3
It’s eleven o’clock on a Tuesday night and your flatmate is out of town. After cooking that delicious dinner, decorating the tree, and watching Him clean up all your dishes, you say goodnight and pop into bed with a bowl of popcorn and It’s a Wonderful Life. It is, after all, the Big Holiday Season and there’s no better way to spend the intermezzo than with Jimmy Stewart.
Less than an hour in and you’re going to start drifting off. But before your eyelids fall completely, you will be stirred by the sound of footsteps in the kitchen. OMG! Your body will freeze before you can manage to rise out of bed and, for a split second, you consider running out the back door and screaming for your dear life in the yard.
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Pause the movie, just to listen. Hear nothing but maybe a breath? Keep silent, move slow, grab the cell phone from your bedside table and dial mother. She’s the toughest person you know and will help you out of this disaster.
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Mother hands phone to T. T says: “you can barricade the bedroom if you want to, but forget about sleeping until we check the entire apartment.” Breathe. Deep. Ok, you can do this. You are a brave woman living on your own in New York City! You can tough it out!
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Slowly open bedroom door and realize you left the kitchen light on. Thank god for that. Your flatmate’s sliding doors are closed, but the bathroom is a slight bit cracked open. This is the room you will check last. “Check the front door to see if it’s locked,” T tells you. You do. It is. Check.
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You’re panicking behind a door handle when T says: “Go get a knife.” “But I can’t stab somebody! I would be way too afraid!” As you say these words you slide flatmate’s door open and notice an iron rests on her bed. Creep over to the iron, double-check the room, and grab it fast. Breathe. Deep. Only one room left.
As you make your way to the bathroom T will tell you not to worry, it’s just your imagination. You’ve been cooking that dinner all day and you’re tired and everyone hears noises sometimes. It’s just a part of city living, P, and you’re gonna have to be ready to protect yourself, so go ahead and open the door, and know that it’s all gonna be just fine…..
2
For the past few years you’ve been reading about bœuf à la bourguignonne, a French peasant dish that became a trademark for Haute Cuisine, particularly when adapted into a recipe by George Auguste Escoffier in the late nineteenth century. The dish is a stew of beef, slow-braised in red wine, seasoned with vegetables, bouquet garni, and served over egg noodles.
When the dish crossed the pond with Julia Child, it came to a second prominence as her first recipe on the television series The French Chef, which debuted in 1963. Suddenly American housewives were buying up bottles of Burgundy and letting chunks of beef sit in bowls of the hearty red wine overnight – just like Julia.
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Dad never made beef bourguignon, mom definitely didn’t. But you’ve been reading cookbooks since before you could read, and always knew there was something about this dish. Maybe it’s the simplicity. Or the long time preparation. Or it’s just that red wine boiling on the stove is one of your favorite smells. So why haven’t you made it yet?
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Truth be told, you’re only starting to learn how to cook meat. Four years of vegetarianism left you petrified at the sight of raw flesh. But if you’re gonna eat it, you’ve gotta learn how to make it. Scour old French recipes, and then Julia’s cookbook and come up with something in between. Go to the market and spend fifteen minutes on the phone with dad arguing about which color pearl onion to use (red, white or gold).
Walk up and down the produce aisle and insist that an employee take you into the back where you can choose a couple onions yourself, you are not satisfied with the selection on display. Contemplate brands of tomato paste until someone comes up and asks, “do you need some help Miss?” and then drop your basket in a flurry and explain that you do need help, you just aren’t sure if you’re ready to make such a serious dish, and you don’t even have a Dutch Oven!
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This nice man will help you collect everything else on the list (fresh thyme exempt, you’ll have to use dried!) and usher you down the check-out aisle and wish you luck as you quietly walk outside…
1
boeuf à la bourguignonne
adapted from Julia Child’s Beef Bourgignon and The Food of France
what you’ll need.
3 lb. of lean stewing beef
3 cups red wine (preferably Burgundy, Cotes du Rhone is OK)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bouquet garni (parsley, thyme and bayleaf tied in a cheesecloth)
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 small golden onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 oz. bacon, cut into short strips
10 oz. gold pearl onions peeled but left whole
6 oz. crimini mushrooms
what you’ll do.
Cut the meat into 1 1/2 inch cubes, and trim away the fat. Then put the meat, the wine, the garlic and your bouquet garni in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge to soak overnight.
Next day…
Preheat the oven to 315ºF. Drain the meat but reserve the liquid and the bouquet garni. Dry the meat with paper towls. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large casserole. Add your onion, carrot and reserved bouquet garni and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Then remove from the stove.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan over very high heat. Fry the meat in batches for about 5 minutes each, or until well browned. Throw it into your casserole.
Now pick up your reserved wine marinade and pour it into the frying pan to boil for 30 seconds while stirring, to deglaze the pan. Remove the wine from heat. Return the casserole to a high heat and sprinkle flour on the meat and vegetables. Now, stir vigorously until the meat is well coated. Pour the wine marinade into the casserole and stir well. Stir until your mixture comes to a boil and then cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours.
In a frying pan, cook the bacon and pearl onions for 8 – 10 miutes, or until the shallots are soft but not yet brown. Add your mushrooms and stir, over medium-high heat, until brown. Add the bacon, onions and mushrooms to the casserole, after discarding the excess liquid.
Let the casserole cook about 30 more minutes, or until the meat is tender. Discard the bouquet garni. Skim any excess fat from the surface and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over egg noodles (fresh, if possible).
