Use Simple Beef Stock, the recipe for which is posted on this site. Use a wine that you would drink -- not cooking wine. And the better the cut of beef, the better the stew. As the beef is combined with braised onions and sauteed mushrooms, all that is needed to complete your main course is a bowl of potatoes or noodles and lots of good bread for the sauce. Cholesterol Sodium

Directions


Preparation
Pour olive oil in pan. Then add beef cubes to sear on all sides. Peel and chop shallot. Add chopped shallot to pan. Add one bay leaf, 1 whole clove, 1 whole sprig of fresh thyme, and let simmer. Chop carrots into larger slices and add to mixture. Add garlic. Let simmer until beef cooked all the way through.
Ingredients
Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily. Apart from the wine, the bacon and pearl onions set this one apart from the typical beef stew you may be familiar with. This is the classic, adapted from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Jack Scalfani tackles the most famous Julia Child recipe ever. So let me first say, this recipe does require a few, well a lot of extra steps, but I have made this recipe in the past with a few shortcuts, and the way that is recommended, there is a difference when you skip a step or two.
My gosh, so delicious! Well worth struggling with the directions. Yes, the directions were difficult but instead of fighting with them I watched a couple videos then it all made sense. One thing, I didn't cook the onions separately, I had turned the oven down to because I wanted to be able to go for a walk and thought the onions would be safe, so when I browned them I threw them in along with the mushrooms. And I didn't blanch the bacon, I just cooked it and drained the excess fat. Omg, I'm sure it will go more smoothly next time, I hope there will be many next times for this recipe. I thought of Julia the whole time I was preparing it. Directions are too hard to follow in paragraph form.