Beef Bourguigon

Cook bacon in pan using stove top on medium high heat until fully cooked. Remove bacon from pan and set aside.

Brown beef stew meat in the same pan using the bacon grease. Make sure to not overcrowd the pan. Add additional two teaspoons of olive oil to pan as needed for second batch of beef you will be browning. Remove beef from pan.

Sauté the carrots, celery and garlic in the pan with two teaspoons of olive oil for about 5 minutes on medium high heat until softened. At this time you can add the mushrooms as well or wait to sauté the mushrooms at the end of cooking for a more firm mushroom.

Add flour to the cooked vegetables, stir and cook for one minute.

Deglaze the pan by adding the wine, broth and cognac. Make sure to scrape all of the bits from the pan at this time. These bits add flavor to the sauce. Add the butter and tomato paste, stir until combined. Salt and pepper this broth to taste at this time. Let the broth cook for five minutes on medium heat. Add the beef and bacon to the broth/soup. Place the stew, pearl onions, thyme and bay leaves in a vacuum seal bag ensuring the bag is welled sealed as you would for traditional Sou vide cooking.

Place seal bag of stew on pan and into oven and cook for 12 hours. Once stew is cooked through, let stew cook slightly to prevent burning yourself, then cut bag and pour into large serving dish.

At the end of cooking the stew, if decided to add the mushrooms at the end - sauté mushrooms on medium high heat with two teaspoons of olive oil in a pan on stove top for four minutes until soft. Then add mushrooms to the stew.

Serve this delicious stew with mashed potatoes and French crusty bread.