Boeuf Bourguignon

[Marlene]

boneless beef short ribs

[Marlene]

That's what I did. I had a house showing while I was gone, and it made the house smell wonderful! I had to test a piece of the beef when I got home, and it was incredibly tender. I've now strained it three times and it's in the fridge where it will stay until Friday.

Should this be a thin sauce or should it be a little thick?

[plunk]

That's what I did.  I had a house showing while I was gone, and it made the house smell wonderful!  I had to test a piece of the beef when I got home, and it was incredibly tender.  I've now strained it three times and it's in the fridge where it will stay until Friday.

Should this be a thin sauce or should it be a little thick?

←

When the beef is done braising, there's probably still going to be a lot of liquid left. Even after straining and skimming, I had what looked more like beef soup than stew so I reduced the liquid down quite far to more of a sauce consistency. Either way though, you'll love it.

[SobaAddict70]

I was thinking that creamy polenta might be just the thing for this if you don't happen to have plain boiled potatoes.

*sigh*

*drool*

*sigh*

Soba

[EdS]

What is this dish?  It sounds like Coq au vin with beef instead of chicken.

←

You should try the fish version!

edited to add: maybe not so funny because I know somewhere out there someone might try braising a fish for three hours. I'm certain I've had this served to me in a few nameless restaurants.

Edited January 27, 2005 by esvoboda (log)

[Rehovot]

I have taken pictures as I go, but I'll wait until it's completely finished, then publish the step by step pictorial. 

←

Yay. I look forward to the pictorial/tutorial. I have a pot of the Bourdain recipe (sans demi-glace, boo hoo) simmering, at the moment. It's been burbling a bit for the last couple of hours, and now it tastes quite good.

But I'm really too lazy to strain any of it.

[Adam Balic]

What is this dish?  It sounds like Coq au vin with beef instead of chicken.

←

You should try the fish version!

edited to add: maybe not so funny because I know somewhere out there someone might try braising a fish for three hours. I'm certain I've had this served to me in a few nameless restaurants.

←

Not quite cooked for three hours, but the Freshwater fish stew from Burgundy is called "Pôchouse", there is even a "Brotherhood of the Pôchouse’s Knights", who will most likely be tracking you down now that you have dissed their stew.

[Afterburner]

So I made my wholly unorthodox and unauthentic Beef Burgundy last night, and it was fab. Not as good as the stuff we had at the wedding reception a couple weeks ago, but I wasn't expecting it to be.

Mistakes were made, as it happens. The recipe called for "chopped" onions and carrots. And my brain said "Chopped! Ah-hah! That's what the food processor is for!" So what I actually ended up with was "minced" onions and carrots.

Which wouldn't have been a problem until the step where I had to remove the carrots and the onions from the marinade...

So I strained the marinade into a seperate bowl, leaving me with a bowl of marinade and a bowl of purple meat covered with minced carrots and onions. Then I took out each individual piece of meat and swished it around the marinade to clean off all the carroty and oniony bits.

This took Some Time, as you might imagine.

Anyhow, aside from that little snafu, it went wonderfully well. I was extremely pleased with the results.

[zeitoun]

That's what I did.  I had a house showing while I was gone, and it made the house smell wonderful!  I had to test a piece of the beef when I got home, and it was incredibly tender.  I've now strained it three times and it's in the fridge where it will stay until Friday.

Should this be a thin sauce or should it be a little thick?

←

When the beef is done braising, there's probably still going to be a lot of liquid left. Even after straining and skimming, I had what looked more like beef soup than stew so I reduced the liquid down quite far to more of a sauce consistency. Either way though, you'll love it.

←

Marlene -

That is up to you really. You can certainly reduce your cooking liquid further if you want before serving. I personally do. Make sure you taste it as you go because by reducing obviously, you are also concentrating the flavors, you might not necessarily want a sauce that is too strong. Another way of giving it a sauce consistency is by adding butter to it at the very end and emulsifying it with an immersion blender (remove the meat first!!!). It will give it a richer texture but I personally don't like to do that for this dish. I like adding a touch of reduced balsamic vinegar to the final product just to give it a rounder flavor and deeper color.

