Boeuf Bourguignon

Everyone go grab your copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, turn to page 315, and start cooking. Quick, quick like a bunny. 

Okay, I'm not going to repost the recipe since I followed Julia Child's pretty closely and I'm not going to get all Julie and Julia on you, but you should absolutely try this recipe (unless you're someone who doesn't like to spend an entire afternoon cooking). It was a truly delicious meal and one that warms you (and your house) on a snowy winter day. 


Here's my 2 cents on the recipe. 1) It wins the "Weirdest Thing I've Ever Done with Bacon" award for simmering bacon in water. I have to assume the goal was to reduce the saltiness or the fat. Whatever it was, it was really weird to drop bacon into water. 2) It also wins the "Best Smell Ever Encountered While Cooking" award for the delicious aromas that are released when the carrots and onions hit the bacon and beef fat. Holy cow! I wanted to bathe in the carrots and onions. 3) The recipe actually includes two additional recipes for Brown Braised Onions (pg 483) and Mushrooms Sauteed in Butter (pg 513). The onions almost didn't make it to the master recipe because I was so tempted just to eat them all in the kitchen by myself without telling my husband about them. It's like French Onion soup, but just in delicious bite size onions. This is a side dish that will reappear in our dinners. 


So, abandon your diets for a night, go find a farm (Springfield Farms is an excellent choice if you're in the Baltimore area), get a nice chunk of chuck roast, grab two bottles of wine, and get cooking!