Beef Bourguignon

By Paul Briand

If you watch the movie "Julie & Julia", as my wife Jane and I did the other night, you come away with a hankering for Beef Bourguignon.

The movie is based on two true stories: Of Julia Childs's rise from diplomat wife to renowned cook, and of Julie Powell who decided in 2002 to cook each of Childs's recipes in her cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and blog about it.

One of the other stars of the movie is the Beef Bourguignon, and I came away from the movie with a hankering to prepare the dish as close to Julia Childs's recipe as possible.

Electronic versions of her recipe are all over the web. I found one on Oprah's site.

But I found a so-called "remastered version" on the site of a woman who writing a "Dinner with Julia" blog and doing today what Powell did several years ago -- cooking her way through the cookbook and writing about it.

The benefit of the remastered version is that I could find all the ingredients -- particularly the meats -- at the supermarket where I shop, instead of the specialty meats at a butcher store, such as butcher-cut bacon for the part of Julia's recipe that calls for lardon's of bacon with the rind removed.

Ingredients
3 pounds beef (for best results, choose rump, chuck roast, sirloin tip, top or bottom round), cut into 2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups drinkable but-under-10-bucks red wine
3 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
6 pieces chopped, cooked bacon {roast on a baking sheet 15 minutes at 400 degrees}
4 shallots, thinly sliced
1 pound crimini or baby bella mushrooms
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
Fresh chopped thyme and/or parsley for garnish

Directions
1. Pat the beef pieces with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture – dry beef browns better than wet beef. Toss the beef in a large bowl with the salt, pepper, garlic and thyme. Marinate at room temperature for about an hour, or cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place a large, ovenproof casserole or Dutch oven on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and let it heat for a minute or two. Arrange a third of the beef in a single layer on the bottom of the pan and brown on all sides – this will take about 10 minutes. This is an important step; adding all the beef at once will steam rather than brown the meat. What you want is a nice dark brown color on the exterior of the beef, so try not to fiddle with it until you see the juices beginning to brown – be patient! Remove browned beef to a platter and repeat with the remaining beef.

3. Put all the beef back into the pot and sprinkle with flour, stirring to coat evenly. Cook for a few minutes to lightly cook the flour. Pour in the wine and enough stock to just barely cover the beef. Stir in the tomato paste and toss in the bay leaf and bacon. Lay a sheet of parchment paper (or aluminum foil) over the pot and top with the lid.

4. Transfer the whole thing to the oven and cook for 1 hour. Take a peek to be sure that the liquid is not boiling madly; it should be gently bubbling. Adjust the oven heat by 25 degrees as needed, up or down. Continue cooking another 2 hours or so, until the beef is very tender when you poke it with a fork.

5. While the beef is in the oven, sauté the shallots in a 10-inch skillet lightly coated with olive oil until they begin to brown. Add a pinch of salt and the mushrooms, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are softened. Set aside.

6. Put the carrots in the same skillet with ¼ cup water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook until the carrots are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the carrots and add to the mushroom mixture.

7. When the beef is ready, stir in the carrots and mushrooms. Taste the sauce and season with additional salt and pepper as necessary. Sprinkle with thyme and parsley to add some green. Serve in bowls with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and warm, crusty bread.
Serves 6.

A couple of notes from my experience:

For Christmas, I received a wonderful large grilling skillet from my children. And I used it -- rather than the Dutch oven -- to grill and saute my meats and vegetables. I then added everything into the Dutch oven at the point of tossing everything with flour just before baking.

The results of the effort were delicious, and just as good the second time around as leftovers.

Jane and I, of course, couldn't help but say "bon appetite" to each other several times.