Hi folks, my name is Chef G and I'm the awesome star of this cooking show. I'm a bragger, I know that. Some people call me "The Host With the Most Boast." It's true! That aside, I'm excited to be your master of ceremonies for this very special episode because it brings me back to my French roots.
As you know, the French are famous for practically inventing the art of fine dining. Look at some of the most important words in the lexicon of cooking--gourmet, gourmand, haute cuisine, bon appetit, au jus, a la mode, prix fixe, sous chef, saute, soupcon, sommelier, a la carte, roux--they're all French terms.
French chefs have a big advantage over chefs from any other country. Their language can make ordinary food sound beautiful. For example: Baked chicken wings are Ailes de poulet au four.
Even more impressive is how they can make the most disgusting dishes you can think of sound like exquisite delicacies: Escargots et vers sautes a la graisse de porc. (Snails and worms fried in pig fat.)
The same is true for the dish I am making today. Basically, Boeuf Bourguignon is a fancy name for chunks of cow meat stewed in wine.
In true French snobbery, the wine must come from the Burgundy (Bourgogne) region of France. I guess that area is pretty famous for wine grapes and wine production. Good for them, but I will not be using French wine for today's dish.
Wisconsin is pretty famous for wine making too--at least in Wisconsin. And a couple days ago I received a bottle of cooking wine from Door County, Wisconsin as a gift. I could not wait to try it out.
Normally, I do not cook with wine. In fact, I've NEVER cooked with wine. Beer yes, wine no. But I'm all for expanding my horizons--especially since my recently married friends, Jose' and Mary, gave me this bottle.
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| It's a cooking wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that were grown in my neighboring state of Wisconsin. The wine was not the only adaptation I made for my rendition of what we in the mid-west call "beef stew." |
I went to the internet to find some recipes for boeuf bourguignon, which is the only dish I could think of that uses wine. As per usual, I adapted the best features from several of those recipes to create the incredible Chef G. recipe you are about to see.
Let's start with the ingredients:
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| Clockwise from the top: boeuf bouillon, porc bacon, chunks of boeuf. |
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| Clockwise from the beer (which was consumed for fun, but not used in the recipe): Salt, Door County Chef's Wine, flour, Italian egg noodles, black pepper, onions, bay leaves, thyme, carrots, garlic, mushrooms. (Not pictured: tomato paste) |
To begin, you'll want to put three strips of chopped up bacon into a cast iron pot. Heat it up until the bacon renders its fat. Add a full cup of coarsely chopped onion and saute for about five minutes. Add two cloves of smooshed garlic and saute for another five minutes. Then transfer the onion and garlic to a bowl.
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| Onions, garlic, bacon. (French chefs use pearl onions. I hate pearl onions.) |
Add two pounds of top sirloin, which you've cut into 1" chunks, into the same cast iron pot. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes on each side. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, and lots of salt and pepper over the boeuf. Stir thoroughly. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and stir thoroughly again.
Here is where you get to use the Door County cooking wine. (Note: If you don't have access to Door County cooking wine, I suppose you could use some of that French Burgundy stuff . . . or even a decent Cabernet or Pinot Noir. Heck, use Mad Dog 20-20 if you want. I'm not a stickler. Truth be told, I don't know wine from Shinola.)
Pour one cup of Door County Cabernet cooking wine and one cup of boeuf broth into the pot and stir well. Bring the concoction to a boil, cover the pot, then reduce heat and simmer for two hours.
After the two hours, return the onions and garlic to the pot. Add two carrots which have been chopped up into large pieces and 8 ounces of sliced fresh mushrooms. I cannot emphasize enough that you MUST NOT use canned mushrooms. Enough said.
Simmer all that stuff for another 40 minutes. In the meantime, cook about 12 oz. of egg noodles according to package directions. Make them al dente.
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| Does that look like a work of art, or what? If there is a heaven, Julia Childs and Jacque Pepin are probably drooling over this boeuf bourguignon a l'etat du Wisconsin recipe right now. |
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| To serve, spoon some Wisconsin beef stew over a bunch of noodles. |
I don't eat much beef, and I very rarely drink any alcohol these days. BUT, I definitely think beef stew is tastier with the addition of red wine :-) So are canned mushrooms good for anything other than on pizza? Funny that where I grew up, we had beef stew on its own, not over noodles. Or it was over mashed potatoes instead of potatoes in the stew. Why do you hate pearl onions? I never partake of them when they are on an appetizer platter, but they have a nice sweet but bitey taste if I remember right?
ReplyDeleteTo answer your first question: NO, canned mushrooms aren't good for anything--not even pizza. Fresh mushrooms are better for that too.
DeleteYeah, I always ate beef stew on its own too, because it always contained potatoes. I guess that's why boeuf bourguignon isn't exactly a stew, but that was the closest comparison I could think of.
To answer your second question: I have to admit that my bias against pearl onions probably comes from the dishes my Swedish grandma used to make with them. Her meals were generally creamy white and terribly bland. Another reason is that they don't taste like a big old yellow onion, which is my favorite vegetable. As you noted, pearl onions have sort of a sweetness. That's probably what turns me off. I want onions that are pungent enough to make me cry.
As always, thank you for commenting. I truly appreciate your food insights.