I made this recipe a few weeks ago and I cannot possibly praise it enough. I loved it. The sauce was rich and full of complex flavors. The beef was perfectly tender. It lasted several meals for me and Brian. All of those things are big pluses in my book.
The down side to the recipe is the time that it takes to make. I didn't start cooking until about 5:30pm one night and we didn't eat until around 11:00 pm. It takes a lot longer than you would expect to prep all of the ingredients and get it ready for the oven. However, don't let that stop you. It is actually really easy to make if you just follow Child's instructions.
If you want a copy of the recipe, Knopf-Doubleday has PDFs of the recipes needed here. You will need to print and follow the main recipe and the two sub-recipes for onions and mushrooms. Don't worry. It's not that hard.
I was too lazy to go to the butcher to get real, uncut bacon. So, I bought Oscar Meyer Thick-Cut Bacon and cut it into strips. It worked out great. Here's the blanching bacon:
It looks kinda gross but it smelled great.
Other changes to the recipe were very slight. I used a dutch oven instead of the 10 inch casserole she called for. I also used a Pinot Noir for the red wine. I planned to get a Cotes du Rhone, but they were out of it at my wine store. Yet again, I was too lazy to go out of my way for a specific red wine.
Here are my hunks of beef browning (America's Test Kitchen taught me "don't crowd the pan!"):
Here is the dutch oven all ready to go in the oven with almost all of the stuff together (meat and some of the veggies):
Brown-braising the onions (see the separate recipe):
Sautéed mushrooms:
Those mushrooms alone were so good that I have since made them as a side dish for a different meal. So simple. So good. So full of butter...
All my cooked meat and veggies together:
Making the sauce, which always takes longer than I think but is worth it:
The finished product:
It was a definite success.
The down side to the recipe is the time that it takes to make. I didn't start cooking until about 5:30pm one night and we didn't eat until around 11:00 pm. It takes a lot longer than you would expect to prep all of the ingredients and get it ready for the oven. However, don't let that stop you. It is actually really easy to make if you just follow Child's instructions.
If you want a copy of the recipe, Knopf-Doubleday has PDFs of the recipes needed here. You will need to print and follow the main recipe and the two sub-recipes for onions and mushrooms. Don't worry. It's not that hard.
I was too lazy to go to the butcher to get real, uncut bacon. So, I bought Oscar Meyer Thick-Cut Bacon and cut it into strips. It worked out great. Here's the blanching bacon:
It looks kinda gross but it smelled great.
Other changes to the recipe were very slight. I used a dutch oven instead of the 10 inch casserole she called for. I also used a Pinot Noir for the red wine. I planned to get a Cotes du Rhone, but they were out of it at my wine store. Yet again, I was too lazy to go out of my way for a specific red wine.
Here are my hunks of beef browning (America's Test Kitchen taught me "don't crowd the pan!"):
Here is the dutch oven all ready to go in the oven with almost all of the stuff together (meat and some of the veggies):
Brown-braising the onions (see the separate recipe):
Sautéed mushrooms:
Those mushrooms alone were so good that I have since made them as a side dish for a different meal. So simple. So good. So full of butter...
All my cooked meat and veggies together:
Making the sauce, which always takes longer than I think but is worth it:
The finished product:
It was a definite success.
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