Poached eggs in a rich red wine sauce with bacon, mushrooms and shallots: a Burgundian classic hearty enough to serve as a main course. Toasted bread soaks up the sauce and runny yolk.
Meurette is a red wine-based sauce, often enriched with stock and fried bacon, onion and mushrooms. In this Burgundian dish, poached eggs take centre stage; it’s more than just an egg on bread with a little sauce poured over it. The wine adds depth and a lightly fruity, earthy flavour, while the stock and bacon bring savouriness. Shallots and mushrooms make the sauce fuller without overpowering the delicate egg.
Choose a dry red wine that you enjoy drinking, but save an expensive bottle for something else: reducing it concentrates the flavour. Pinot noir is a good match for the Burgundian style, but another red wine that isn’t too full-bodied works too. Use lightly salted stock, as the bacon and stock already add salt. The flour lightly thickens the sauce; let it cook gently after adding it so the sauce doesn’t taste of raw flour.
Mushrooms are available all year round and give the dish a dependable, firm bite. In autumn, you can replace some of them with fresh wild mushrooms, if available; cook them well first so they don’t make the sauce watery. Shallots are a practical choice for the onion base. Small pearl onions work too, but add them early so they have time to soften. The red wine remains central to the character of the dish; an alcohol-free substitute will make a different sauce.
Poaching is mostly about keeping the water gentle. Let it move softly rather than boil hard, so the egg white stays around the yolk. A splash of vinegar helps the white set more quickly, but that’s no reason to drop the eggs into boiling water. Poach the eggs just before serving: that way, the yolks are still runny and the dish doesn’t have to wait while they continue cooking.
Serve each egg on a thick slice of toasted country bread and spoon the hot sauce around and partly over it. The bread soaks up the wine sauce and egg yolk, turning it into a complete meal. You can make the sauce a day ahead: cool it promptly, cover and refrigerate it, then heat it through thoroughly before serving. Poach the eggs and toast the bread at the last minute to preserve their textures.
Fry the bacon lardons in a wide pan over medium heat for 5 minutes, until lightly crisp. Lift them out of the pan and leave the fat behind.
Add the butter and shallots. Cook for 4 minutes, stir in the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes, until golden.
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir for 1 minute. Gradually pour in the red wine, stirring as you go. Add the stock, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil.
Simmer the sauce gently, uncovered, for 20–25 minutes, until slightly thickened. Stir in the bacon lardons and season with pepper and a little salt, if needed. Remove the thyme and bay leaf.
Meanwhile, toast the bread. In a large pan, bring water and the vinegar to just below boiling point. Crack each egg into a cup first, then carefully slide it into the water. Poach the eggs in batches for 3–4 minutes, until the white is set and the yolk remains soft. Lift them out of the water with a slotted spoon.
Place a slice of toasted bread on each plate and top with two poached eggs. Spoon the hot meurette sauce around and partly over the eggs. Serve immediately.
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