Beef Bourguignon

Dear Joy,

Here's the  recipe I promised. It's not my great-grandmother's exactly, but she has a lot to do with it. My mom, Veronica Krumm, was a great cook. She would often tell us about her grandmother's beef stew, how delightful it smelled, cooking in the oven. Mom was always trying to make something that scrumptious, and she felt she never did. So I am pursuing the elusive French beef stew in the oven. It must smell and taste heavenly. (Mom's grandmother was from Paris, and she married a German -- an atrocity that got her disowned. They left Europe for Ohio, where she continued cooking.) I've had this recipe for more than 40 years, and I think it's from Julia Child.

Beef Bourguignon 

Sauté 6 ounces bacon for two to three minutes, to brown lightly. Take bacon out. Reheat the bacon grease with 1 T. oil (I use olive oil.) until it is almost smoking.

Cut 3 pounds of beef* into 2" cubes. Dry the beef and sauté it until brown. When brown, put it in the dish with the bacon. When it's all brown, put the beef back into the pan. Sprinkle it with 1 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper, 2 T. flour. Put it in 450° oven for 4 minutes. Stir, and put back in oven for another 4 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325°. Add 3 C. red wine (Chianti is good.), the bacon, enough beef broth to barely cover, 1 T. tomato paste, 2 mashed garlic cloves, 1/2 t. thyme, a crumbled bay leaf. Simmer on top of the stove, then cover and put in the oven until the meat is tender -- 3 to 4 hours, or more. When it is ready, braise**  18 to 24 small onions (I use a bag of frozen, thawed.), and sauté a pound of sliced mushrooms in butter.

When beef is tender, pour the casserole over a sieve into a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the meat to it. Put the onions and mushrooms on top. Skim any fat off the sauce and simmer it a minute or so. It should coat a spoon lightly. Taste it! Pour it over the meat and vegetables. If you are serving now, simmer it a couple of minutes, basting with the sauce. You can also cool it and then simmer it 20 minutes before serving.

Serve with buttered carrots and French bread.

*Good meat = good casserole. Rump roast is best. Then chuck. Then sirloin tip.
** Braising means to brown the onions and then cook them until tender.

Beef cooked until tender, right
Onions braising on the left