Wine Pairing Story (4)

There seems to be some sort of reproach tone in these eyes. Did that beautiful white burgundian cow (that I hand-fed last summer) forsee my (wine related) interest in her flesh ?
Winter is Bourguignon's season. Bourguignon not only means "from Burgundy" but the word is short for "boeuf bourguignon", that is, beef cooked in wine, burgundian style. this is a great winter dish, synonym for long, patient cooking on the stove.
The meat is usually from the shoulder part of the cow, a lean type of meat, and is usually cut by butchers in big pieces. Whenever cooked like a steak in a frying pan it would be tough to eat, but long hours on the stove, bathing in its juice plus wine, make it both tender and so differently tasty than ordinary beef.

The best cooking recipient for the bourguignon is the heavy cast iron pot with its lid. It works like a stewpot, retaining the aromas and cooking the ingredients harmoniously.
There are variants in the recipe. As for me, I use to lightly fry the meat with sliced onions a few minutes in the open cast-iron pot, turning the pieces over a few times so that they can get superficially cooked on all sides. Then, pour the wine and add some aromatic herbs and salt.

Of course, the dish being burgundian, the wine would be ideally Pinot Noir from Burgundy. The important thing actually is that the wine has to be a flavored, rich-texture wine. In short, a good wine that could be enjoyed in a glass. I sort of improvised this one and chose a wine I bought in bulk last year and bottled myself (I recognize I am reluctant to pour more expensive wine just to cook meat), a Touraine Cabernet 2002 by Francis Jourdain. After the meat was enough stir-fried and had changed color, I poured about a third of the bottle in the pot, put the heavy lid back and left the pot on the stove. Both the cast-iron pot and the wood cookstove provide the ideal conditions for the long, patient cooking needed for the "bourguignon".

When it starts boiling too much, just move the pot away from the hottest spot of the stove. You will check it from time to time, moving it on the stove , turning the pieces over and adding some wine if the level seems too low. Basically, you can just forget it on the stove on the quiet- and slow-cooking spots which are here rather on the front and right sides. : the stew will cook the meat thoroughly and the moisture will stay in the pot. On a traditional gas stove, you choose the low or extra-low setting and leave it there a few hours.
After a while, you'll notice the wine has lost its color : it's all gone into the meat and will provide this unforgettable added flavor to the beef. You don't need to submerge the beef under the wine, but as I said, there are variants, and you can pour more or less. If you want to cook vegetables with the meat, add them at the end so that they aren't overcooked. After a few hours, you will have a great dish with a lightly sirupy wine sauce which will be something completely different from wine. I would say the wine has been transmuted in the process . Not only the color, but the core components have gone into the meat pieces [ picture on right ]. That's why you must select a great, structured wine. The alcohol has disappeared, you don't feel directly that you deal with wine, but unmistakenly, there is something of the wine in there... You will soak the juice with your bread and have a hard time to stop. You don't win every time when you improvise : Having no Burgundy Pinot Noir at hand, I went to a local supermarket and found a Cote Chalonnaise I thought could be a good match. This is the bottle on the picture . It was not anywhere close to the nice Cotes Chalonnaises we had several times in the past. Meager and very disappointing. We ended up drinking the rest of the bottle of Touraine Cabernet which was used to cook the meat. This honest wine saved the dinner. But I wished we had at hand the beautiful wine (both for the pot and to drink) we drank recently in Paris : a Chateau de Belleverne, Moulin à Vent 1999 [picture on the right] that I probably bought in the Paris wine fair 3 or 4 years ago and which turned out to be a well-structured, chewy wine, with soft integrated tannins. A pleasure. And this is Gamay ! I am not usually a Gamay type, but this wine, along with memorable experiences with Gamay from Clos Roche Blanche and from Les Bois Lucas for example, makes me wonder.

Comments

[Steve Knowles]

I really enjoyed this particular story. The photographs really added to the narrative. As usual, I look forward to the next episode!

[hikalu]

I haven't cooked boeuf bourguignon yet. It seems that it's not so difficut, but it needs time. The bread and pate also look nice. Now, my stomach is grumbling. What will I have for lunch today? can't wait..