Cooking 101–Beef Bourguignon

Honestly, it’s not difficult to prepare. It’s takes a lot of time, but it is worth it. Julia said, in essence, that it’s one of the most delicious beef recipes ever. I disagree. However, I would agree that it’s one of the most delicious beef and bacon recipes ever. It’s truly a fantastic dish.
Here’s the way I made it:
Cut
1/2 pound thick-sliced bacon
into one inch pieces. Boil for ten minutes, drain, rinse then and sauté in a cast-iron Dutch oven with
2 Tablespoons canola oil
until lightly browned. Remove from oil and set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brown
3 pounds stew meat cut into one inch chunks
in the bacon fat and oil a large handful at a time. If you try too much beef at a time, it will put too much water in the oil and won’t brown properly. Set the browned beef aside with the bacon and then brown
1 large sliced carrot
1/4 cup diced, dried onion
in the same oil. After I browned the beef, there wasn’t any oil left, so I put the bacon back in the Dutch oven to cook out a bit more of the bacon fat. It didn’t provide enough to finish browning the vegetables, so I added a little water and cooked them for a few minutes then threw the beef and bacon back into the Dutch oven and added
One regular sized bottle of good red wine
2 cups water
2 teaspoons beef bullion
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves diced fine
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
Bring the mix to a boil, then put into the oven on the second rack level from the bottom. Check occasionally to be sure the liquids are simmering slowly; check for tenderness after about 2 1/2 to three hours.
Sauté
1 diced onion with
1 pound mushrooms
Put the mushrooms and onions into a small serving dish;  remove the beef and bacon from the Dutch oven into a serving bowl. Simmer the sauce for a few minutes and if any fat floats to the top, skim it off. Pour the sauce into a gravy boat or sauce pot. Serve the beef over
Steamed rice
top with the onions and mushrooms and cover with the sauce. Serve
Salad
as a side dish, and red wine if you wish.
As I said, this is an incredibly delicious dish. It is heavy, so you don’t need a whole lot more, in my opinion, but the salad does add a nice touch.
For desert Ben made a peach upside-down cake. This was an excellent finish for a grand meal.