Boeuf Bourguignon [OT]

When I was starting this humble little blog I couldn't help thinking of one of my very favorite movies ever, Julie & Julia, half about Julia Child and half about a modern-day blogger named Julie, who decides to make every single recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and write a blog about her culinary journey. 

Julie, it must be said, was played by the incomparable Amy Adams, who, once she dumps that (very handsome) husband of hers will see the light and become my wife. Don't tell her; I want it to be a romantic surprise. And Julia Child was played by the equally (if not more so) incomparable Meryl Streep, in one of her most smashing roles. 

Anyway, as a proud blog author, I realize I can do whatever the hell I please with my little contribution to the interwebs, so I'm going off on a delicious tangent to include Julia's recipe for Boeuf Bourguinon. What you'll read is an email I sent to my daughter, Emily, who wanted the recipe, and interspersed within the recipe are some bold-faced pithy comments and suggestions I included for her. 

I hope you find it entertaining, and I hope you make the recipe and find the result as delicious as I do every single time (except once when my guests were late and the stew got a bit overdone and dry and a tad burnt.) If you do make it, please be sure to email me or send a photo to bad-golfer! Below a photo from when Emily made it. 

Here goes! 

Igredients:

• 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
•  Don't skimp on the quality of the meat, makes a difference! Try not to get meat that's too fatty, it'll make the stew greasy. In fact, trim the excess fat off the pieces. You can get pre-cut stew meat or a rump pot roast.
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 
  
• I like a lot of carrots in my stew; I use at least two and sometimes three carrots, or a whole bunch of baby carrots though regular carrots have more flavor IMHO, and a large onion. Also, make sure you slice the onion, not dice or chop. Peel it and cut it in half and then cut each half in slices. They can be fairly thick slices, don't get too fine. You want the slightly stringy quality of the sliced onions. If they're diced they'll just disappear in the sauce.
• One 6-ounce piece of chunk bacon
• You can use regular or thick-sliced bacon, cut into little strips (lardons)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups red wine (burgundy)
• 
  
• An actual French person once told me that the better the wine you use for cooking the better the flavor. Buy a couple of nice bottles, you'll use more than half of one bottle for cooking then you can drink the rest. Get a good rich Rioja.
• 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock
• Just use beef broth or stock from the store, no need to make it from scratch. Unless you want to.
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• I use about 2 tbs myself
• 2 cloves mashed garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• A crumbled bay leaf
• 18 to 24 small peeled white onions (about 1″ in diameter)
• 
  
• Also known a pearl onions. These things are a BITCH. But they're also unspeakably delicious and must not be left out. Try putting them in boiling water for about a minute or so before you peel them, the skins will come off more easily. Peeling them is No Fun. Reward yourself with a sip of wine for each 3 or 4 onions peeled.
•  
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter
• Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)
• Honestly, you don't really need to tie them in cheesecloth. I emptied out a teabag once and put them in there. This is for the step when you gently and lovingly braise the pearl onions. Doesn't really matter if the herbs get tossed into the stew.
•  
• 1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered
• I try to get Baby Mushrooms; if they're babyish enough you hardly have to quarter them, just cut them in half or if they're small just use them whole, they're fun to spear when you're devouring your stew. 

Cooking Instructions:

Before you start, open one of the bottles of wine, get your herbs and flavorings ready and grab a large bowl in which to place things whilst you cook other things. You might want to rinse and set to dry your stewing beef at this time as well - see below.

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.

Again,you can just use regular bacon for this, and you can skip this first step and go directly to the browning of the bacon. No need at all to simmer the bacon.  (Simmering the bacon actually renders some of the fat; the fact is you want all that yummy fat for sauteeing your meat and veggies. Regular bacon isn't as fatty as the slab bacon, so you'll need a little oil as well. )

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Don't forget this.

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.

It's more like 5 minutes, you don't want the bacon too flaccid.

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 which you have put in a side dish. Have to use a fairly large side bowl.

Do make sure the meat is dry. Best to rinse and dry it before starting anything so it really gets a chance to air-dry. Makes a difference; you want a nice sear on the meat and it just won't happen if there's any water on it, it will just steam or boil in the oil and won't get brown. Also important to just brown a few chunks, 6 or 7, at a time until they're brown, then put them in the bowl with the bacon. Time consuming but if you don't do this the beef won't brown and form the crust.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.

There probably won't be that much excess fat, really, unless you've used too much oil.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole With the browned vegetables 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).

Again, a time-consuming step, but don't skip it.

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.

The amounts of wine and stock (broth) are kind of flexible depending on the size of your pot. Just make sure it's barely covered. You can always add more later (I almost always do) but it's harder to reduce it if you use too much liquid.

Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs. 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.

I have sometimes lowered the heat a tad if it's simmering too enthusiastically. You don't want it boiling, just gentle bubbles. Check every half-hour or so to make sure your heat is right and the liquid isn't getting too low.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the pearl 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.

Indeed, they won't brown evenly, but make sure they do brown somewhat. Flavor. If the heat's too low , increase it a bit.

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. Make sure the liquid doesn't boil away before the onions are done braising or they'll burn, and you do not want burnt pearls.   Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.

This step gives those pesky onions their incredible flavor. Worth the time.

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.

The mushrooms will absorb the butter/oil pretty quickly. Keep sauteeing them. After 5 min or so, they will start to sweat and return the oil/butter to the pan, and get nice and yummy looking. That's when they're "browned."

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.

OK, I skip these two steps entirely. Every time I have made it the ratio of stew to sauce has been about right. If there's too much sauce you can just heat it uncovered on the stove and it will reduce. More likely, it will be too thick and you can add a bit of stock to it. In any case, when that meat is tender and amazing,  just toss in the onions and mushrooms.

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.

Again, probably not necessary, and don't worry if it doesn't look like you have 2 cups of sauce. You'll know if the ration is right. You're almost done.

If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.

Feel free to add some more salt and pepper now. You don't want to happen like what happened in Julie and Julia, when my wife (Amy Adams) made this and her husband asked her to pass the salt, and she got upset that he thought it was too bland.

Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times.

Again, I think there's too much fussing about separating the meat and sauce at the end. You know what it should look and feel like, and you don't have to do all those final steps. Just let it be, once it's out of the oven and the mushrooms and onions are mixed in. By this time you should be feeling wonderful from all the sips of wine you've been having during the cooking process, and the kitchen will smell awesome. Toss your salad, make sure the potatoes/noodles/mash is ready and prepare to devour.

Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with sprigs of fresh parsley.It's delicious no matter what you serve it with; my preference is egg noodles, which get nicely coated with the sauce and are fun to chase around the plate. If you enjoy chasing food around plates, I recommend a side dish of fresh or frozen peas. Always a fun food, and they're good kind of mixed in with your boeuf as well. 

Enjoy! Man, I'm hungry now!