I’ve never made Julia Child’s beef bourguignon and I’ve always wanted to make Julia Child’s beef bourguignon. And now I think I will never make Julia Child’s beef bourguignon. It was a perfect day for a long slow cooking venture. Day off from work. Cold and snow outside. Nagging to-do list was more or less completed. All the ingredients were on hand. But some of the directions in the recipe were dragging me down. And some of the ingredients — like pearl onions. And then Ruth Reichl’s newsletter dropped in. It contained a couple of suggestions to see us through the stormy weather. Beef, Wine, Onion stew was one of them. The description — it was not a recipe — was a definite variation on the famous beef bourguignon but so liberating. No timing, no quantities — just a splash, a squirt, a pat, and as many as you feel like. And whatever. And no pearl onions. I jotted down the plan on a sticky note and put a movie on my iPad. Here’s what was on my note (sans the stuff in brackets): STEP 1 — TO BROWN — pat of butter — lots of onions (I had 5 large ones) — good bacon, lardons (there was a 7 oz chunk) — carrots (I had 3) — lots of garlic (I used 10 cloves) — thyme (huge 5-finger pinch of dried) — squirt of tomato paste at the end STEP 2 — TO BROWN — oil & butter — beef: salt, pepper, flour (I had 3,5 lb chuck, 2”-cubed) — deglaze with brandy STEP 3 — 300°F, 3 HOURS — good red wine (whole bottle) — celery stalk — bay leaf STEP 4 — brown mushrooms in butter, mix in at the end (2,5 lb, quartered) — boil potatoes to serve — parsley to garnish Amazing, amazing, amazing result! For the movie — HBO put Mad Men back on. I’ve never seen it but read about it and wanted to give it a shot. Honestly, it watches like horror series. #food #cooking #beefstew #beefbourguignon #inmykitchen #stormyweatherdinner #myhappyplace
juliawithagoodappetite
@mina@berlin.social I have just started with Mad Man. Completely sucked in. But it really is horrifying 🫣