Monthly Archives: January 2010

Boeuf Bourguignon, or, The True Tale of How I Ate Cow: Part II

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Am I the only one who feels inundated by Julia Child to the point where I’m taking it as a sign? Seriously, a friend sent me My Life in France to read over Christmas, I brought it with me to read on the plane, tucked it in my little seat pocket to start after the movie, and what was the movie on the plane? Julie & Julia. It was definitely a sign. Not inundated in a bad way, just in the kind of way where I feel like there’s a message trying to get through to me that I should follow her to Paris, go to cooking school, and scientifically produce French recipes for American cooks. Have you read My Life in France? It’s great.

JUlia child

So for a Christmas present for someone very hard to buy for (aren’t all men?) I made Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, which is beef simmered with vegetables, onions and garlic in red wine and beef broth for several hours. As I explained yesterday, it was a huge deal for me to not only eat beef, but to cook it, and I had no idea what I was doing in the least. I was so busy trying to follow her directions to the letter that I completely neglected to take pictures, which is perhaps not so especially terrible because during the whole five and a half hour cooking process I kept laughing about how utterly useless my experience would be to anyone who knows anything about about cookery.

And here’s the thing – I feel sacrilegious writing this – the boeuf came out DRY. Like, it wasn’t that good. Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon wasn’t that good. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t taste anything like the brilliance that was the Spotted Pig’s bone marrow-covered steak and it was really pretty dry.

Obviously totally my fault. I have no idea how meat that simmered in red wine and broth for three hours came out dry, but it did. So, feeling badly about myself, I have to admit I did a little googling and none other than Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa herself, made Boeuf Bourguignon that came out dry too! Here’s her quote:

“I never really liked boeuf bourguignon. After cooking for three hours, the meat was stringy and dry and the vegetables were overcooked.”

Exactly how mine came out! So she ignored Julia and created her own recipe. If I ever make beef again, I’ll try her version and report, but don’t hold your breath. I think I’ve officially overdosed on beef. We drank a lot of really good wine and the mini dinner party turned out lovely as a whole, but the dish was just so brown and so heavy and so brown that it kind of grossed me out. Beef isn’t very good for me anyway, right? So I’m back to my semi-veggie/pescatarian ways but still with total obeisance to Julia for her genius, which has not been marred at all by my failure. I’m sure Julia’s boeuf never came out dry, and maybe I need to go to Paris to find out how.

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Boeuf Bourguignon, or, The True Tale of How I Ate Cow: Part I

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I. Cooked. Beef.

And ate it.

This is a very big deal.

Growing up with a vegetarian mama, I literally never ate beef in my life until a few years ago when I finally (lamely) rebelled by eating a bite of my then-boyfriend’s McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese. And it was really good. Clearly McDonald’s puts crack in their food because actual quality bites of beef that I occasionally stole from friends’ plates didn’t do it for me in the same way, and as a result I figured I just didn’t like beef that much.

Until I did a three day juice fast this December to recover from Thanksgiving and for three days I craved beef. THREE DAYS. Beef!  What?!

Yeah, this stuff.

www.aimmeats.com/

www.aimmeats.com/

From these cuties.

http://worthyourweight.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/cows.jpg

http://worthyourweight.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/cows.jpg

So after several days of resisting this craving with extremely incredible willpower, I went to the Spotted Pig for dinner, which is a fantastic gastropub in NYC, and as the fates would have it their special that night was a 13 ounce New York Strip steak with bone marrow sauce. Screw it, I said. I’m at the Spotted Pig and I’m going to try steak, and the bone marrow sauce will be an meat-eating bonus for my bona fides. I figured I would eat half and take the rest home; no no – I ate THE WHOLE THING. And could have eaten more. It was incredible. I highly highly highly recommend bone marrow on anything, especially steak after finishing a juice fast, and I highly highly highly recommend steak from the Spotted Pig any time.

http://weblogs.cltv.com/entertainment/tv/metromix/grilled_steak.jpg

http://weblogs.cltv.com/entertainment/tv/metromix/grilled_steak.jpg

I will say, though, I’ve lived in New York almost three years and can’t think of a single time I’ve encountered the “mean/rude New Yorker” stereotype.  At the Spotted Pig, I discovered why: they’re ALL there! From girls at the bar who were rude for no reason to asshole investment bankers who seem to think everyone eating dinner around them wants to loudly hear about how many shots they took last night and how many hours they worked last week, it was pretty striking how an expensive/trendy pub atmosphere attracts the jerks.

Anyway, despite the clientele, I loved the food at the Spotted Pig and the next night I got steak in my Chipotle burrito bowl and promptly OD’d on beef for a while. Until I cooked Boeuf Bourguignon….Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon. Part II to come….

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Aaaaaahhh….

