Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon or Boeuf a la Bourguignonne

My love of Julia began when I read the book "My Life in France" which was written in collaboration between Julia and her great-nephew Alex Prud'homme.  Part of my love of Julia is because she didn't even start cooking until she was 38.  She took classes while living in France and it was her passion and dedication to food, particularly french cuisine, that helped her to become a culinary icon.  She was by no means young when she began her culinary career and her cookbook took 9 years to get published.  I think of her when I start to think it's too late for anything new and exciting in life.  The best is yet to come!

first edition 1961

I have zero experience with cooking french food unless you count the number of french onion soups I have slaved over in my lifetime.  Boeuf bourguignon seems synonymous with French cuisine and of course Julia .  I have had the first edition of her cookbook since 2007 (a gift from my wonderful husband) and I haven't really had the guts to open it.  Part of the reason is that it's so detailed and not one of those books one can open on a weeknight and expect to prepare a meal.  It takes some thoughtful planning and reading to feel prepared to make one of her dishes.  This doesn't go to say that once one has thoroughly read the recipe that it is time consuming to attempt.  I'm sure some can be, but I found the bourguignon fairly simple and quick if you don't factor in the time it takes while in the oven.

Boeuf bourguignon is essentially a beef stew.  It has bacon, onions, carrots, and mushrooms, and of course stew beef.  Julia's recipe takes an extra 2 steps by browning the onions and mushrooms separately.  It is very typical of a trained chef to cook vegetables separately and this is where I found the recipe to be the most time consuming.  However, the results are not to be missed!  Following Julia's recipe for browned onions, I got small white onions and browned them in butter and oil for about 10 minutes.

18 small white onions in butter and oil

Then I added a half cup of red wine (chianti), an herb bouquet consisting of thyme, parsley and bay leaf, put a lid on and simmered.

simmering with chianti

Yum-o!

Oh so delicious!  Very flavorful and I'm now considering making the onions again and turning them into a jam.  The mushrooms were to be saute with a little butter and oil but I don't think this step of cooking them separately from the stew added anything to this dish.

With these two steps done, I tackled the stew.  It begins with the bacon.  The recipe calls for a slab of bacon but since I didn't have access to a nice butcher that day, I used 6 oz. of regular bacon.

Take the bacon out and in the same fat brown the stew beef.  Remove the meat and add the carrots and onions.

Once the vegetables are cooked, add the beef and bacon back into the dutch oven.  Add the wine and beef stock along with the herbs and salt and pepper.  Once it's boiling, it's ready to be put in the oven for 3-4 hours.

I made butter peas per Julia's suggestion as well as roasted parsnips because she suggested potatoes and parsnips are very similar.  I served it with a Beaujolais wine as also suggested by Julia.  The recipe calls for straining the fat for the gravy but I skipped this because there really was very little fat to skim.  i also added an extra carrot because I just can't get enough of carrots.  Once the bourguignon is finished in the oven, add the onions and mushrooms to the pot.  Scoop a big spoonful of the meat and vegetables onto a plate and add the gravy on top with parsley for garnish.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out.  As with all stews, it tasted even better the next day.  I'm not so sure what I was so nervous about but the end result is not daunting and extremely delicious.  I hope I made Julia proud, but no matter because I was proud of myself.