Boeuf Bourguignonne

I’m really into cooking, baking, etc, as you all know, or should by now. So when the movie Julie and Julia came out I HAD to go see it. I laughed and laughed at that movie. It was so good to see Julia Child’s in a very human light.

Over the years I had watched her cooking shows on PBS and loved them. But surprisingly enough I never bought her book, or tried to make any of the dishes. I think I felt overwhelmed by her image!

During the past few years I've grown to appreciate some of the French dishes that Julia loved. I’ve learned how to make duck confit, and duck proscuito, but not from her great books, instead I learned them by going to The Paupered Chef (thepauperedchef.com)! Maybe I felt it easier to follow The Paupered Chef because Nick Kindelsperger and Blake Royer were more like me, just willing to jump in with both feet, plus they photographed every aspect of the recipes they made.

Anyhow, shortly after seeing J&J I decided I would try the Boeuf Bourguignonne that was featured in the movie. But I don’t have Julia’s book! So I pulled out my 2006 edition of the Joy of Cooking (one of the books Julia used in her early cooking days apparently) and looked up the recipe.

I remembered that my husband had mentioned making it before so I asked him what kind of beef he had used. Well, that was all it took. He started reminiscing about how he made it and we decided HE would be the one to make it this time also. I had saved his old 1970’s version of Joy of Cooking thank goodness! It had his notes in it so he could recall just what he did.

A few days after the movie I had bought one of those great enameled cast iron lidded pots since we didn't have a roaster. Over years with all the moves he and I had both made, we’d somehow lost track of the roaster we had. So the new pot came in perfect time!

Ken works hard at recipes. To me a recipe is often a suggestion, which means sometimes I lose track of what the intended dish was supposed to taste like! But Ken is very methodical, practicing and practicing the recipe and making notes about what he used. I’ve learned to be more like that since marrying him almost 8 years ago.

I’m not going to put the recipe in here since it takes too long to type. Look it up in any of the Joy of Cooking or Julia’s cookbooks for yourself. I have yet to compare the Joy of Cooking recipe to Julia’s recipe. No I still do not have her book! LOL.

Preparing the marinade for the London Broil. 

Sauteeing the meat with onions and turkey bacon.

Flaming the brandy.

We did use a wide dutch noodle which is the only thing I would change from Ken’s recipe. I would make my own noodles next time.

Ken sitting down to a great meal!  It truly was a great dish well worth the work Ken had to put into it!