Boeuf Bourguignon

One thing I love about winter is the food. I love hot, carby, meaty comfort food. Stews and chilis and thick soups. So delicious.

I have been attempting to try more new recipes in 2011 (five so far!) and one that I've been wanting to try for a while is http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/julia-childs-beef-bourguignon-recipe/1/ - Julia Child's recipe for boeuf bourguignon. If you don't know anything about Julia Child--well, where have you been!? Last year I read a biography of Julia and she was such a fascinating woman. She led an exciting life, but I found I could identify with her in many ways, not the least of which in her love of food. She really knew how to appreciate delicious, fresh, made-from-scratch food in an era when Campbells soup and Jell-O were often the main ingredients in dishes. She was also tall and curvy, so I can appreciate her food appreciation all the more. ;)

So I spent much of my day today preparing this dish, which has a lot of steps, but isn't at all difficult. And, folks? Worth every second. It's the best stew I've ever tasted. So, without further ado...

The main ingredient in this dish is red meat. Beef, to be exact, although I cheated and used a moose roast, which my lovely husband chopped into 2-inch cubes for me.


No stew is complete without carrots and onions (the latter hiding under the former in this photo):

And...bacon? Well, actually, chunk bacon. Lesson number one: READ THE RECIPE CAREFULLY before composing your grocery list. I skimmed over 'chunk' and went straight to 'bacon'. Chunk (or slab) bacon is not the same. However, this is what I had, so I used it. Simmer it first in water (it looks nasty, so I left that picture out), drain and dry it, then brown it in an oven-safe pot.

Get rid of the bacon but leave the fat in the pan. Pat the meat dry, then, in several batches, brown them well. When that's done, remove the meat and brown the carrots and onions. At this point, your house will be smelling amazing. Put the meat back in the pot with the veggies, and chuck in some salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, and the tomato paste.

Next is WINE. Personally, I find red wine vile and have yet to meet a red wine I like. However, it is amazing in stew. Three cups is what the recipe called for, but I only used about two. Pour it in the pot along with the beef stock, enough to barely cover the meat.

Bonus: if you have a kid, he will think the corkscrew is a "robot thingy".

Next you cover it and stick it in the oven for a few hours. This is what we did while it was slowly cooking in the oven:

I say, if you're going to eat copious amounts of this stuff, work up an appetite!


Five kilometres and a lot of sweat later, and we're back to a house that smells like heaven itself. Next up: those cute little onions. I had a small freak-out this morning (remember my problem of skimming the recipe instead of reading it?) when I realized I only had regular onions. No problem, since onions barely grow in our rocky ground; my husband produced a box downstairs full of teensy onions, just waiting to be used up. Peel 'em, toss 'em in a pan with butter, brown them, and then add beef stock and herbs, and simmer for 40 minutes. Note: if you do not have cheesecloth, my mother will cut you a piece of clean pillowcase when you show up on her doorstep, and it works just fine.

The final major ingredient: mushrooms. When the onions are done, wipe out the pan, heat some butter, and lightly brown those bad boys.

Almost done! Strain the stew into a pot (keeping the sauce), dump all of the meat and veggies into the big pot, boil down the sauce to desired thickness, pour it over the stew, and simmer it a bit.

I served it with boiled potatoes.

Lordy, it was good. Husband ate enough that he'll probably be complaining all evening, and kidlet thought the mushrooms were especially inspired. It was phenomenal.

So--who is going to try it next!? :D