Beef Cheek Bourguignon Ramen
There are dishes that take all afternoon and make you feel like you actually did something with your life, and this is one of them. Beef bourguignon is the kind of French peasant food that got fancy by accident, because it turns out that braising a tough cut of meat in an entire bottle of red wine for three hours is the best idea anyone ever had. Beef cheeks specifically are doing a lot of work here, because they have more collagen than basically any other cut, and all that collagen melts down into the braising liquid and turns it into something almost glossy. The pearl onions get tender and sweet, the mushrooms go deeply savory, the lardons add that smoky-salty backbone, and the whole thing just becomes this one unified broth that happens to be magnificent. Pouring that over ramen noodles is not disrespectful to France. If anything, the noodles are just honest about wanting to absorb every drop. You will need most of a Saturday and approximately zero apologies about it.
Red wine fills the pot—Beef cheeks dissolve into silk—Ramen drinks it all
Let Me Tell You...
My neighbor had a cast iron Dutch oven he never used, sitting on his counter like a prop, and one afternoon I borrowed it and never really gave it back because some cookware just knows where it belongs.
I was trying to make something that felt serious, the kind of meal that smells like it's been cooking since before you woke up, and beef bourguignon is basically designed for that, all dark wine and root vegetables and patience you only pretend to have. Beef cheeks sounded like the right call because a butcher once told me they're the most forgiving tough cut you can braise, and I wanted forgiving.
Wet meat steams instead of browning and you'll lose the fond that makes the broth worth anything.
The sear takes longer than you think it should, because you're working with thick irregular pieces and the Dutch oven needs to be properly ripping hot before the meat hits it, otherwise you get gray instead of brown and that's a moral failing.
I burned myself on the edge of the pot reaching in to flip a cheek and genuinely felt the burn was earned, like the dish was making a point about attention.
The lardons went in next and filled the kitchen with that low smoky smell, the kind that makes you feel like you're doing something continental even if you're wearing sweatpants in a third-floor apartment.
Bad wine makes bad broth.
A bottle of Burgundy or Cotes du Rhone is the correct move here.
The wine goes in and it hisses and steams and then everything settles into this slow dark simmer that you basically don't touch for three hours except to check that it hasn't dropped below a lazy bubble.
What happens in there is the collagen from the cheeks quietly unwinds and dissolves into the liquid, and by the time you lift the lid the broth has this body to it, this weight, like the beef has been quietly giving everything it had for the past three hours, which it has.
The pearl onions go tender and sweet, the mushrooms shrink down and concentrate, and it all starts tasting like one thing instead of several.
Don't dice them.
Rustic pieces hold better in a bowl.
The ramen noodles are the part that sounds weird until you taste it, because they're just the right vehicle for a broth this heavy and wine-forward, absorbing it from the inside out in a way that pasta would struggle with.
I served it to my friend Rachel who is extremely French about food and she made a face at the noodles for about two seconds and then didn't say anything else for the rest of the meal, which is the highest compliment she's capable of giving.
You eat it in a wide bowl and it's dark and glossy and there's steam, and honestly if that Dutch oven wanted to stay, this is why.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef cheeks, trimmed of excess sinew and fat, cut into 3-inch pieces
- 6 ounces thick-cut bacon or lardons, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 bottle (750ml) dry red wine (Burgundy or Cotes du Rhone)
- 2 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 1 cup pearl onions, peeled (fresh or frozen)
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered
- 3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil (such as grapeseed or vegetable)
- 12 ounces dried ramen noodles (3 bricks, seasoning packets discarded)
- Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, for garnish
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 325°F (165°C). Pat beef cheeks completely dry with paper towels. Season generously with kosher salt and black pepper on all sides. Dust lightly with flour and shake off any excess.
- Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter. When the butter foams and subsides, sear beef cheeks in batches without crowding, 3-4 minutes per side, until deeply browned. Transfer browned cheeks to a plate and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add lardons to the same pot and cook 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly crisped and fat has rendered. Remove lardons with a slotted spoon and set aside with the beef, leaving fat in pot.
- Add carrots and pearl onions to the pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until lightly golden. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant. Stir in tomato paste and cook 2 minutes, coating the vegetables.
- Pour in the entire bottle of red wine and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add beef broth, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves. Return the seared beef cheeks and lardons to the pot. The liquid should come about two-thirds up the sides of the beef.
- Bring to a gentle simmer on the stovetop, then cover and transfer to the oven. Braise for 3 hours, checking once halfway through to ensure the liquid is at a lazy bubble and not a rolling boil. Adjust oven temperature slightly if needed.
- While the braise finishes, sauté mushrooms: heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over high heat. Add quartered mushrooms in a single layer and cook without stirring for 3-4 minutes until browned on one side. Toss once, cook 2 minutes more, then season with salt and set aside.
- Remove Dutch oven from oven. Carefully lift out the beef cheeks with tongs and place on a cutting board. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Pull beef cheeks apart into large irregular chunks by hand or with two forks.
- If broth seems thin, simmer uncovered on the stovetop over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until slightly thickened and glossy. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Stir in sauteed mushrooms.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook ramen noodles for 2-3 minutes until just tender. Drain thoroughly and divide among wide serving bowls.
- Ladle the hot bourguignon broth, vegetables, and lardons generously over the noodles. Top each bowl with pulled beef cheek chunks. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.