Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon as a Summery Dinner

I am reading Julia Child's biography An Appetite for Life. She sounds like a very cool lady and I can see why the Julie and Julia writer felt such an affinity. Who knew she was from a rich family that lived in Pasadena? She really struggled with cooking when she started. No one of her class thought cooking was a worthwile thing to learn - they had cooks. I watched her shows in the 70s when I lived in Boston and thought that's where she was from. My nephew saw her in the market he worked at in Cambridge but that's the closest I ever came to meeting her. This book reminded me that I have Volume One Mastering the Art of French Cooking and of the Boef Bourguignonne recipe I bought it for.

It was 108 here when I decided to make this. Not exactly a warm weather dish, but I made it in the crock pot so I wasn't slaving over a hot stove. I don't know of Julia Child's opinion of crock pots but I know she didn't like pressure cookers. I like crockpots. They're like having a wife who makes dinner for you.

I tweaked the recipe a tad with a bit of roux at the end to make the sauce a bit thicker.

Boeuf Bourguignonne:

6 ounces bacon
1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef , cut into 2-inch cubes
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
3 cups full-bodied, young red wine , such as a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 tsp. thyme
Crumbled bay leaf
Blanched bacon rind

1 pound quartered fresh mushrooms , sautéed in butter (and little onions if you have them)

Parsley sprigs



Directions
Cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Sauté the bacon over moderate heat in a large skillet for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Add the beef and bacon to the crockpot and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set crockpot on low.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 6 hours. It should never boil. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, 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 of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.
Here's where I cheated a bit and added a tablespoon of roux to thicken it. (I hope Julia Child is not turning over in her grave.)

For immediate serving: Return the beef to the sauce. Distribute the cooked mushrooms over the meat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley. I found some lovely paparadelle at Trader Joe's which I buttered and used as the base.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

"Bon Appetit!"

See what I did there? Julia Child used to end her program with that. :)

6 Things I learned about Julia Child

10. She was 6'2"

9. She didn't start cooking until she was 32

8. She was in the OSS - precursor of the CIA during WWII

7. She hated the "Food Police"

6. She had a great sense of humour

5. Her husband was questioned by the FBI during the McCarthy Era.

6. Dan Akroyd's SNL piece was based on an acutal incident.

Here is the video of her that my sister and I saw at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum back in the 70s. She's making Primordial Soup. Julia at her best