Fancy Beef Stew: Beef Bourguignon

This past Saturday morning I woke up with two missions for the day: PRACTICE KNIFE SKILLS and DO NOT FREEZE. Seeing as the weather forecast was a "high" of -3 degrees and -15 degrees with wind chill - the latter didn't really seem possible.


(By the way, I have been living a in winter wonderland. There was a real, live Snow Day this past week when both my school and work were closed! I stayed in all day and watch the snow fall outside of my window!

It has now been two whole weeks since I started classes at Le Cordon Bleu. I am taking three classes. A college success type class which is good for getting to know the other students in the program, a Food Safety and Sanitation class which has terrified me to my very core about food-borne illnesses, and my Culinary Foundations I class. In my Culinary Foundations I class we are learning about the history of French cuisine, every piece of equipment in the kitchen, measurements and conversions (boo, math!), and the traditional knife cuts. So, of course the first day of holding our knives was sort of a disaster. Yes, apparently I have been holding a knife wrong for my entire life. No need to fear! Chef Oremus is here! Our chef instructors are just fantastic. They are patient, generous, have great dispositions, and are so happy to be teaching us these new skills. Needless to say, I am learning a lot. I now not only know how to hold and rock a knife correctly, but I know the exact measurements of all the cuts. Now for practice PRACtice PRACTICE! Here is my little reference guide (a bit blurry, but you get the idea):

We have practiced cutting potatoes, carrots, and onions. Rewind now back to the part where I was talking about Saturday morning. I had a REVELATION! What can I cook with potatoes, carrots, and onions? What will ALSO keep me cozy, warm, and satisfy me throughout the week? Stew! Beef stew! FANCY beef stew! Fancy FRENCH beef stew! Beef Bourguignon. Right? I go to a fancy French school, and I should be as bold about my cooking choices as possible. Little did I know what a feat this classical dish would turn out to be.

Most Americans probably know Beef Bourguignon from the lovely Julia Child.

Most young Americans probably know Beef Bourguignon from the lovely Julia Child VIA Meryl Streep.

I bring this up because I decided to use Mrs. Child's recipe for my first attempt at this dish. Maybe it's her unmistakable and soothing voice, or her fearlessness in the kitchen, but Julia Child makes this recipe seem a lot less intimidating than it is. With this I invited my dear, favorite Boston girls (Esther and Paula) over for dinner, and headed to the store.

A few notes before I begin: 

1. Since I do not have Mastering the Art of French Cooking and certainly cannot afford to purchase it right now, I had to rely on my unending faith in people to post the recipe CORRECTLY on the internet. Good luck Sara :)

2. I am a firm believer that a dish is always, without a doubt, better with the freshest ingredients. The best. Now, I am still a "starving student," so I don't quite have this luxury. And I must say, even buying on the cheap - this dish was pure heaven.

3. This recipe (and meal for that matter) is not for the meek of heart. Get ready.

Beef Bourguignon from Julia Child

Serves: 6

Difficulty: Difficult

Cook Time: over 120 minutes (Oh yeah, I was in the kitchen cooking for about 7 hours, FYI.)

Ingredients:

6 oz piece of chunk bacon (My grocery store didn't have chunk bacon - I used 6 oz of thick sliced bacon. The strips were a little thinner than I would have liked, but it did the trick!)

3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes

1 carrot, sliced

1 onion, sliced (Use your judgement on this one, my onion was MASSIVE so I only used half.)

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons flour

3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (Well, unless you know more about wine than I do - not difficult - then this would be confusing. Some tips: Julia suggests Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone, or Burgundy, Mom said don't cook with wine that you wouldn't drink, and I ended up using a $7 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon - it worked.)

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 small white onions

3 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered

Herb bouquet: 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/4 teaspoon thyme, tied in cheese cloth with kitchen twine

All right. We will proceed to the looooooong list of cooking directions. Don't worry! It looks like a lot, but you can do it! I choose to channel Julia Child, Chef Oremus, and my wonderful Mother while I was working on this dish. Music helps too (yes, I dance in the kitchen):

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. (Of course, I did not have the rind, but you might!) Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees - yes, start this right away, it takes some time.

Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in an oven proof pot/casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. You want to leave as much fat in the pot/casserole as possible for that beef!

Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in pot/casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Remove the beef and set aside with the lardons. This can be a bit tedious, my hand actually hurt after browning the meat - power through!

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat if you have any.

Return the beef and bacon to the pot/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. It will basically look like a mush of brown at this point. Yes, this IS correct! Set pot/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 covers the meat with a light crust).

Remove pot/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 (if you have it). 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. 3 hours was the perfect time for tender and juicy pieces of meat. However, this all depends on how your own oven works.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. NO! You do not get a spare moment!

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. Don't move them around too much as you will break them apart. We want pretty onions!

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. My liquid didn't evaporate completely, but I was afraid that the onions would get too soft. I just dumped out the excess liquid.

Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. Once the mixture is bubbling, add mushrooms.

Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.

Now you MIGHT have about an hour to relax. So, take a shower. Put your feet up. Read a book. Call a friend. OR get those side dishes ready. Yeah, I said side dishes people. This isn't over till it's over! I decided to serve boiled string beans and potatoes. This is an extremely rich meal, so I thought that being conservative on the sides would be best (I didn't want to take away from the main event)!

One of the knife cuts I had to practice was a "tournee." You can do this with many vegetables. It sort of looks like a little football. This is the most difficult cut we have done so far, I think. It makes the muscles in my hand sore - and I only did 2 potatoes! Below is a picture of what it is supposed to look like and then my best one of the night. Getting better, buuuuuuut: practice. Do I detect a pattern here?

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the pot/casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.

Wash out the pot/casserole (this is for presentation purposes) and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top. Don't just dump them in a pile on top, make it pretty!

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 - if needed, add salt and pepper.

Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes.

And there you have it! Beef Bourguignon, boiled string beans and tournee potatoes, and some warmed bread and butter. Be prepared for the urge to make lots of yummy noises. Mmm, ahhh, YUM, ooohhh myyyy goodness! The onions were so sweet and they just about melted in our mouths! The sauce was so tangy and rich. OH. SO. GOOD. 

A couple of afterthoughts:

1. I would rather the potatoes be IN the main dish than on the side OR have mashed potatoes instead.

2. The next day the flavors are even more distinct and perfect. Next time I make this recipe I plan on making it the day before and then enjoying it without being exhausted :)

3. Next time a glass of wine will be by my side throughout the day.

Now, breathe. And eat. And as Julia would say, "Bon Appetit!"