Is boeuf bourguignon better cooked the night before?

i made it this way and it was a total success! thank you for the advice!

I find that pot roasts, stews, and briskets taste much better on Day 2....

After asking this question, I did as suggested and made most of it the night before. I browned and braised the meat and veggies, then cooled, refrigerated. The next day I removed the fat and gently reheated, covered in the oven. I then made the onions and mushrooms as per Julia's recipe, moved the dish to the burner, stirred in the onions and mushrooms and let simmer a good 20 mins. I removed some of the sauce to boil down and thicken. It was delicious. Maybe you can make the whole thing at once, but I think the mushroom texture is firmer cooked the same day. Mushrooms are delicate and i like the contrast of the light mushrooms and heavy beef. Still, iris hard to mess up this recipe if your ingredients are good!

i can't seem to find a good recipe with steps for the night before and then steps the day of... so do you not do anything with the mushrooms or onions until the day of or do you let the mushrooms sit over night as well? i've seen both ways... anyone have julia child's recipe with day by day instructions?

I did not know you could eat it the same day !
;-)

In my experience, the reheating melds the flavors better than the first cooking. I've made the recipe a number of times and always am impressed at how good the meal tastes the next day.

TOTALLY!!!!

Yes, I highly recommend this approach - it will be twice as tasty!