Beef Bourguignon and "Julie & Julia"

One of the most flavorful and satisfying dishes ever concocted inside of a kitchen has to be the famous French dish, beef bourguignon. Beef and vegetables slow cooked in red wine and beef broth, it's a dish you honestly can't resist. The beef becomes fork tender and the sauce has such a deep flavor and rich flavor, your entire house is going to smell like a French Bistro with this beef bourguignon simmering away on your stove. It was Julia Child who first brought this incredible dish to the attention of American cooks with her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Decades after, the dish was in the spot light again when the movie "Julie&Julia" hit theaters. Truth be told, not only did this movie inspire me to make "Boeuf bourguignon" but it ultimately inspired me to start this blog. I'll get more into the movie in a little bit, first here's what you'll need to make beef bourguignon for yourself and the step by step instructions on how to make it!


5 strips of tick cut bacon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pound chuck roast cut into pieces
1 medium sized onion (Sliced)
6 carrots (peeled and sliced diagonally)
3 tablespoons of flour
1 bag of frozen pearl onions (14oz bag) 
½ pound of whole button mushrooms
2 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 cups of low sodium beef stock
1 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon or Pino Noir (750ml bottle)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 sprig of fresh thyme
2 dried bay leaves
1 tablespoon of sugar
Flat leaf parsley 

I dedicated one of my very first posts to the French cooking term "Mise en Place" and I can't stress enough how important it is to practice when making this dish. In case some of you are new or don't remember, mise en place simply means to get all of your ingredients prepared and at your work station before you begin cooking. So lets first chop our onion, our carrots, and clean our mushrooms. The best way to clean a mushroom is brushing it with a damp cloth rather than running them under water. Once all of the vegetables are prepped, set aside.
 
Cut the chuck roast into about one inch cubes. There is no need to be exact on the size but we do want to ensure we are making our beef cubes very similar in size. Why? They'll cook evenly and it's actually more eye appealing when we plate our dish and serve. Now the next two steps are extremely important so be sure not to skimp out on either. For meat to sear properly, we don't want any moisture on it. The dryer the meat when it hits the hot oil, the better the sear will be. When we sear the meat, it locks in the flavorful juices of the meat and also gives us that beautiful brown color on the outside. It's a tedious task, but dry each beef cube thoroughly with a paper towel and then season heavily with kosher salt and black pepper. When it looks like you have too much seasoning on the beef cubes, you've done your job. Use the picture on the right as an example for when you're doing this yourself. Set the dried and seasoned beef cubes on a baking sheet or a large plate that has been lined with a few paper towels to get any moisture from the meat we may have missed.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot or a dutch oven over medium heat. Slice the strips of bacon in pieces and cook the bacon in the hot oil. Fried bacon will be the first on many delicious smells to come from your kitchen over the next few hours. Fry the bacon until it's browned and crisp and then using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and set aside for the grease to drain off. We will now be searing our dried and well seasoned beef cubes in the bacon fat that's been left in our pot.

Ready for yet another simple but very important step in making beef bourguignon? We want to sear our beef cubes in small batches, they like their personal space so lets give it to them. If we crowd beef cubes and add too many at once, we'll lower the temperature in our pan and they won't have the right heat to sear properly. Don't move the beef cubes around too much while they're in there either. Give them about a minute or so on each side, just until you see the outside of the meat starting to caramelize. We're certainly not looking to cook the meat all the way through here. Once all sides have been seared, transfer them to a nearby plate and add the next batch in. Continue this step until all the beef has been seared.

Once all the meat has been seared, add the sliced onion, 2 tablespoons of butter, and the chopped carrots to the hot oil. Stir everything together making sure the flavorful bits left from the bacon and beef get all over the vegetables. Stir and cook the onions and carrots just until the onions become slightly tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Once the onions are tender, return all the seared meat and any of the juices that have collected from them resting back into the pot.

Next, take the 3 tablespoons of flour and sprinkle over top the beef and vegetables. Stir the contents of the pot so that the flour coats everything. Next, add the entire bottle of red wine (it won't miss a little sip or two) and add the 2 cups of beef broth. Add the tomato paste and stir together.

Add the fresh thyme and the fresh rosemary. Use kitchen twine to tie the herbs together so that it's easier to pull the stems out before we are ready serve. If you don't have kitchen twine no big deal, use the string from a tea bag (without the tea bag obviously) to tie the herbs together. Throw in the bay leaves, the bag of pearl onions, and bring the liquid to a boil. Cook the stew uncovered for about 10 minutes. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pot and allow the beef to cook for about 2 hours giving it a stir about every 15 minutes or so. The acidity in the red wine and the long and slow cooking time will help break down the beef making it tender and delicious - this cooking style is called braising.

After the Beef Bourguignon has cooked, add the minced garlic, the sugar, and the mushrooms to the pot. Raise the heat slightly and allow the stew to simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and the bundle of rosemary and thyme from the sauce. Season the sauce to taste.

Serve the beef bourguignon next to a helping of your favorite recipe for mashed potatoes or over top buttered egg noodles with a side of crispy french bread. Garnish your plate with some freshly chopped parsley and some of the crispy bacon pieces and serve hot. Bon appetit!!!

The 2009 film "Julie & Julia" is a bio-pic about the separate lives of Julia Child and Julie Powell. Meryl Streep completely transforms herself into the world famous Julia Child as the movie gives us a glimpse of how Julia first became the expert she was on everything about French Cooking. Recently relocated to Paris France for her husband Paul's (Stanley Tucci) job, Julia instantly falls in love with city but finds herself a victim of boredom during the day. Though she struggles to find a hobby that gives her the satisfaction she longs for, Julia soon sees her true love is in the kitchen. Julia enrolls at the famous Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris and begins her long journey to becoming the chef we all know and adore.

Amy Adams plays the second leading role to the film, Julie Powell. on the cusp of turning 30, Julie had dreams and aspirations to become a writer but instead she finds herself working in cubicle answering phone calls all day. One night while enjoying a home cooked meal with her husband Eric (Chris Messina) she decides she's going to start a blog. The Julie/Julia project begins as Julie gives herself exactly one year to cook all of the 524 recipes in Julia's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking - including Boeuf bourguignon. 

Both Julie and Julia have their shares of struggles in their inspiring and incredible journeys but cooking, love, and the power of butter help get them through. The late Nora Ephron delivers us yet another heartwarming film. Using both Julie Powell's and Julia Child's own memoirs, she wrote a charming script and directed a film that anyone can enjoy. Here is the trailer for a sneak peak.