Beef Bourguignon

----------------Beef Bourguignon-----------------



What You'll Need:

Chuck Roast.....................4lbs, in 2" cubes
Corned Beef.....................1lb, in 2" cubes
Red Potatoes.....................1 bag or at least 10 potatoes
Celery..............................1 Bundle
Baby Carrots.....................2lb bag
Pearl Onions......................2lbs (about 25 or so)

Flour.................................Unbleached white (4 cups at least)
Merlot...............................1 bottle (750ml) I used Foxbrook
Beef Broth........................32oz Carton or Can I used Swanson
Salt & Pepper....................to taste
Italian Seasoning...............Basil, Sage, Oregano, to taste (I use 2 tbsp)
Butter...............................2 tablespoons

Heavy Bottomed Pot...........6-8 quarts or larger. Oven safe, with a lid.
Mixing Bowl........................Large enough to hold all the beef.
Strong wooden spatula........for scraping
Corkscrew..........................for the wine
Flour sifter..........................for flour, you dumbass.
Oven..................................Preheated to 325º

NOTE: I make this dish in a 6.5 quart enameled cast iron pot, and I always end up with unused ingredients. Sometimes it's potatoes, and I usually never end up using the entire stalk of celery. I portion the ingredients by eye, making sure not to overpower the dish with any one ingredient. Since you're using fresh ingredients, you could end up with a particularly pungent stalk of celery or really weak onions. You adjust as you see fit.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: You have to use a pot with an extremely thick bottom. Cast iron is preferable, but not necessary. If you use aluminum or steel, just make sure you never brown the meat over anything more than medium heat, maybe even less. The maillard reaction (browning) that sticks to the pan, may go past browning to burning if you don't keep a close eye on it. If you deglaze a bunch of burnt sugars after the amino acids have given up their powers, you end up with a bitter sauce. Sorry folks, this is traditional french cuisine. It ain't always easy, but damn them frogs can cook!


Beef Prep Instructions:
1) Whatever you do, don't salt the beef before you dredge it. Seriously. Just cube your beef, and set it aside in a two large bowls or containers - keeping the chuck roast and corned beef separate. Now combine 2 cups of flour with salt and pepper to a second container. Don't skimp on the salt and pepper here. Prepare a third and forth container, that are large enough to hold your chuck and corned beef cubes, after they have been dredged in flour.

2) Now dredge the raw beef in the seasoned flour mixture, one handful at a time. Once the beef has turned a bright pink color, and you can't get any more flour to stick by just rolling the cubes around, remove them and place them into their designated containers. Repeat this until all of your beef has been dredged. Seriously, keep the two types of beef separate. You'll be rewarded.

Veggie Prep Instructions:
1) Skin your pearl onions and set aside. Do not ever consider purchasing cocktail onions for this dish, the pickling brine will destroy the flavor of the entire pot. Ask your grocer where they're located. They're usually in 2lb bags, or loose. You can substitute shallots, but they would have to be quite small. If pressed, just cube up any regular white or yellow onion.

2) Chop your celery into ½ inch bites. If you've never done this (then you're a retard) simply remove the busy leaves from the top, wash the stalk inside and out, and then chop away. Make sure to use at least half of the inner celery core. This is an extremely pungent aspect of the "moir poix" (onion, celery, carrot) and will help to create an additional aromatic element to the dish.

3) Open the bag of baby carrots I guess? I dunno.

Cooking Instructions Instructions:
1) Place your pot on medium heat, and fully bring it to temperature. Once it's hot, add a splash of oil, then add the corned beef to the pot in batches, browning each batch and removing to the large mixing bowl when finished. Repeat with the chuck roast. Corned beef doesn't really turn "brown" like the chuck roast does, so don't overcook it just because it still looks red. Also, don't worry if the browning in the pan seems extremely dark. It's going to be deglazed, just keep that heat at medium or below and splash little dashes of oil between each batch.

2) Once you have all the beef browned, add the Merlot and begin scraping away with that wooden spatula. Don't leave any of that caramelized goodness on the bottom of the pan. It adds to the flavor, is part of the thickening agent, and will burn if it's not removed. Once you have the bottom and sides all integrated into the wine, add the celery, Italian seasoning, 1.5tsp salt, 2tsp black pepper, and drop in the bag of baby carrots. Bring to a boil, uncovered, over medium heat. Stir occasionally.

3) Reduce the wine until it's about half its original volume. (usually about 12 minutes) Now toss in the beef and pour in enough beef stock to cover it all. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce, lid off, for 20 minutes.

4) Once the mixture has reduced and concentrated in flavor, melt in your butter and lightly dust with flour (via sifter) stirring until combined. Repeat 3-4 times, adding about ½tsp each dusting, until wine sauce is thick and rich. Now add onions and potatoes, and top off with enough beef stock to cover it all. Bring back to a boil, replace lid, insert entire pot into preheated oven.

NOTE: Okay, I understand you might not have a cast-iron enameled dutch oven. If you're in a pinch, you can cook this in a large saucepot on the stove, and move all of it to a large casserole or lasagna pan for cooking in the oven. The thing you have to understand is that you need a heavy bottom on your pot to cook evenly and not burn your browning bits. You also need an oven safe dish that's large enough to hold all this food and cook with a lid on it. You can't substitute foil for this. If you're not sure what to do, buy this badboy and you'll be happy as a clam for years to come. Seriously, this is 75% cheaper than you'll find anywhere else, and it'll last you a lifetime.

5) Cook at 325º for 30 minutes, removing from the pot to stir at least once. Move pot from oven to cooking range, on medium heat. Srape the bottom of the pan to make sure there's nothing stuck. Replace lid, move pot back into oven. Cook an additional 30-45 minutes at 325º. Be careful not to overcook the dish, or the potatoes will fall apart.

FINISHING TOUCHES
Understand that this dish is subject to the humidity level of the day, and the moisture content in the food. As it reduces and concentrates in flavor, it becomes better. Sometimes, it might take longer than 30 minutes to get the sauce to reduce, and every time I've cooked this dish, I sprinkled flour in at the end to thicken the sauce even more. It's very important to remember that each time you add flour to thicken the sauce, you have to boil the stew an additional 15 minutes for it to take effect and for the raw flour flavor to be cooked out.

This stew tastes better on the second day. If you have the willpower to not eat it after it has cooled, and store it for the next day, you will be eating the exact same dish I brought to Estrella XXV.

Bon Appétit!