Beef Bor-glorious

Boeuf Bourguignon?

Bowf Bore-ig-non?

Boff Borr-yan?

Beef Burgundy?

Whatever. It's Beef Bor-glorious.


I've had Beef Bourguignon on my Cooking Bucket List ever since I read Julie & Julia, and then heard from experienced cooks about how hard and time consuming it is. Because if there's one thing I do well in life, it's try to run when I should just be discovering my feet.

So, about once a month for the past 5 years, I'd set aside a night to try making the french beefy masterpiece described to me as a "bowl of steak and redwine gravy." And about once or twice a month, I'd make it half way through the ingredients before I gave up on the idea all together. I like steak and red wine and gravy, but I wasn't about to spend what seemed like a month's salary and a whole day on one meal.

Cut to last weekend. I've been brining up meal planning with my mom since I moved back in, and on she finally nailed it. As she was writing out a menu, I heard her say something about Beef Bourg.  I was quick to jump on the train, making wild statements such as, I'LL HELP YOU MAKE IT! AWESOME! SO EXCITE! SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT! So she marked it on the calendar for Sunday while mentioning her Nigella Lawson recipe. I have a conflicted relationship with Nigella Lawson because she's the queen of British Food Porn and my dad is in love with her, but my excitement remained undiminished.

And, in typical Audrey style, I forgot about my commitment 10 minutes later.

Cut to Sunday afternoon. Mom wakes me up from my Nap Day tradition and says it's time to make dinner. She had chopped all the vegetables, cubed the meat, laid out the spices, and the made the gravy, so literally all I had to do was follow the recipe. So technically this wasn't a full-on Audrey Dinner Adventure. I'll try it from grocery to store to plate next time.

I still managed to forget a step or two. And I gave myself carpal tunnel by browning cubes of steak for what seemed like 4 hours.

Cube by cube, good citizens.

And we skipped the whole "pour 1/2 a cup of cognac on it and stand back as you ignite it with a match" part because my dad was painting in the next room and there were way too many fire hazards in the kitchen. Next time.

But what came out was an incredibly delicious, aromatic, sweet, savory, beautiful beef blessing.

We served it over mashed potatoes, but next time I'm serving it over homemade sour dough bread. And next time, I'm using my Omaha steaks. And next time, I'm remembering to boil it first so the carrots aren't crunchy. And next time, I'm lighting that shit on fire. However, it's good to know that even without all those steps, it's still the new Comfort Food Champion.

And it's heaps better the next time you eat it.


Also, fun note. As I was plating the stew, I felt, in a weird away, a powerful and badass surge, and maybe even a pique in my Nigella Lawson-esque sexuality. However, my mom knocked that right out of me when she told me it was, in fact, an Ina Garten* recipe, not Nigella Lawson.

Oh well.

Next time.

Barefoot Contessa in Paris Boeuf Bourguignon



*It seems I do have ridiculous issues with every chef on Food Network who isn't Alton Brown.