Known in French as “Oeuf en Meurette”, this classic dish from Burgundy is a poached egg served on toast, and in a silky red wine sauce with mushrooms, pancetta bits and pearl onions.
Think Beef Bourguignon, but quicker, easier and with an egg.
This dish is of course very reminiscent of Beef Bourguignon, which features the same rich red wine sauce. But there isn’t any slow-braised meat here. It’s a simple poached egg that is the star of the show, served atop garlicky toast.
This makes this dish way quicker to make, easier and much lighter than Beef Bourguignon; but with the same amazing layers of flavors from the earthy mushrooms, tangy pearl onions and salty pancetta bites.
It is a great year-round dish that is put together in less than 45 minutes. It makes for a perfect dinner, or brunch – if you’re up for red wine in the morning (I mean, why not?).
Cooking notes:
- French “lardons” (bacon matchsticks) are traditionally used in this dish. As a substitute, pancetta or bacon sticks work perfectly.
- Cremini mushrooms are often used for this dish, but you can opt for any type of mushrooms of your choosing. I really enjoy meaty shiitake mushrooms, which I have used here for the photos.
- Choose a dry red wine.
- Choosing a crusty, country-style bread is best. Although, a Classic French pain de mie works well too (more tender).
- Thyme is traditionally used as an aromatic for this dish, but I can see bay leaves working well here too.
- The assembling of the dish should be quick – you don’t want any of the components (sauce/egg/toast) to get cold before serving.
- It is very easy to scale this recipe up or down (4 eggs, 4 toasts, etc…).
If you try this Burgundy Poached Egg in Red Wine Sauce on Toast (Oeuf en Meurette) recipe let me know! Leave a comment or share a photo on Instagram tagging @pardonyourfrench or using #pardonyourfrench.
A recipe inspired by Marmiton and BBC Good Food.
10 comments
This looks great, but I have a question. What is dry red wine? It’s all wet to me. I’m serious. Do you just mean, not a dessert wine?
Hi Dana! Wines are classified from dry to sweet (based on the amount of natural sugar in the wine), and for this dish, it is best to use a dry wine to build the sauce. Beaujolais, or Cabernet Franc are usually a good choice!
For the toasts, is this one garlic clove to be divided 4 ways, or 1 clove for each of the 4 pieces of toast? Unless it is a very large clove I don’t see being able to squeeze a single one out to make enough to brush onto 8 sides of bread.
Hi Jeff! Good question – I generally have enough with 1 single garlic clove for the 4 toasts. You’ll want to brush the toasts lightly; the garlic taste should be very subtle. But if you feel a single clove isn’t enough, using 2 is okay 🙂
I had this dish in a little place in Dijon, France and I still talk about it. One of the best meals I ever had!
Eggs Meurette sure is a memorable dish!
Delicious, and easy. A perfect supper dish when you don’t feel like doing much cooking but want something really tasty. I used leftover red wine I had frozen, plus pancetta I had frozen (I buy a big hunk then cut it into smaller pieces for freezing), and I was very fortunate to get a goose egg from my local farmers’ market (Yay small family-run organic farms!). I cut my mushrooms in half before cooking as I felt they were a bit too big. I had frozen baguette so used this for the bread. I loved being able to make the sauce ahead and then gently reheat it while my egg poached. One goose egg is a perfect size for one. When duck eggs become available I will try it with these. Another keeper recipe, thank you Audrey.
Thank you so much, Michele, I’m thrilled you enjoyed it. What an absolutely luxury to have great quality eggs available to you, it’s something I try not to take for granted either. But goose egg!? I don’t think I’ve ever tried one, what’s it like? I am so intrigued, I wonder if they’re available near me or not.
Goose eggs: I have never found them commercially, although I can get duck eggs commercially. I know of only one farmer who very seasonally sells his goose eggs (later on in the season we get goose confit and lastly a whole goose to roast). You need to find a farmer who has geese and can sell you some eggs. One big goose egg is the equivalent of about two large eggs, but the yolks are much bigger relative to the white, and they tend to have firmer whites. I think they taste a bit richer than regular eggs, a good thing. I love them as scrambled eggs, in a soufflé, and now en meurette. A real treat. Duck eggs are also good done this way. Depending on the duck, they are a bit larger than extra large eggs, and a beautiful blue colour. They are very rich in taste.
I am so thankful that although I live in a big city I have easy access to several really good farmers markets, largely organic, and the person that sells to you is either the farmer themselves, another family member, or one of their assistants.
Thanks for the insight, Michele! I am lucky enough to also be completed surrounded by farmers, but aven’t seen goose eggs I don’t think (I also haven’t looked)… But I will be on the look out now. Every Saturday is a dozen eggs fresh from the local farmer (the eggs are fresh from the same day), and nothing tastes better!