Redemption

Remember the last time I made Beef Bourguignon? I said it wasn't a fail, but knowing what I know now, it was an epic fail.

Beef Bourguignon over Fresh Fettuccine
Hmmmm......what's the best way to start this dish? Oh I know, B-A-C-O-N! Yea, that's right we started the bacon in a nice cool pan, and rendered out as much fat as possible until the bits were crikspy. The bacon came out and the beef went in - beef top round trimmed and cut into just bigger than bite-size pieces. The beef was in just long enough to say it was in there; like 10-15 seconds on either side. The meat comes out, the mirepoix goes in. Get some color on that, then mushroom stems and crushed garlic go in. Delgaze with red wine. Then more red wine, reduce au sec, and add veal stock. As soon as that hits a simmer, the beef goes back in. The whole pan gets tightly wrapped in foil and tossed into a 350º oven until it's fork tender.

Meanwhile, back at the BatCave, you may be asking yourself, "What the heck happened with them tasty bacon bits?" Well I'll tell you: Mushrooms got sauteed in butter. Blanched pearl onions got added to that and browned. The bacon went in there. That was THE GARNISH FOR OUR DISH!! And it will most likely become the go-to garnish for 99% of the food I eat forever. The meat came out killer. We strain that out and reduce the sauce to nappé consistency. Tomatoes go into that, the meat into that and a little parsley. Then we mounted it with copious amounts of butter.

All the while, my partner had made fresh fettuccine. We boiled that for like 90 seconds, and swirled it up on the plate. Gorgeous beef burguignon over that. And the shroom/onion/bacon garnish on top of that.













Chef Maroon could not stop complimenting the glacage we got on the meat (the sheen that is created by a perfect sauce). The meat was "Capital T Tender". The fettuccine was perfectly salted and cooked. The bacon was crikspy. He had no complaints. He said he would serve this in his restaurant (formerly an owner twice). 20

We also made a Lamb Tagine, but I really didn't care for the dish. We got a 19 so it's not like we bombed it so I don't want to talk about it. I just didn't really like it that much. It had preserved lemon, figs, and honey. So it was really sweet, but tart, and quite confusing as a savory dish.

Tomorrow is more meat fabrication: Veal and The Other White Meat (sounds like that could be my favorite sitcom of all time). So we won't get to eat. Chef Clif suggested that we make buddies with some bake shop kids across the hall. They didn't get to eat today because they made croissant dough for tomorrow. As we were walking our dish over there, their chef caught us and said she would take us in and explain the food exchange process. She did. Then she had us (well, me) explain our dish. I did so successfully. Then she asked our grade. We told em. They applauded. I'm not gonna lie here; I cook for two reasons: (1) So I don't have to do the dishes. (2) For attention. We were lucky to get out the door with my head as big as it was after that. When the chef brought our dishes back, her exact words were "O.M.G. That was absolutely fantastic". Nailed it.

From the April 26 blog: "I'll try this again soon and see if I end up with different results." I'll say! See you tomorrow with pictures of lots of raw meat!