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I found two bunches of tulips on sale at Whole Foods today.

Flowers make everything better.

Semi-related: I’m back in New York and as I dourly predicted to everyone I know, it started snowing in Jackson Hole in a major way yesterday – i.e. the day I left. Of course, right?! So I’m throwing my hands up and committing myself to major leg workouts and cardio in preparation for heli-skiing in February, as well as ignoring all this wintery stuff and getting back to cooking and dinner parties! I do have a good dinner party story to tell – one that was so unlike me, I’ve had to take the time to process what it really means. I also have a recipe for a shot that will either make you fall in love or gross you out. I think there’s no halfway with that one.

In the meantime, while I’m writing all this for you, flowers will keep a bit of spring in my apartment and add accent colors to each room, and unlike plants, I can change them whenever I like. These make me ridiculously happy :)

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Wrapped Vases

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This is such a good way to easily and inexpensively transform your vases: simply wrap them in wrapping paper or fabric and affix with tape (so you can remove the wrapping later), and voila, in place of clear glass you have have another colorful design element on your table.  Since they’re going to be covered anyway, containers other than vases can be adapted to hold flowers.  Anything in which you can put a little water dish, such as a votive candle holder, would work: pencil holders, tin cans, tall cardboard boxes (like wine bottle boxes) and even your own water glasses.

At most paper stores or specialty home stores you can find gorgeous wrapping paper in single sheets, which would be perfect for mixing and matching different patterns.  Rolled wrapping paper would be a very inexpensive way to create a monochromatic theme.  You could also choose fabric and use fabric glue to adhere it together.  Choosing a highly textured fabric would add a lot of richness to the table and would set off very simple flowers beautifully.

There are countless pattern and color combination possibilities with this idea – using the same wrapping paper as on the table for a very strong statement, putting a bright color on the vases with flowers and tablecloth in a softer color, or mixing it all up so it doesn’t feel so matchy-matchy.  I’m so excited to try it out sometime soon!

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Art of Après-Ski

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I’m still in Jackson Hole for meetings – back to New York next week. But wouldn’t it be great if the ski hill looked like this (with me on it)?

www.powdertravel.com/ ski_st_anton.htm

www.powdertravel.com/ ski_st_anton.htm

It doesn’t. Our poor mountain is a sheet of ice with only little taunts of an inch or two here and there to pretend like the snow gods have remembered us. A friend said to me he thinks we need the kind of snow that will shut the entire mountain down for a day or two just to get back to where we should be in the middle of January.

Soooo….we’ve been driven to focusing on what some consider the real point of a ski vacation anyway: the fun afterwards. It’s not such a bad thing to start the apres-ski revelry at lunchtime instead of when the lifts close! So here is my recipe for a good apres-ski party:

  • hot tub (optional)
  • a gorgeous view
  • locally brewed beer
  • really good tequila for shots between beers
  • jam band and/or bluegrass tunes
  • a guy who calls people “brah” and brags about hucking it off a sick lip into the gnar
  • an expert skier who won’t talk about the crazy things he’s done unless you ask
  • extreme skiing/snowboarding videos on the tv
  • a big fire in the fireplace
  • comfortable shoes
  • a ride home

Mix. Repeat.

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Pie Crust Project: #1 and #2

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We follow the scientific method around here at BB&B – yeah that’s right – so I’m making two different pie crust recipes for a true taste test comparison.

It’s pie crust, people. Flour, butter and water. I refuse to believe this can really be that hard.

DSC00804

#1:

Martha Stewart, Smitten Kitchen and Simply Recipes all have the same recipe: a classic pate brisee. It seems to be the classic all-butter crust, and because I don’t want to use shortening (all-butter crusts just taste so much better and plus I feel like they have more pure ingredients, somehow) I’m going to test it.

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon table salt.
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces or 1 cup) of very cold unsalted butter
  • 8-10 tablespoons (8 tablespoons is a 1/2 cup) very cold water

#2:

I’m also going make essentially the same recipe, but with a touch of vanilla extract added to the water for flavor and with kosher salt rather than table and a lot of it.  The vanilla could just end up making the flavor really weird, but I feel like if it’s just barely added, it might bring out the flavor of the butter.  We’ll see if I’m right….

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt.
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces or 1 cup) of very cold unsalted butter
  • 8-10 tablespoons (8 tablespoons is a 1/2 cup) very cold water – Measure 1 cup cold water and mix 1/4 teaspoon vanilla into it, then add the water/vanilla mixture to the dough by tablespoons

Side Note: Cooks Illustrated has essentially the same recipe as those above, but mixes the unusual ingredient of sour cream into the water.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.  Furthermore, their explanation says it was difficult to work with by hand, so they switched to the food processor.  I’m so curious about the sour cream that I might have to try it anyway!

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