My friend Mike came back from visiting his family for the Christmas holiday. He was pretty psyched after watching the same movie with his mom, and he wanted to try his hand at French cooking. And what better to start with than Julia's famous Boeuf Bourguignon?
Mike's giddyness plus my kitchen utensils and our combined enthusiasm came together last night for a fabulous culinary adventure. We started at 3:30pm and didn't eat until 8:30. So. Worth. It. I mean, it wasn't anything hugely difficult or confusing...just labor-intensive.
Photo is courtesy of Mike's iPhone. Awesome...
Some of my favorite parts of the night:
* Mike's impression of Julia Child. While Meryl Streep pulled off an impressive version of the cooking goddess, I feel like Mike's voice was a great rival for the actress. I know it kept me in stitches...
* Trying to figure out a way to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew...then discovering that a screwdriver, a screw, and pliers don't make for a good substitute. And then letting Mike go knock on neighbors' doors to borrow said kitchen implement. Apparently she had a good laugh at the Mormons trying to cook with wine.
* Having the smell of the beef and wine and broth and onions...mmmm! hit us in the face when we came back into my apartment from running to grab the butter we needed.
* Stealing small bites of each ingredient as it was finished. Pearl onions browned and then simmered... Who knew they could be so sweetly delicious?
* Actually enjoying the fruits of our efforts. I was tired and felt like my heart and soul and energy had all been expunged from my body and had floated into the big pot of beef and vegetables and sauce. But sitting down down and digging in was pure delight.
Here are my thoughts on the recipe itself...
1) When do you add the sliced carrot and onion to the mix? It tells you to saute them all up, but there are absolutely no instructions about getting them in the pot with everything else. We both looked and then double-checked again. So we guessed! We put them in right before putting the pot in the oven. It just made sense.
2) There needs to be more flour than 2 TB added to the 3 lb. of beef right before it's browned to crustify (made-up word...yes...). I also think that would help later on in thickening the sauce.
3) Speaking of the sauce...I never got it as thick as I would have liked it. But it was still delicious. Lots of layers of flavor. And we definitely got all the alcohol out of there because I boiled the crap out of that stuff to try to get it thicker.
4) I really enjoyed some of the side notes Julia made about some of the directions. It's good to know why you're doing something instead of following blindly and not realizing what's supposed to happen as a result.
For those of you who are interested, here's the recipe (courtesy of the ABC.com website):
Ingredients
One 6-ounce piece of chunk bacon
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy)
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 teaspoon thyme
A crumbled bay leaf
18 to 24 white onions, small
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)
1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered
Ingredients
One 6-ounce piece of chunk bacon
3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy)
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 teaspoon thyme
A crumbled bay leaf
18 to 24 white onions, small
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)
1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered
Cooking Directions
Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.
Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons.
In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.
Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes.
Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust).
Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.
Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered.
Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.
Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.
Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet.
Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly.
Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet.
Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.
Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms.
Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.
When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.
Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top.
Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.
If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.
Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times.
Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.
If you try this out, let me know! We can swap war (said in the best possible way) stories...
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