Mastering the Art of Beef Burgundy

A few years ago I purchased Julie Powell's now acclaimed "Julie and Julia" from the remaindered pile at the Co-Op Bookshop, presumably in a fit of distraction when I was supposed to be ticking textbooks off my reading list for one of my university subjects. I had a feeling the story would be right up my alley and I have been saving it - to 'savour' it - waiting for just the right cosy weekend afternoon to curl up with a cup of tea and a biscuit and delve into its pages. That perfect weekend only came about recently, though in the meantime the book had been collecting dust on my shelf and the story became a worldwide hit, largely due to the film starring Meryl Streep. (Incidentally, the DVD has similarly been sitting on my TV unit since its release, still wrapped in plastic and waiting for me to find 'the right time' to watch it! You would be right to suspect a pattern).

With these great expectations, imagine my disappointment when, upon finally turning the pages of the book, I just couldn't get into it. More than that - I will go so far as to say that I found Julie Powell's 'character' to be completely disagreeable. I will admit to being slightly more conservative than my contemporaries, but I suspect I would not be the only reader to find the overuse of profanity more than a little jarring. I found the character whiny, self-absorbed and abrasive, particularly having regard to some of the conversations recounted with her husband and her family. What most offended me, however, was the condescension and derision with which she discussed working with families of 9/11 victims. I thought I'd be reading an interesting account of a young woman's cooking journey, but what I found was entirely unpalatable drivel. Maybe I gave up too soon, but Ms Powell's book lost me a third of the way in.

However, something great came of my disappointment at Julie and Julia and that is my rediscovery of the text upon which it was based - namely, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. My mum received this for Christmas and, after spending my holidays with my nose in her copy of it, I purchased my own in the post-Christmas sales. This has quickly become a classic cookbook in my collection and already bears the evidence of use - dogeared corners and stained pages. There are complex recipes and there are simple ones, there are many variations to be applied to the recipes within. There are no photographs, but with Julia Child's descriptions of the dishes these are not missed - my imagination runs wild with thoughts of all the gourmet menus I could prepare! In terms of technique and preparation, there are illustrations to assist and the method is very clearly explained.

Recently, I cooked Julia Child's famed Boeuf Bourgignon, or Beef Braised in Red Wine. In my relatively shortly time, I have cooked (and eaten) many a beef stew, a large number of which have purported to be a Beef Burgundy of sorts. However, this particular recipe has produced what is by far and away the most successful beef stew I have ever prepared. Whilst a comforting beef stew is not ordinarily associated with elegant dinner party food, this is something which I would be proud to serve to dinner party guests when I am out to impress for it is, quite simply, a thing of glory.

Boeuf Bourgignon (Beef Burgundy)
adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking
by Julia Child, Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle

Serves 6

What appears below is my tweaking of the original recipe (which of course can be found in Julia's book as well as on this site, as reproduced by the cookbook's publisher). It is true that there are a number of steps in the preparation, but they are well worth the effort. Having said that, I confess to skipping one particular step prescribed by the writers, which is to boil the piece of bacon - I feel this unnecessary and I feel it would detract from the dish a little - much of the bacon to be found these days has precious little flavour as it is, let alone once it is par-boiled. However, I wholeheartedly recommend sauteing the mushrooms separately and brown-braising the onions, as to do so gives these separate components their own, deeply rich flavour that, when teamed with the succulent beef, will have your tastebuds singing with joy.

What you need:

• 1.5 kg beef chuck, cut into 4-5cm cubes
• 150g piece of bacon or pancetta, cut into lardons (strips about ½cm thick)
• olive oil for browning
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally (about 1cm thick)
• 1 brown onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced lenghways
• 2 tbs plain flour
• 3 cups medium bodied red wine, such as a chianti or merlot
• 2-3 cups beef stock
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 dried bay leaves
• a few sprigs of parsley, chopped, and mashed potato to serve

Sautéed mushrooms:

• 500g button mushrooms, halved or quatered if large
• 4 tbs butter
• 2 tbs olive oil

Brown Braised Onions

• 8 -10 small brown onions (see notes below), peeled and halved or quartered
• 1 tbs butter
• 1 tbs oil
• 1/2 cup red wine or beef stock
• a few sprigs of parsley, a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf tied together in a bouquet garni (or wrapped in muslin).

