Slow Cooked Lamb Bourguignon

This lamb bourguignon is a stove-top, slow-cooked lamb stew with tender pieces of succulent lamb braised in red wine and cognac. It is flavoured with carrots, onions, mushrooms, bacon and a Bouquet Garni; the perfect make-ahead Valentine’s Day recipe, in collaboration with Try Lamb.

Lamb bourguignon for a romantic Valentine’s Day meal

They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

You know, I’m not entirely convinced of the validity of this statement. However, I can attest to the fact that my own interest in a potential suitor definitely increases if they know their way around the kitchen.

This Valentine’s Day, why not impress your beau with this stove-top, slow-cooked lamb stew with tender pieces of succulent lamb braised in red wine and cognac. Serve, in front of a blazing fire, with a glass (or two) of good quality French wine. 

Seriously, this is one of the best lamb dishes I have ever created. I could definitely fancy someone who made this lamb bourguignon recipe for me on Valentine’s Day or any other day of the year!

This is my own adaptation of bourguignon de joues de boeuf, a traditional French beef cheeks recipe where the meat is diced and marinated in herbs, red wine and a splash of cognac before being slow-cooked for several hours. It goes really well with creamy mashed potatoes and a side of something green. 

One of the other bonuses of this recipe is that it makes six portions. It can also be made in advance and reheated, and you can freeze the leftovers if, like myself, you’re cooking for one this Valentine’s Day. There’s no sense in spending all that money on ingredients and the time cooking it if you’re not going to get a good few meals out of it, I think!

What is bourguignon?

Bourguignon is a French term describing a dish that is prepared with wine or with a mushroom and onion garnish.

What’s the best lamb cut for lamb bourguignon?

Lamb is a fattier meat than other red meats, so it lends itself really well to slow cooking for hours in stews like this. Boned and diced shoulder or leg are both well suited for lamb bourguignon, resulting in a meltingly tender dish.

What you’ll need for this recipe…

• 800 grams lamb leg or shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 750 ml red wine (Pinot Noir or Burgundy)
• 50 ml cognac* (optional)
• 10 juniper berries
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 4-5 small brown onions
• 2 large carrots
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp tomato puree 
• 1 bouquet garni (or a handful of fresh thyme sprigs)
• 250 ml lamb stock
• 450 grams baby button mushrooms
• 100 grams smoked streaky bacon, sliced and fried until crispy, to garnish
• spring onions & fresh parsley, to garnish

How to make lamb bourguignon

1. Trim any excess fat from the lamb (but not all of it, leave some for flavour) and place in a bowl with half of the red wine, the cognac, juniper berries and bay leaves. Leave to marinate for a few hours. Drain, reserving the marinade.
2. Heat the sunflower oil in a large pan. Brown the lamb pieces and then add the onions and carrots. Cook for a few more minutes.
3. Add the tomato puree and stir well. 
4. Sprinkle over the flour and cook for a few more minutes.
5. Add the reserved lamb marinade, the rest of the wine, the lamb stock, the mushrooms and the bouquet garni.
6. Simmer on a low heat, covered, for 2 hours until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick.  

Tips for slow cooking lamb

• Brown the lamb before slow cooking. This caramelises the meat juices, improving the flavour of the meat.
• Simmer over a very low heat so that the liquid is only bubbling gently around the meat. This keeps the moisture from evaporating too quickly, and also prevents the fat from emulsifying, making the dish look too oily.
• Don’t trim away all the fat off the lamb before cooking; it adds to the flavour of the dish. 
• Only season your dish sparingly at the start of cooking, as the flavour will ‘condense’ as the liquid evaporates. Season more towards the end of cooking.

What’s the best wine to use for bourguignon?

This dish is traditionally made with a good quality Burgundy wine, but a Pinot Noir will work as well.

Don’t scrimp on the wine – buy the best you can afford for this dish, and don’t be tempted to reduce the quantity of wine in the actual dish either. It’s the wine that makes this dish so flavoursome.

Bourguignon recipe adaptations

• I’ve deliberately omitted garlic from this recipe as I didn’t want it to detract away from the rich wine flavour, but feel free to add in a few chopped cloves after you’ve browned the meat.
• Make this recipe gluten-free by substituting cornflour for the flour.
• Substitute 12 whole pearl onions for the brown onions ( I would have used them in this recipe but there were none to be found in Shetland when I was making this recipe!)

The Try Lamb, Love Lamb Campaign

Lamb is an incredibly delicious and versatile ingredient. It’s easy to grow, too, thriving in European pastures.

Try Lamb was created to showcase the ease and versatility with which lamb could be incorporated into family meals. I and a team of other foodies and home cooks have been regularly sharing lamb recipes with our followers, in collaboration with Try Lamb, in hopes that we will help inspire you to give lamb a try. Trust me, you’ll love it!

You can find out more about lamb by visiting the Try Lamb website.

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This is a sponsored recipe post in collaboration with Try Lamb, although all thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for supporting the brands who make it possible for me to do what I love: mess up my kitchen and share recipe stories.