Beef BourguignYUM

Burr...its all of a sudden cold out! A warm hearty meal of beef bourguignon did a world of good this weekend given the cold weather, the blustery Manhattan winds and my temperamental radiator circa 1880 that may or may not work on days of extreme weather (like this particular day).

I recently wrote about beef stroganoff - a cousin of sorts to beef bourguignon. As you recall, my beef stroganoff was renamed beef strogan-tough because the meat was so tough. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, I decided I would only make beef bourguignon if I could find good tender meat.

Abandoning all grocery shopping habits to guarantee a tender cut of meat, I forewent going to my usual butcher and ended up purchasing a cut of beef (cut unknown) from Anthony Bourdain. Seriously, I did. Anthony Bourdain’s restaurant, Les Halles, happens to be around the corner from my apartment. I have eaten there a few times and have noticed that Anthony (I don’t think he would mind if I used his first name...I’m a regular at his restaurant...) has a meat counter in the restaurant for meat sales. Thinking that I would be paying well above market rate at Les Halles, I still went by the restaurant to price his meat. Although the prices were marked in Euros, I still found the prices to be well below my market’s meat prices - almost by about $8 a pound. I bought a hunk of some hunk of meat and was promised by a French sous-chef that it was tender. And I must trust the French when it comes to cooking...

The preparations for my beef bourguignon could not have been more simple. Not using a recipe - only the memories of a passing conversation with my mother - I put together an amazing beef bourguignon. Traditional beef bourguignon is a slow cooked dish. Ideal beef bourguignon (hereinafter BB - I am getting tired of writing bourguignon) is cooked for a few hours before eaten. I found that with this particular cut of meat, however, an hour on the stove was all that was necessary for my BB.

I began by cooking about 3 slices of bacon, chopped, in a nonstick pot. When the bacon was cooked, I added my meat cubes and seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper. When my meat was nice and brown, I removed it from the pot and added diced carrots and onions. I seasoned this mixture with thyme, two bay leaves and a bit more salt and pepper. I let this mixture cook in the leftover bacon fat with a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil. When the carrots were soft and the onions translucent I added a little flour (to thicken the wine I was about to add) and added the meat. I covered the meat with a pinot noir and let it cook. I found that after 30 minutes or so my sauce was getting a bit thick (I probably added too much flour). To counter this culinary chemistry, I added some beef broth to thin it down. The final touch to BB is adding some chopped button mushrooms to the pot about ten minutes before you are ready to eat. The BB was served over egg noodles.

Let me just say this...Beef BourguignYUM!! Hands down, this was the best home cooked meal in a long time. The meat was so tender, the sauce - the reduced pinot noir and beef broth with a hint of bacon fat and thyme - YUM, you just can’t get happier taste buds!

Until next time...