What to do:

Preheat oven to 220°C.

In a large flame proof, oven proof casserole (a cast-iron cocotte is perfect), fry the bacon in a splash of oil over medium heat until crisp and lightly browned, before removing to a separate dish with slotted spoon ( reserving the oil) - set aside. In the same pot, brown the meat on all sides for a few moments in batches (remember, you are simply sealing the surface of the meat, you are not trying to cook it!). Add oil between batches as necessary. Remove the browned meat from the pan and set aside.

Using another splash of oil if necessary, tip the sliced carrots and the sliced onions (not the ones for brown-braising) into the pot. Cook these for about 10 minutes over medium heat until they start to colour a little, and then return the bacon and the beef to the casserole. Season with sea salt and a good grinding of black pepper and sprinkle over the flour, stirring a little to ensure a reasonably even coating.

Place the uncovered casserole in the hot oven for 5 minutes, before removing to give the contents a stir and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes. This will give the meat and veg a little crust, which helps to make the meat a little more tender and adds flavour to the sauce (as well as assisting in thickening it later on). Remove the casserole from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 150°C.

Add the tomato paste, herbs and garlic to the casserole, along with the red wine and give a stir. Pour in enough beef stock so that the meat is just covered, before bringing the liquid to a boil over medium heat on the hob. Cover the casserole and return it to the 150°C oven and allow to cook for about 2½-3 hours (mine tends to take 3) until the meat is tender and easily pulls apart with a fork. Give the pot a couple of stirs through the cooking process.

Whilst the beef is bubbling away in the oven, you can prepare the onions and mushies.

For the mushrooms, cook these in two batches. Don't try and save time by bunging them all in the pot together, this will overcrowd the pan and stew the mushrooms in their own juice - you want to fry them lightly and preserve the juice and flavour inside the mushroom. In a large saute or fry pan, melt 2tbs of the butter with 1 tbs of the oil over medium heat. When the butter has stopped foaming, tip half the mushrooms in - don't do it any earlier or else the oil will not be hot enough. Quickly give the mushrooms a stir to ensure an even coating. They will absorb the oil like little sponges before slowly releasing it again as their surfaces start to brown. The mushrooms will take about 5 mins per batch to cook and should be removed from the heat when lightly browned at the edges. Repeat with the remaining butter, oil and mushrooms and set aside.

For the onions, melt the butter and oil over medium heat until bubbling, before carefully adding the onions. Roll them about in the oil a little to ensure an even coating, and allow to cook for about 10 minutes, until the onions have started to colour in parts. Reduce heat to very low and tip in the wine and bouquet garni. Allow the onions to braise for up to 30 mins, until there is virtually no liquid in the pan. Set aside.

To serve:

[How much of this stage you wish to do is up to you, but for me I take the 'in for a penny, in for a pound' approach and finish it properly. You can, of course, just tip your reserved onions and mushrooms into the pot, allow them to warm through and serve with parsley and mash. Otherwise, continue as follows]-

Remove the meat and carrots to a separate bowl and strain the sauce through a sieve making sure you scrape the debris around in the sieve to extract all the goodness. My sauce is usually a good thickness at this point, but if yours is too thin you can reduce it in a pot on the stove. Return the meat to the casserole (or a serving dish) and add the reserved mushrooms and onions. Pour over the strained sauce, and give a little stir to combine. The heat from the meat and sauce should be sufficient to warm your mushrooms and onions, should you have let them sit out for a while.

Serve, garnished with chopped parsley, alongside creamy mashed potato and crusty bread on the side. Your guests will be very eager by this stage as the house will have been filled with amazing aromas for the preceding three hours!

And that's it! Phew! Just looking at it makes me feel exhausted, but trust me, whilst that reads pretty labour intensive, it's only a few extra steps and most of the cooking is taken care of by the oven whilst you spend your afternoon doing other things. Please give this a whirl, it is definitely something special.

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NOTES:

About the wine: this recipe uses a whole bottle. Once you pour the three cups into your stew, you'll be left with around a half a cup which is perfect for the brown braised onions.

About the onions: The original recipe calls for pearl onions, but these are very difficult to find in my area, so I buy the smallest brown onions I can find and halve them (or quarter them if absolutely necessary, trying to leave as much of the root in tact as possible to prevent the onion separating)