Beautiful Beef

Well, I did it. I finally did it. I waited until an unseasonable 65-degree day in November, but I finally made a big, delicious pot of Boeuf Bourguignon.

Let me repeat that: DELICIOUS.

I have long admired Julia Child’s personable approach to writing recipes and presenting food. Her cookbooks are wonderfully approachable, but I had yet to actually get further than reading them, let alone try to cook such a famous stew.

So this weekend I broke out my 1968 flea market copy of The French Chef Cookbook, turned to page 272, and followed the brilliantly clear and easy directions for this classic dish. I boiled my bacon, fried it up, used the fat to brown the beef (in batches, so as not to “crowd the pan”), and combined it all with red wine and beef stock for a two and half hour steam bath in my orange cast-iron pot. The smell was already awesome, but to that I added sautéed mushrooms, boiled red potatoes, and baby carrots. A garlic dinner roll and a glass of that same red wine rounded out a great Sunday supper.

I can safely say it won't take me quite as long to break out that book again!