[rascal]

Would a top round roast be acceptable to make BB? I'm picking up a multi-pack of roasts from Costco this evening and not sure what to do with the ones I'm not roasting tonight. Might give the BB a try if it would be alright. Might be a little too lean?

[EdS]

What is this dish?  It sounds like Coq au vin with beef instead of chicken.

←

You should try the fish version!

edited to add: maybe not so funny because I know somewhere out there someone might try braising a fish for three hours. I'm certain I've had this served to me in a few nameless restaurants.

←

Not quite cooked for three hours, but the Freshwater fish stew from Burgundy is called "Pôchouse", there is even a "Brotherhood of the Pôchouse’s Knights", who will most likely be tracking you down now that you have dissed their stew.

←

Hmm. Larousse describes Pôchouse as a Burgundy fish stew made from a selection of pike, gudgeon, eel, perch, carp, and preferably the very rare burbot. It's cooked with white wine and thickened with kneaded butter. It sounds quite good.

Those brotherhoods seem like an excuse for otherwise grown men to dress in funny costumes and get drunk. Not that it's a bad thing. If I see any sinister Citroën 2CV's in the neighborhood with an eel stretched across the dashboard, I'll let you know. I've studied the Monty Python fish dance and can deal with this threat.

Edited January 27, 2005 by esvoboda (log)

[LindaK]

And about the lardons - no biggie to use bacon but maybe you want to boil them for a bit and dry them off well before you start rendering any fat? That way you can avoid the smoky taste of the bacon permeating your Boeuf Bourguignon.

Yes, ellencho! I found myself in the coq au vin thread before this one, and posted the following:

A small trick I learned some years ago during a brief stint cooking in France was to blanch the lardons before proceeding with any recipe--coq au vin, salade frisée au lardons, etc.  It really does make a difference, especially with American bacon, which tends to be more heavily cured than its French counterpart in my experience.  You want it to provide a subtle note in the background, rather than have the other flavors overpowered by the maple/hickory/whatever cured flavor.

←

(note: I'm still new to posting and this multiple quoting is a challenge. fingers crossed that it posts correctly...)

Also, to the discussion about citrus addition: orange peel is a typical ingredient in a provencial daube, a regional variation of a bourguignon.

Edited January 28, 2005 by LindaK (log)

[Marlene]

That's what I did.  I had a house showing while I was gone, and it made the house smell wonderful!  I had to test a piece of the beef when I got home, and it was incredibly tender.  I've now strained it three times and it's in the fridge where it will stay until Friday.

Should this be a thin sauce or should it be a little thick?

←

When the beef is done braising, there's probably still going to be a lot of liquid left. Even after straining and skimming, I had what looked more like beef soup than stew so I reduced the liquid down quite far to more of a sauce consistency. Either way though, you'll love it.

←

Marlene -

That is up to you really. You can certainly reduce your cooking liquid further if you want before serving. I personally do. Make sure you taste it as you go because by reducing obviously, you are also concentrating the flavors, you might not necessarily want a sauce that is too strong. Another way of giving it a sauce consistency is by adding butter to it at the very end and emulsifying it with an immersion blender (remove the meat first!!!). It will give it a richer texture but I personally don't like to do that for this dish. I like adding a touch of reduced balsamic vinegar to the final product just to give it a rounder flavor and deeper color.

←

I think I will reduce it. I also like the sounds of finishing it with a bit of reduced balsamic vinegar.

[Adam Balic]

What is this dish?  It sounds like Coq au vin with beef instead of chicken.

←

You should try the fish version!

edited to add: maybe not so funny because I know somewhere out there someone might try braising a fish for three hours. I'm certain I've had this served to me in a few nameless restaurants.

←

Not quite cooked for three hours, but the Freshwater fish stew from Burgundy is called "Pôchouse", there is even a "Brotherhood of the Pôchouse’s Knights", who will most likely be tracking you down now that you have dissed their stew.

