Ducks Mahal

(aka Country Style Beef Burgundy)

Let’s get the terminologies out of the way first:

Mirepoix (meer pwah) is diced onion, carrot and celery and is an essential in most French recipes, even standard Italian tomato sauce. When we open a can of tomato sauce and add an herb, that’s actually more of what is referred to as a Marinara Sauce. But even a Marinara is a misnomer. Marinara means “sailor” and was the dish of returning sailors in Naples, Italy so there was a little seafood or anchovy added to tomatoes cooked in olive oil and basil. When a mirepoix is added to a Marinara (sans seafood) and cooked slowly for an hour or more, it is more traditional Italian Ragu and quite nice. Beef Burgundy calls for a mirepoix and a tomato and tomato paste.

Bouquet Garni means “garnish bouquet” or a bundle of herbs tossed in a pot. As we have fresh herbs available during the year it is usually a bundle of that tied together and thrown in. But since we rely on dried herbs mostly, cheese cloth is used, cut to a 4” by 4” square and tie at the top with a string to create a sack of herbs. I found this technique several years ago and use it so much I have a stack of precut cheese cloth and a bunch of fresh garbage bag twisters (paper type) on hand at all times. Make sure not to use string or twisters made with plastic. The flavors distribute throughout the pot much more evenly with a bouquet garni. Try it and see what you’ve been missing.

Lardon: Small stick of bacon cut ¼ inch thick and 1 to 1½ inches long. (Whatever wide your bacon is.) But before cutting, read further on preparing smoked bacon. As the name implies, this is the lard in the pot.

Julia Child is famous for Beef Bourguignon. I looked but didn’t find it in the Joy of Cooking. I have a version of it called Beef Burgundy in another culinary cookbook. This is what I consider the “realistic” version of the recipe. Unlike Julia, there are no blow torches, jack hammers or chain saws used in the making of this recipe and just “one” tablespoon of butter. Julia seemed to like the power tool approach to cooking as well as sticks and sticks of butter.

Like playing classical guitar, once I transpose a piece or get a piece of music in its original state, I feel I owe it to the composer to play it once exactly as it was intended. After that, I own it and tweak it to what makes sense to me. Diehard pure enthusiasts need not apply in this kitchen. In this regard, Julia’s recipe I believe has several superfluous steps that frankly I found no noticeable difference at the end, though the steps make you feel like you are earning the dish. Maybe that’s the difference between Itzhak Perlman and Charlie Daniels or Julia and me. Who knows. So since I live in the country and I like Charlie Daniels, let’s pretend this is my “Country Style Beef Burgundy” version – for you purists. It’s a beef stew only fancy-er.

The quantities in this recipe are intended to feed two people:

2 strips bacon (thick cut)
1 lb. lean stew beef (I use country style beef ribs) cut into 1½ inch squares
3 medium carrots
1 celery stalk
1 firm round tomato
1 small yellow onion
1 Tbsp. flour
1 small plastic bag
1 cup of veal stock (or use ½ cup beef stock and ½ cup water)
3 cups of burgundy wine (I use Almaden Vineyards)
1 clove garlic
1 bouquet garni (1/2 bay leaf, 1 tsp. thyme, several peppercorns, 1 tsp. parsley tied in cheese cloth)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
½ lb. baby Portabella mushrooms
10 pearl onions
Salt and pepper to taste
Teeny-weeny olive oil
Lots of paper towels
Egg Noodles
Frying pan
Large casserole dish w/cover
Small sauce pan
Variety of spoons, forks, tongs, whatever
1 Big Head Todd, Sister Sweetly CD

Prep all food in advance b/c this dish gets a moving and a hoping. I also plug in the Big Head Todd song Groove Thing on my iPod and hit it. A note on how to shop for groceries with groove will appear later at the end of this post.

Lardon: Cut bacon in half and simmer (not boiled) 10 minutes in hot water. This takes out some of the over-powering hickory smoke flavor. Trust me, the hickory smoke is WAY TOO LOUD. Then remove, dry with paper towels and cut into quarter inch strips.

Mirepoix: Peel carrots and cut into ½” inch thick wheels. Peel celery and cut into ½” inch pieces, chop onions, whatever how you do it, not too big, not to small, peel the tomato and remove the seeds and chop tomato meat into ¼” inch pieces. Place, notice I said place, not put, there is a difference, the mirepoix and tomato in the same bowl and set aside. Note I said the same bowl, not “a” bowl; there is a difference there too.

Bouquet garni: Break half of a bay leaf in half once more so it will fit nicely in the cheese cloth bag, add peppercorns, thyme and parsley, tie at the top and set aside.

Garlic: Peel skin and get garlic press ready and on standby.

Beef: Cut into 1½” inch cubes and dry with paper towels. Wet beef won’t brown.

Plastic bag: Add flour inside the bag.

Burgundy Wine: Pour a glass for the chef; turn up next Big Head Todd song, which should be Soul for Every Cowboy. Dance like no one is watching, b/c they aren’t.

Preheat oven to 450. Now b/c you will need it soon. Now!! You know you forget this step and then later go, “Oh shoot, I forgot to preheat the oven.” You always do that.

Ready?

Take out frying pan and sauté lardons (bacon) for about 8 minutes to get most of the lard out but not crispy. Pull lardons (bacon) out with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Place beef in pan with the lard from the lardons (bacon) allowing plenty of space between pieces, do not crowd beef, they hate that, while the lard is almost smoky (I use setting 8 electric stove) and brown beef slightly crispy on both sides. This is the most important part of this dish and must be played exactly as the music is written. Remove from pan and set aside to cool some. Repeat process until all of the beef pieces are browned.

Then, place the mirepoix w/tomato meat into the frying pan and sauté in remaining juices and oil in the pan left by the beef and lardons (bacon), if low on juices and oil add a teeny-weeny olive oil, place bouquet garni in with the mirepoix and add the lardons (bacon) back in for 6 minutes.

Place beef into a plastic bag with flour, coat vigorously by shaking. Place beef into a casserole dish and place casserole dish into the 450 oven and bake the beef for 8 to 10 minutes. Bake the beef baby!

See, as you start sautéing the mirepoix you are also baking the beef. At 6 minutes on the mirepoix add garlic from the press and 1 cup of burgundy wine, one cup of stock and 1 Tbsp. of tomato paste. Stir and cook for about another 2 or 3 minutes. Oh man, don’t that smell good?

At the end of 10 minutes on beef, remove the beef and set the oven temperature down to 350. Add the sautéed ingredients w/sauce over the top of the beef into the casserole dish. Mix. Add one more cup of wine. This after all is beef burgundy. Cover and bake 1½ hours in oven.

Wash, de-stem and cut mushrooms into quarters. Cut the ends off pearl onions, lightly cut the first layer and then peel first layer off the onion. In frying pan add 1 Tbsp. of butter and brown the mushrooms and onions for about 8 minutes. Add to dish. Cook in oven another 30 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles.

Shopping w/groove. Tools: Grocery list w/pen to scratch off items, jeans, flannel shirt, iPod with earphones, very dark sunglasses. Put ensemble together, walk in store, get cart, kick up music, and shop in your own private Idaho. Hear music, make no eye contact, the natives will not know you’re there. This is the new normal for me.

(Pic ganked from Wikipedia)