Boeuf Bourguignon is like friendship--the longer it lasts the better it gets.
-my neighbor and friend, Martha Hamon, said that.
Oh sure, I have made the Boeuf Bourguignon that takes two days to prep and several cookings to eat, and that is great stuff, to be sure. But there is something to be said for a great meal made in one day.
After all, I enjoy the cooking, but the eating more!
You can quote me on that.
Well, I have made this a couple times, but I work off of scribbled notes. (see photos) But you take a look at the photo above and tell me it is not worth making this. So let's work it out.
The Recipe:
INGREDIENTS
Bacon - thick sliced, about 7-10 slices
Beef, like stew meat or a steak or roast to cut up. About 3#
Onions - 2
Tomatoes - 2 or 3
Fresh parsley
Garlic cloves
Fresh thyme
Orange
Lemon
Beef Stock
Burgundy or Pinot Noir
Brandy
salt
pepper
"How much?" you ask.
Depends how hungry you are, how many guests are coming over and how much leftovers you want. Me? I make a lot. I love to eat. The ingredients you see in the photo fed four of us, and I had leftovers for a couple days. It tastes better each day you re-cook it. So, be generous to yourself!
THE PROCESS
1. Take a sip of the wine. If it is good, pour yourself a half glass; if it is great, a full glass.
2. Fry the bacon. Save the bacon fat (grease). Cut the bacon into chunks and set aside.
2a. Sip of wine.
3. Cut beef into chunks if needed. Brown the beef in the bacon fat. Set beef aside, save fat.
3a. Sip of wine.
4. Take the skin off the tomatoes. The easiest way to do this is to boil a pot of water. Get a bowl of ice water ready. At the stem end of the tomato cut an X through the skin. Drop the tomato in the boiling water for about ten seconds (no more than 15 seconds) then plunge it into the ice water. The tomato skin slides right off.
4a. Sip of wine.
5. Get the garlic cloves out of the husks, leave whole.
6. Slice the onion.
7. Saute the onions in the bacon fat until brown, soft and caramelized.
7a. Sip of wine.
8. Chunk up the tomatoes, throw them in. Drop in the garlic cloves, put the uncut parsley and thyme sprigs on top. Reduce them on medium heat, while stirring and sipping wine.
9. When reduced (it will be thick and smell great) drop in the beef (not the bacon) and add the beef stock. Be sure you still have some wine in your glass (if not, now is your last chance to refill) then pour in all the wine. Take a nip of the brandy, then add a shot of that too. Peel the orange and lemon, drop the peels on top, give the orange and lemon a squeeze so some of the juice goes in the pot. Add some salt and pepper.
10. Bring it all to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°
11. Place the covered pot in the oven for 3 hours. (I usually place the pot on a cookie sheet that has sides, in case it boils over. No mess that way.)
11a. Drink the remaining wine.
12. After three hours remove the pot from the oven, remove the meat and strain the rest. You can mash a lot of the pulpy tomato-garlic-onion stuff through the strainer, but this makes for a thick, creamy sauce.
13. Put the sauce back in the pot, add the meat and bacon, and reduce the sauce to a thick syrup.
14. On recooking the leftovers, I usually add a little more wine and beef stock to thin the sauce.
As you can see, I like to serve it on noodles, with some asparagus and cherry tomatoes.
It goes well with a deep purple cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, or a nice red French wine.
This is one of those meals that tastes great the next day when you reheat it. I add a little wine to thin out the sauce for recooking.
God, it makes me hungry just writing this all out for you!
June, 2009 we were in France for a month. We went to the village of Saint-Romain, in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France, near the city of Beaune in the Burgundy region. Here we stayed with a wine barrel maker and his family, in a lovely little place. The village was so small that it had no bakery, so fresh hot bread was trucked in every morning from Beaune.
It is a heart-breakingly beautiful area, with narrow roads winding village to village between fields of grapes, the occasional chateau here and there.
We settled into our room, found our way to Beaune and as we were walking I noticed this cute cafe. Something about it just called my name, so we went in and I noticed one local patron eating the most delicious looking meal...
"Je veux que, s'il vous plaît." (An essential French phrase... I want that, please!)
And that was that.
I have never been the same since.