←

Hmm. Larousse describes Pôchouse as a Burgundy fish stew made from a selection of pike, gudgeon, eel, perch, carp, and preferably the very rare burbot. It's cooked with white wine and thickened with kneaded butter. It sounds quite good.

Those brotherhoods seem like an excuse for otherwise grown men to dress in funny costumes and get drunk. Not that it's a bad thing. If I see any sinister Citroën 2CV's in the neighborhood with an eel stretched across the dashboard, I'll let you know. I've studied the Monty Python fish dance and can deal with this threat.

←

I think that the Burbot is locally restricted rather then rare, we had a discussion on the topic a while ago Burbot/Eelpout. As you can see if you are in the States you could form your very own chapter of the Brotherhood....

[Marlene]

Right, I'm ready to report. I have to confess, I'm a Keller school drop out. I made it about 3/4's of the way throught the process and then I just couldn't face it anymore. After a weekend from hell, a pinched nerve in my neck, juggling a conference call at six p.m. and one at 10:00 pm. and getting dinner and homework out of the way in the meantime, I just didn't have the strength. I really didn't.

i'm afraid I'll never achieve the godhood of Keller, but I knew that anyway. Ok, here goes.

One starts with a number of vegetables with a bottle of caberet sauvignon, reduced to the point where it's sort of like a glaze:

when it's reduced, it almost looks like there's nothing left of the wine, until you remove the vegetables.

The wine then gets strained into a bowl and set aside. Throw out the vegetables and herbs from the wine reduction. In the meantime, brown the beef in some oil, and prepare new vegetables and herbs, and cover them with a piece of cheesecloth.

The beef goes on top of the cheesecloth and then gets covered with about 4 cups of beef stock. The whole thing goes in the oven to braise for a couple of hours. I actually braised mine for almost 4 hours because I found the meat wasn't tender enough at two hours and I had to go out.

Once you take the braise out of the oven, remove the meat first, then the cheesecloth, then the vegetables.

Now the straining fun begins. I strained the liquid twice using a fine mesh colander and a layer of cheesecloth. Then into a pot, bring the stock to a boil and skim off any fat. Strain it yet again into a bowl, and then strain once more over the beef that is now in an oven proof pot.

Once it's cool, you can put the lid on and fall into bed. (I think I'm figuring out how I pinched the nerve in my neck)

I left it in the fridge for three days. Today, I was supposed to heat it enough to liquify the stock, remove the meat, strain the liquid again and heat the beef and stock in the oven. In the meantime I was supposed to cook the potatoes and carrots separately with a bunch of herbs then let them cool and toss them into the beef and stock to heat. Somewhere in there, I think I was supposed to do something with pearl onions. Oh, and in my spare time, make the lardons.

I thought about doing all that for oh, maybe 5 seconds. Instead, I scrubbed my little red potatoes and washed my baby carrots. Removed the beef from the stock, threw in the potatoes and carrots and simmered it until said potatoes and carrots were tender. I put the beef back in, and simmered a bit more until the beef heated up. In the meantime I made lardons.

In a lousy attempt at plating, I arrived at this with a wonderfully fresh loaf of crusty bread that had just emerged from the bakery oven as we got there.

It was not Keller's full recipe, but it was damn good. I apologize Mr. Keller, you're a better man than I'll ever be. I tried, I really did. I just could not face another round of straining if my life depended on it.

Next time I'll try bourdain's recipe. It's gotta be easier.

[Ling]

^The Bourdain is definitely easier. I'm interested to know how it compares to Keller's recipe! Thanks for the pictures. I don't think I'm ambitious enough to attempt the Keller recipe though, and applaud your efforts! Your dish looks great.

[fifi]

Marlene, I had to go lie on the couch for a while after reading your post. You are truly a brave lady. And I thought the Cook's Illustrated version was a pain. Does anyone really think the average maman is going to do all of that? Well, probably not. I guess it is an example of applying classic technique to a traditional rustic dish. The pictures were particularly helpful. I kinda wish you had taken pictures of cleaning up.

Onward to Bourdain!

[zeitoun]

Marlene - Looking at your pictures, I guess you would have still survived in Keller's kitchen!

