Le Cordon Bleu - Lesson 17

Today's Menu

Boeuf Bourguignon with Pomme Puree

Beef Bourguignon, also known as Beef Burgundy because of the Burgundy wine used for cooking, started as a peasant dish that was refined by Haute Cuisine (French cuisine).

This dish takes tougher, cheaper cuts of meat.  The method of simmering this dish helps to tenderize the meat by breaking down the muscles, fat and sinew, while keeping the flavour.   Generally the pieces of meat used are tougher because they come from parts of the animal that carry out lots of work, e.g. the shin, and therefore have more developed sinew and fat.  This is also where the taste comes from.

The dish is also flavoured from the bacon lardons, butter, veggies, mushrooms, garlic, shallots and rendered fat and bouquet garni.

We used duck fat, that we rendered from fatty duck skin.  We rendered the fat by boiling the skin and fat up with a bit of water, as the water evaporates, you are left with liquid fat.  This adds a delicious taste, but is not good for the cholesterol, and probably increases the chance of a heart attack.

Tips for a good bourguignon:

• Clean your meat by cutting off excess sinew and fat
• Dust your meat with flour before browning, this will help thicken your sauce.
• Use rendered fat or lard to seal your cuts of meat.
• Make a bouquet garni using parsley, thyme, rosemary, peercorns, bayleaves, juniper berries and cloves
• Use both dried and fresh mushrooms, no need to soak your dried mushroom, just rinse before use.
• Cook your veggies separately and then add at the end of cooking.  This helps to keep their colour.
• Once cooked, remove your meat from the pot and reduce your sauce into the consistencly that you want before returning your meat to the sauce.  

Perfect Pomme Puree (mashed potatoes)

In class we roasted our potatoes separately wrapped in foil, but a better way (and one favoured by our Chef) is to peel and boil the potatoes until cooked.

Then push the potatoes through a sieve and whisk in cream and a bit of butter.  Season with Salt and Pepper.  Make sure you don't make them too runny, or you won't be able to pipe them into the pretty designs.