of sauce over top.