BOhn Api-TEE

Warning: The following post may not be suitable for strict vegetarians. Reader discretion is advised.

I finally attempted it. As a family supper Sunday sort of thing...

Boeuf Bourgignon.

What I learned:

1)It takes a great deal of work. Not particularly hard work. Not even work that you notice once it's over. But while you're doing it, you find yourself saying, "This seems like a lot of work, doesn't it?"

Many little steps. Parts of a recipe that direct you to other recipes in order to make ingredients... But the smells and colours and flavours...

2)It really helps if your dinner guests/family are only due to arrive minutes before serving. Blanched bacon and rind look disgusting and could turn noses up before it's even tried. No distractions. And no one makes fun of you when it takes you half the batch of boiler onions before you figure out the trick to peeling them.

3)Buy an extra bottle of wine. Because you'll smell it and wish you didn't have to pour the whole thing into the pot. MMMMmmmm, beaujolais.....

4)Julia Child's mushroom recipe is one of the greatest things on earth. The secret is (of course) butter. Butter and high heat. With lots of shaking. But the flavour and texture of the mushrooms is.... absolutely worth it. However, not even Julia Child can make my brother-in-law eat mushrooms. He picked his out but they didn't stay on the side of his plate very long! We all had forks and we were not afraid to use them...

5)It's very rich. A little goes a long way. Second helpings are rare and you should probably start with a green salad before the bouef.

6)My family loves to play with words - and "bouef" is so very fun to say!

7) Use the lower-sodium stock. When cleaning up after supper, I mentioned to Mum that if I were to do it again in the future (which is highly likely because of how well it turned out), I would like to use homemade stock, instead of store-bought.

She said, "That seems like a lot of work, doesn't it?