Yes, I can also cook simple foods too...

[ironchef]

At home, I always cook simple foods. I'm not going to make a Roasted Shelton Farms Chicken with Boursin Foam on my day off. My favorite foods to cook are French and Italian-style peasant dishes. I'll usually cook a braised type dish or pasta because clean up is easy. At the most it's one pot and one saute pan. Most of the stuff I put up on here is of high end food with really expensive and exclusive ingredients. But yeah, for the record, I can cook the simple stuff too. I remembered that I had about a 1/2 bottle left of a Cote du Nuits in the fridge from a week ago that I forgot to drink BUT, what better use for a burgundy than boeuf bourguignon.



Ok, so it's not a foam, noodles made with tranglutaminase, or "caviar" made with calcium chloride and sodium alginate. She'll learn that when she's a bit older.

 

[kitchenelf]

Did someone say Cote de Nuit??????????

OK, who is our future chef in the pic? I figured you could cook at home with NO problem!

 

[ironchef]

That's my daughter. She's 2. In the pic she's mixing in the beurre manie. That's how I finish a lot of my braised dishes in which I want the sauce the be thick. I don't use a slurry, I don't use tomato paste unless it's a tomato-based dish, and I don't usually dredge the meat in flour. That's my secret. I almost always use a beurre manie to finish.

Yeah, I can't believe I forgot to finish it. It was 2003 Marsannay Rouge. It did make a delcious boeuf bourguignon so I guess I can't complain.

 

[mudbug]

your little sweetie is cute even from the back, ic!

buerre manie = knob of butter covered with flour, yes?

you could have made it easier on us peasants and called it beef stew.

 

[carolelaine]

Very, very cute assistant chef. Your Marcel is sort of disturbing. Looks good and interesting that you don't flour the meat for this dish.

 

[ironchef]

your little sweetie is cute even from the back, ic!

buerre manie = knob of butter covered with flour, yes?

you could have made it easier on us peasants and called it beef stew.

Not actually covered with flour. The butter is kneaded together with flour to make a dough. The butter helps the flour disperse into the liquid without clumping, and of course adds a richness to the sauce.

LOL but 'Bug, it's not beef stew! I start off with rendering bacon, deglaze the pan with cognac, and saute the mushrooms and carrots together seperately before adding it near the end with the reserved bacon. That's beef burgundy baby!

 

[mudbug]

what?! no lardons?

 

[ironchef]

Very, very cute assistant chef. Your Marcel is sort of disturbing. Looks good and interesting that you don't flour the meat for this dish.

Marcel just cracks me up. His creativity is through the roof though and I gotta give him props for that. I thought and still think that he and Sam were the two best from season two. Ilan was no better than the fourth best behind Cliff, although an argument could be made for Elia which would knock Ilan down to fifth. His win was a fluke and everyone knew it.

The reason I don't flour the meat is because it does nothing except to maybe help thicken the sauce. Plus, the flour can sometimes burn and I don't like tiny bits of burnt flour floating around. Some people will argue that the flour adds "flavor" but I disagree with that.

 

[ironchef]

what?! no lardons?

LOL, didn't have any on hand. I did have some nice thick-cut applewood smoked bacon though so I used that.

 

[skilletlicker]

Thanks ic, for answering the Marcel avatar question. I wanted to ask but not bad enough to risk insulting you. Thanks also for the buerre manie explanation. I had to google the term to have any sense at all of it. Would I be correct to assume that the amount you would use would be roughly the same as the amount of butter and flour to make a roux on the front end for the same volume of stew?

 

[mudbug]

LOL, didn't have any on hand. I did have some nice thick-cut applewood smoked bacon though so I used that.

OK, you are forgiven (I love it when I get to do that to ic).

 

[ironchef]

Thanks ic, for answering the Marcel avatar question. I wanted to ask but not bad enough to risk insulting you. Thanks also for the buerre manie explanation. I had to google the term to have any sense at all of it. Would I be correct to assume that the amount you would use would be roughly the same as the amount of butter and flour to make a roux on the front end for the same volume of stew?

I guess it would depend on how thick you want it. For the amount in the pic, I used about 2 Tbsp. butter/2 Tbsp. Flour. I guess that would be roughly the same amount if I had used a roux. I guess out of habit and out of personal preference, I like to get the flavor of something to how I want it before I thicken it. Then I don't have to adjust the thickening if the flavor is off had it already been thickened before.