Hunter's Stew!! Otherwise known as Beef Chasseur, this french beef stew is rich and hearty with a luscious, velvety sauce flavored with mushrooms, tomatoes and white wine. An easy technique makes this stew restaurant worthy in a fraction of the time!!!
Growing up, Beef Chasseur or Hunter's Stew was one of my favorite dishes - I loved the silky, rich flavor of the sauce. Flavored with white wine, tomatoes and mushrooms with a base of either demi glace or espagnole sauce, it has an amazing flavor. It can also take an amazing amount of time to make ....
Which is the main reason I haven't made this dish since culinary school!
But, where there is "a will there is a way" and it dawned on me that there was perhaps an easier way to make Hunter's Stew.
So I headed to the kitchen and got to work! And I was pretty excited about the results - this version of Hunter's Stew was very close to the one's I'd had growing up and didn't require hours of work! After about 30 minutes of prep the stew braises away in the oven and only needs some simple potatoes and a salad to go with it.
So what's the secret to this dish? It's all in the thickening agent! Which brings me to...
How to thicken beef stew!
Beef stews are thickened in a couple of different ways.
Dusting the beef with flour before browning - the flour works with the fat to thicken the sauce as the stew cooks.
A cornstarch slurry - cornstarch and water are blended together and then stirred into the sauce shortly before serving.
Using a beurre manie - which is the secret to this sauce! To make it, you mix equal parts of soft, unsalted butter and flour together to make a paste which you stir in just before serving the stew.
It's magical and gives the stew a glossy, velvety texture that will have you licking the bowl!!!
Like this recipe? I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment and rate it!
Chasseur Style Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 lb. beef stew meat cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
- 3 Tbsp. butter softened
- 2 Tbsp. flour
- 1 cup sliced cremini mushrooms
- ½ cup shallots cut into ½ inch dice
- ¼ cup carrots
- ¼ cup celery
- 1 bouquet garni
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 ½ cups beef stock
- 1 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained
- ¼ cup minced parsley
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons flour in a small bowl and stir until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
- Blot the stew meat dry and season with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil in the cocotte over medium high heat.
- When the oil is hot (it should shimmer) add several pieces of the stew meat, being careful not to crowd the pan.
- Cook, browning the meat until the meat easily releases from the pan.
- Remove the meat pieces to a plate and repeat with the remaining meat.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to the cocotte.
- Saute the mushrooms for approximately 3 minutes until the mushrooms are golden.Remove the mushrooms and set aside.
- Add the shallots, carrots and celery and cook over medium high heat until the vegetables begin to soften an the shallots are golden - about 5 minutes.
- Add the wine and cook, scraping the bottom of the pan.
- Add the meat back to the pan and pour in the beef stock.
- Add the tomatoes, bouquet garni and bring the mixture up to a boil.
- Cover the cocotte and place in the oven.
- Bake for 1 ½ hours or until the beef is tender
- Remove stew from the oven.
- Remove the cover and stir in the flour/butter mixture.
- Add the mushrooms and stir to combine.
- Divide stew among 4 bowls and sprinkle with parsley.
Nutrition
Lori says
Oh, I love the size of this! I use my Dutch oven almost more than my cast iron. It would be great to have a smaller one. The stew looks delicious!
Mark says
Wow. What a great way to end a cool winter's day. Tastes great and filling, too.
Jean says
Oh this was wonderful! Thanks for an awesome recipe. My husband quite liked it, and he’s fussy. It will definitely be on my recipe rotation! I was wondering about the wine. Was there a particular reason you used white? Often it’s a red wine that goes into a beef dish. I’m more of a red wine drinker, so I was just curious.
Nancy says
Hi Jean!!
I am sooo happy you and your husband enjoyed the stew!!! And I absolutely love your question! The reason I used white wine versus red is the stew is based on Chasseur Sauce. The sauce is french in origin and typically was made to accompany game. Made with either demi-glace or Espagnole sauce and mushrooms, shallots, tomatoes and white wine. Making demi-glace and Espagnole sauce are both pretty time intensive so I was trying to get the flavor of the sauce in a shorter amount of time. So I tried a few iterations and this Hunter's stew was the result. Although I love a good Beef Bourguignon, I really liked the lighter character of the sauce in this stew so I kept the white wine!!