Julia Child's Beouf Bourguignon

Here's some more of Thanksgiving 2009 prep. Julie Child's Beouf Bourguignon. So Good! I followed the recipe, almost exactly. Per one of my guests dietary restrictions, I used beef bacon instead of pork bacon...a fine substitute.

Start with the beef. I bought two large roasts and cut them into smaller pieces and cut some of the fat off as I went.


Carrots and Onions.


After the beef has been browned, you add some flour. This will help thicken the sauce as the stew cooks.


Because I needed my pans for multiple dishes, I seared the meat in a large skillet, then poured the liquid in to deglaze the pan, then I poured the whole mess into a foil baking pan.


Ready to go in the oven. You can tell in this photo how "lite" the sauce is, having not thickened at all.


After several hours. The sauce changes colors, the red dissipates, and becomes a dark brown. The meat was super tender. Remove the meat and strain the sauce. Discard the veggies.


I made the Beouf on Monday night, so serve on Thursday. Here we go, all ready for the fridge. I waited to do the onions and mushrooms the day of. Once they were braised and sauted, I added them to the beef and sauce and placed in a warm oven for about an hour or so while we enjoyed the first few courses of dinner.


Beouf Bourguignon served with creamy mashed potatoes. Amazing. But so rich and I was already so full from the first three course, I didn't really enjoy it!!! I still hate mushrooms. But I DID cook with them. In the future, will probably serve this with buttered noodles or boiled potatoes.

Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon:

• 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
• 18 to 24 small white onions , brown-braised in stock
• 1 pound quartered fresh mushrooms , sautéed in butter
• Parsley sprigs

Remove rind from bacon, and 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.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat 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.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. 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 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

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

When the melt is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

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.

For immediate serving: Covet the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

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.

Soupe à l’Oignon Gratinée

I continue to be a slow poke in posting things to the blog. Perhaps its my new way of doing business? I hope not...

Anyway, in continuing to share Post-Thanksgiving recipes, let's move on to the French Onion Soup.

To lessen the amount of time spent in front of the stove caramelizing onions, I use a roasting pan and the oven! Make sure you have a good quality roasting pan for this...

We need some butter.

I used 10 large onions for my soup. Two red ones and 8 sweet Vidalia onions.

The onions will start to sweat in the oven.

I could have stopped here, but I felt the onions weren't dark enough yet.

Here we go. Caramelized Onions!!!

Now, I put the roasting pan on the stove top to help dissolve the sugars and get the onions slopping around. Add the various types of broth, wine and cider.

Once the roasting pan is cleaned up, I simmer the soup in the big pot with a bouquet garni and start tasting to adjust the seasoning.

The soup simmers for about 20-30 minutes, developing the flavors. Notice that color! Dark and souper rich! I had to add additional broth prior to serving, as the soup almost had the texture of a thick stew.

Serve the soup in an oven safe bowl, top with bread and grated Gruyere cheese. Place under the broiler until golden and bubbly! Serve hot!!!

French Onion Soup
10 large onions (combination of red and sweet)
4 TB unsalted butter
Salt/Pepper
2 cups dry white wine
1 cup beef broth
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup unfiltered apple cider
Fresh thyme, Bay leaf and Parsley wrapped in cheese cloth for a Bouquet Garni

Fresh Bread cut into 1/2-1 inch pieces
1-2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

Preheat the oven to 350, place the roasting pan in the oven while you prep the onions.

Slice onions in half from end to end, the slice each half, in half, finely slice into thin slices. When the onions are sliced, remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the butter. The butter will melt, add onions and stir to coat with the butter. Season with salt and pepper.

Place onions in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove and stir. Return to the oven for one hour. Check about half way through the cooking time. After an hour, stir and return to the oven for another 30-60 minutes until the onions have reduced and taken on a dark, rich color.

Place the roasting pan over two burners on your stove top. Over high heat, add the wine. Stir to incorporate, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add the broth and cider. Scrap up any bits of onion stuck to the pan. Pour all of the onions and broth into a large pot.

Place pot of low heat and add the Bouquet Garni, bring a low simmer, cover and cook for 20-30 minutes. Adjust seasoning as needed.

To serve, pour soup into oven safe bowls. Top with bread croutons and grated cheese. Place under a broiler until golden brown and delicious. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve hot.

Thanksgiving Photos

Hey gang. It was a busy few days immediately following Thanksgiving, and tomorrow we head out on the road for a few days to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I promise more photos and recipes in the near future.

Puff pastries rising in the oven. These will be our profiteroles.


A French Bread Boule! I made two loaves. Very good!


First course was French Onion Soup with Toasted Croutons and topped with Gruyere Cheese and baked until bubbly and brown.


Second course was a Frisee Salad with Spiced Pecans, Bacon and Apples, tossed with a Citrus-Chardonnay Vinaigrette.


Third course was a French Cassoulet with Chicken and Sausage. Super savory and amazingly filling.


Fourth course was Julia Child's Beouf Bourguignon on Creamy Mashed Potatoes. I think it was divine. But I'm not sure. I was so stuffed at this point, I'm not sure if I really enjoyed it.


Fifth course, dessert! Profiteroles filled with Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream and topped with a Warm Creme Anglaise and Crushed Spiced Pecans. (I actually forgot to the take a photo when dessert was served, so this was a recreation the next morning, the sauce was thicker and I forgot the pecans...and this was breakfast!)


And that my friends was Thanksgiving 2009! I promise recipes and more photos in the next week or two. The profiterole recipe was really easy! The onion soup takes awhile, but it's mostly hands off. BTW, I'm craving turkey, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes...I loved a French Thanksgiving, but now I want the Traditional Thanksgiving. Christmas Dinner will be right around the corner!!! Perhaps I'll get my wish.



So, there were so many left over profiterole puffs. I repurposed them into a bread pudding, topped with mini-chocolate chips and extra creme anglaise. Damn!

Big Day

HAPPY THANKSGIVING YA'LL.
See youn the flip side, you can follow me on Twitter if you are bored; lin on the right.

A French Tease

A sampling of what's coming down the line for tomorrow's dinner...

Perfect! Onions caramelized in the oven. A delicious base for the richest onion soup you can imagine. Next step, add stock, broth, cider, wine, herbs and simmer.

Beouf bourguignon after 3 hours in the oven. Next step, strain out the goodies and add braised pearl onions and mushrooms. Will be served on mashed potatoes.

Stay Tuned for more goodies...