You may have gone 3/4 of the way but your dish does look fabulous. And in terms of the overall flavor of the dish, I guess all the hard work done at the preliminary stages paid off somehow!! Bravo!!

[chefzadi]

Marlene-

Does it help you feel better to know that Keller has a large kitchen staff behind to prepare his concoctions?

If you really prefer his Beef to other recipes, I suggest omitting the steps that are mostly for the sake of final presentation anyway. Also he has a lot of garnishes that are not traditional (hence the coq au vin jokes earlier). I'm not saying traditional is better than nouveau. What I am saying is you don't need them all or even most to enjoy your Beef a la Keller. Cutting back on the straining, the whole cheesecloth bit and the garnishes will cut your preparation time significantly.

Another way about it is to is to add to Bourdain's recipe by marinating the beef in wine or adding more wine for greater intensity of flavor. I usually add enough wine to cover the beef, which usually means at least an entire bottle of, not just a cup. Also after the beef has cooked in the wine you can remove it, strain the sauce (just once at this point if you want to) and reduce the sauce further. Another way to get a more refined finished product without all that straining is to NOT deglaze the brown bits in the pan. Throw it out.

The dish also tastes better the next day.

Edited February 1, 2005 by chefzadi (log)

[stephenc]

Oh my god, Keller's a nut.

[Steve Ramsey]

Iv'e been making and selling BB at my restaurant for a few months now. It's really my own I suppose, but I think it falls somewhere Between Tony's and Julia's in technique, but I must claim it because of the less expensive...um......no ...CHEAP ingredients that I have to use to make food cost.

For one, I use chuck roll.

I use the cheapest possible Carlo Rossi Jug Burgundy.

And a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. (batch serves 25)

It's absolutely better if chilled for 24 hrs and re-heated, and starts to peak after two or three days. Some kind of magic happens in that time.

But the result is somewhat credible, and It's my second best selling menu item.

[chefzadi]

Iv'e been making and selling BB at my restaurant for a few months now. It's really my own I suppose, but I think it falls somewhere Between Tony's and Julia's in technique, but  I must claim it because of the less expensive...um......no ...CHEAP ingredients that I have to use to make food cost.

For one, I use chuck roll.

I use the cheapest possible Carlo Rossi Jug Burgundy.

And a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. (batch serves 25)

It's absolutely better if chilled for 24 hrs and re-heated, and starts to peak after two or three days. Some kind of magic happens in that time.

But the result is somewhat credible, and It's my second best selling menu item.

←

To further cut food costs "wine in a box". This is used by a lot of restaurants.

[halloweencat]

Iv'e been making and selling BB at my restaurant for a few months now. It's really my own I suppose, but I think it falls somewhere Between Tony's and Julia's in technique, but  I must claim it because of the less expensive...um......no ...CHEAP ingredients that I have to use to make food cost.

For one, I use chuck roll.

I use the cheapest possible Carlo Rossi Jug Burgundy.

And a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. (batch serves 25)

It's absolutely better if chilled for 24 hrs and re-heated, and starts to peak after two or three days. Some kind of magic happens in that time.

But the result is somewhat credible, and It's my second best selling menu item.

←

i wonder if you could garner increased profits if you offered both the "jug" version as well as one that used a superior wine (dub this version with some sort of "royale," "luxe," etc. appellation). many people operate with a mindset of wanting "the best," whether or not they can taste or appreciate it. you would charge more for this "royale" version, of course. ;)

cheers :

hc

[ianeccleston]

Other wasy to get more intense flavor is to marinate the beef in red wine or using Sous vide.

←

I seem to remember seeing recipes where the beef is marinated in wine, as you suggest. Does this affect how you brown the meat? How long should you marinate it for? Do you marinate it with any other aromatics?

(getting chilly here in Chicago! Last weekend, chili. This weeked, boeuf)

Ian

[Marlene]

I had forgotten about this! I never did get to Bourdain's recipe, so I'm putting it on my list to make. I'll probably make it on Sunday with the intent to serve it Monday or Tuesday.