COOKING LESSONS II

Unlike Julia Child, I did not have to travel to Europe to savor la cuisine francaise, for one of the best French chefs in the world set up shop, in Minneapolis, right under my nose! 

 Jean-Claude Tindillier was born in Burgundy in 1933, and began apprenticing in kitchens at the age of 14.  Eventually, he travelled the world cooking for such crème de la crème as the aristocracy – the Queen of England – and three United States Presidents – Eisenhower, Kennedy and Ford.  He came to Minnesota in 1974 to launch two fine dining restaurants at the new Hotel Sofitel.  They were a success and he went on to open Chouette in Wayzata, an upper-crust suburb of Minneapolis.  While Jean-Claude was there he was awarded entry into the Maîtres Cuisiniers de France, a prestigious association of French chefs, and Chouette won national acclaim.  

My initiation into to this lofty realm of culinary genius came via my first husband, Jay, who worked in the kitchen of Chouette in the late 1970’s, and where he was christened ‘Souffle Jay’ due to his prowess preparing the delicate dish.  I was 17 and engaged to Jay, who was 26, in the late Fall of 1979, and the staff at Chouette were having their Christmas party at the restaurant.  I had never been to such an elegant, beautiful establishment.  The tables were draped in linen and the chairs were upholstered, cane backed, French formal dining room pieces, the floors were carpeted with Persian rugs, mirrors and art work adorned the walls and every table top was graced with fresh flowers.  It was into this exclusive, fine dining setting, where the rich and famous luxuriated over other worldly repasts, that I, a high school dropout from Appalachia, first stuck her toe into the high society pool.  And not only did I make a splash (with what was a societal cannon ball entry), I was nearly whistled at by the lifeguard and told to go back to the kiddie pool!

My big faux pas was eagerly downing two free cocktails of Seagram’s 7 and 7 Up, an extremely bubbly concoction that immediately induced hiccups.  The acutely fastidious English maître de, John Day, who was attending/overseeing the festivities was unamused.  Luckily, the food calmed my esophageal spasms, and I regained some modicum of decorum.  That evening was the first time I met Chef.  Not the best first impression on my part.

It was several years later that we again crossed paths.  He had recently opened Le Petit Chef, a gourmet takeout and catering company in St. Louis Park, and he needed someone to run the counter and, somehow, I ended up with the job.  Working there was like getting paid to attend a Master Class.  Everyday, I would take the hour-long bus ride to work and spend the next eight hours watching and learning about traditional French cooking.  I learned how to read and spell the names of classic dishes and foods.  I learned what blanquette de veau was made of, and beouf bourguignon, and coq a vin, and what a celery root was, and how croissants were made with tons of butter repeatedly worked into the dough, layer after layer.  I watched dozens of Buche de Noels being baked and rolled up and decorated with marzipan holly and meringue mushrooms.  When the counter wasn’t busy, I was drafted to do prep work in the kitchen.  As I quietly hulled strawberries, I watched Chef poach pike quenelles and assemble Napoleons.  I look back on those days now, forty years later, and I see how informative and transformative they truly were.

The first time I tasted beouf bourguignon was at Le Petit Chef.  During lunch break I would often purchase servings of the food displayed for sale inside the refrigerated glass case.  I had been the one to ladle the stew into individual servings after it emerged from the oven and cooled.  During the several hours of cooking time, it filled the shop with the earthy, comforting smell of wine imbued beef and I was salivating the whole time.  It did not disappoint.  The tender, delicious meat almost melted in my mouth and surpassed its olfactory promise.

It came as a pleasant surprise when I later discovered that the Wheeler family itself was in possession of its own beouf bourguignon recipe.  It originated with my Uncle Jim (where he got it, I don’t know), and was passed on to my mother who then passed it on to me.  It is the perfect dish to be made ahead of time for a dinner party, leaving the cook the opportunity to attend to her role as hostess – as long as she doesn’t get a little tipsy pouring the wine and forget her duties in the kitchen, as my mother legendarily did on one occasion at our home in Dallas.  My father came to the rescue though, and all was well that ended well.

I have made this dish many times over the years, and did so again last week.  I tweaked the recipe by incorporating a few tips from Julia Child’s opus Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  BON APPETITE!!

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON

6 Ounce chunk of bacon

2 ½ to 3 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes and patted dry with paper towels

1 TBP cooking oil

1 sliced carrot 

1 sliced onion

2 ½ TBP potato flour

2 tsp meat extract paste (like better than bouillon)

2 TBP tomato paste

2 cloves mashed garlic 

1 ½ cups Burgundy wine

¾ cup dry sherry

¾ cup port

3 TBP brandy

1 can beef consume

¼ tsp pepper 

1 tsp salt

1 bay leaf

½ tsp thyme

18 -24 frozen pearl onions, cooked in microwave according to package and drained

½ to 1 pd quartered white mushrooms

3 TBP butter

Remove the rind from bacon and cut into sticks ¼ inch thick by 1 ½ long.  Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 ½ quarts water.  Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 325.

Sauté bacon in oil in large Dutch oven for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly browned.  Remove to side dish with slotted spoon.

Sauté beef cubes in batches over medium high heat until nicely browned.  Set aside with the bacon.  In the same pot, brown the onion and carrot.  Add the beef and bacon back to the pot.

In a small saucepan, heat the brandy just until vapor rises and ignite.  Pour over beef.  Sprinkle the beef with the flour, salt and pepper and stir together for a minute.  Push meat to one side of pan and add tomato paste, garlic and beef extract.  Stir and let them bloom on hot surface on the bottom of the pan for 30 seconds. Stir until well blended with beef.  Add wine, sherry, port and consume.  Add herbs.

Bring to a simmer on top of the stove, then cover and set in lower third of preheated oven.  Bake for 2 ½ to 3 hours.

Half way through cooking, in a separate skillet melt the butter over high heat.  As soon as you see that the butter foam has begun to subside, add mushrooms.  Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. When they have lightly browned, lower the heat to medium and toss in the pearl onions and sauté another minute.  Uncover the boeuf bourguignon, add the mushrooms and onions, stir it all together then cover the pot and finish cooking.

Serve with boiled new potatoes, or mashed potatoes.

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