Dinner
The “Bourdain Refined” Beef Bourguignon
Anthony Bourdain’s rustic Les Halles bourguignon with my upgrades: beef seared in bacon fat, my own roasted beef bone demi-glace, sweet jammy shallots and a cold-butter finish.
3 hr 20 min · Medium
Dinner · · By Ashley
Bone-Stock Sifted Potato Purée
Two parts potato to one part butter, boiled in beef stock instead of water. Rich enough to stand up to a red wine braise.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total
- 55 min
- Serves
- 6
- Level
- Medium
Where the time goes
55 min, mostly waiting
- Hands-on
- Hands-off
- 01Hands-onPeel and quarter the potatoes10 min
- 02Hands-offBring the stock to a boil10 min
- 03Hands-offSimmer in the stock20 min
- 04Hands-onDrain and dry2 min
- 05Hands-onPush through the sifter8 min
- 06Hands-onWhisk in the butter and cream5 min
The story
This is the purée I put under my “Bourdain Refined” Beef Bourguignon. The potatoes simmer in beef stock instead of water, so they soak up its savory flavor all the way through.
Pushing them through a fine sifter shears the starches down for an ultra-silky, completely smooth texture, with no chunks or skin left behind. Then comes the butter, a pound of it for two pounds of potatoes.
Ingredients
Serves 6
Tap an ingredient to check it off.
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done.
Simmer in stock
Put the potatoes in a large pot and pour in the beef stock, enough to cover them by an inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then drop to a steady simmer and cook for 20 minutes, until fork-tender.
Dry them off
Drain the potatoes well. Return them to the warm, empty pot over low heat for 1 minute, shaking gently to cook off any surface moisture.
Sift
While they are steaming hot, use a plastic bench scraper or wooden spoon to push the potatoes through a fine-mesh sifter, strainer or drum tamis into a warm bowl.
Sift them hot. Cold potatoes turn gluey.
Emulsify the butter
Return the sifted potatoes to the warm pot over low heat. Whisk hard while adding the cold butter a few cubes at a time, and don’t add more until the last cubes have fully disappeared. Once all the butter is in, drizzle in the cream and whisk until pale gold. Season with salt.
Ingredients · 55 min · Serves 6
- 2 lbsYukon Gold potatoes
- 4 cupshigh-quality beef stock
- 1 lb (4 sticks)high-quality unsalted butter
- ¼ cupheavy whipping cream
- kosher salt
Keep cooking
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Made this one?
I send a new recipe most weeks, plus whatever went sideways in the kitchen that week.