Beef Bourguignon

1:55 PM

If you've seen the movie Julie & Julia, the above words might sound familiar. I feel compelled to insert here that I was a fan of Julia Child's long before Meryl Streep played her or Julie Powell took it upon herself to cook her way through the infamous Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

And so for a while now, I've had a desire to make Beef Bourguignon. I wasn't sure what all the mystery was about. It really kind of just sounded like beef stew. And...having made it and gone about it in the proper French way, dragging the process out over 3 days...it still sort of just tasted like really really good beef stew. Why is that, you ask? Because that is exactly what it is. Consider the mystery solved.

However, if you've ever opened a can of Dinty Moore and thought, well, this is close enough, let me hastily correct you. Oh no. Dinty Moore can't hold a candle to the real deal. The melt in your mouth savoriness of beef that has been marinated in good red wine for at least 12 hours and then simmered slowly for several more hours, then left to merge and mingle with the side by side flavors of carrots, onions, mushrooms and that red wine...well...it's heavenly.

So, in typical Pioneer Woman fashion, I decided to document my cooking venture for posterity's sake.

The first part was to buy some beef at Kroger and make sure I didn't ridiculously embarrass myself by horribly mispronouncing "Bourguignon." Which I'm sure I did given the completely blank look the meat guy gave me. I cringed and decided to fend for myself, purchasing almost 3 pounds of stew meat (boneless beef chuck cut into 2 inch cubes).

I should back up here and say that I combined cookbooks on this one. I used Julia's version from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and I also used my Chocolate & Zucchini cookbook (also a French author). I figured together, they could not lead me astray.

The first step (unpictured) is where I took the meat, carrots, onion, and 2 cloves of garlic along with some spices and poured over them a whole bottle of Cellar No. 8 (a California pinot noir). That then sat in my fridge from Friday night to Saturday mid-morning.

I jumped back into the process Saturday afternoon. I separated out the veggies and meat from the wine (saving the wine in a separate bowl).

Meat, post-marinade. Nice and wine-soaked.

Crispy bacon fried in my dutch oven and set aside for later use.

The marinated carrots and diced onions plus 2 minced garlic cloves being sauteed in the bacon grease for about 5 minutes (until softened). These then went back into their bowl.

Next, I browned the beef in batches, spreading them out in one layer and cooking them until brown on all sides, about 7 minutes per batch.

Halfway through the browning process.

Browned beef.

Once the beef was brown, I threw all the prior batches back into the pot and added 3 tbsp of flour, stirring until no white was visible.

The veggies were then added to the pot.

And then the reserved marinade was poured back in.

And since the liquid was supposed to mostly cover the ingredients, Julia Child said you could add some beef broth to raise the level of liquid.

So I did. Then I brought it to a simmer for a few minutes.

And then placed it at the bottom of my oven, preheated to 325.

This would stay there for 3 hours, ideally simmering lightly. Do not look at the charred stuff on the bottom of my oven!!!

When the timer had been set, I set to chopping up 1.5 ounces of semisweet chocolate that would be added to the pot along with the bacon, in exactly one hour.

Meanwhile, there were dishes to wash.

And mushrooms to saute as per Julia's instructions.

Butter and olive oil melt and when the butter has finished foaming, the mushrooms go in. (Julia recommends cooking the mushrooms in a 10 inch enamel pan which I happen to have thanks to my estate sale finds!!!)

I learned something interesting about mushrooms. For the first few minutes, they soak up all the butter and saute liquids, so the pan goes dry.

Then they start giving all the juice right back and the liquids return to the pan and the mushrooms start browning. And getting super delicious.

This whole process only took about 5 minutes. Then it was time for the onions.

They took a little longer to cook in the same butter/olive oil combo.

When they were done, I added them to the mushrooms.

After the first hour of simmering had passed, I added in the chocolate and bacon. After a good stir, this went back in the oven for another 2 hours. During which I went shopping at Rhea Lana's with Lauren! Upon my return, I dumped the mushroom/onions

into the pot and mixed them up.

Technically, we're done. But both Julia and Clotilde Dusoulier (Chocolate & Zucchini) recommend letting the flavors sit overnight to deepen. Then, on the third day, the fat which congeals on top from the cool temperatures of the fridge can be fished out (making the dish slightly leaner) and then the whole thing reheated before serving.

Sunday night dinner: Beef Bourguignon with boiled potatoes and buttered peas (as per Julia Child's recommendation).

And we opened another bottle of Cellar No. 8 to serve with the meal. Oh, and for a meal that takes 3 days to prepare, it helps to share it with friends.

Even better if those friends are family!