The French in Cooking, including recipes for Hollandaise, Bearnaise, Beurre Blanc, Beurre Rouge, Bechamel and Sabayon

Whether we like to admit it or not, we owe much of the history of classical cooking to the French. Cooking and culinary arts have long been valued in France and much of the language of modern cooking comes from France. Virtually every professionally trained chef must learn how to prepare several of the classic French sauces and desserts and how to use many of the French terms involved in cooking.  Today we will cover just a few examples of what I am talking about. 

Hollandaise, Béarnaise, Beurre Blanc, Beurre Rouge, and Bechamel are all French sauces and variations of them are used in hundreds of dishes.  We will provide recipes for each of them. There are others such as veloute, and espagnole that I will not cover in this post.  

Sabayon, a foamy egg, sugar and sweet wine dessert sauce, is another classic French dish, that is often served either plain or combined with whipped cream over berries. I will cover making a Sabayon too.

If you have ever made a stew or soup, you will no doubt start with a  Mirepoix. Mirepoix is the traditional French term for diced vegetables cooked for a long time on a gentle heat without color or browning, usually with butter or some other fat.  Further cooking, often adding tomato puree or tomato paste, creates a darkened brown mixture called Pincage. Usually the Mirepoix is made up of two parts onion, and one part each carrot and celery and it forms the base for many many dishes.  

French terms for technique are also important in cooking. Mise en Place, is the first that comes to mind. Mise en Place literally translates to, putting in place. It refers to the setup required before
cooking. In a professional kitchen it is used to describe the process of organizing and arranging the ingredients that a cook will require for the menu items of the day. In a home kitchen, it is used to describe the process of preparing and organizing all of the ingredients in a dish, prior to beginning the actual preparation of the recipe.  For example, I always measure all of the called for ingredients in a recipe, do any chopping or dicing, and get all of the ingredients ready before starting to actually prepare the recipe.

Bain-Marie is another term that comes to mind.  Literally a Bain-Marie is the French term for what we call a double boiler, but it is also used to describe the technique of cooking, where the substance to be cooked or heated is placed into a container, which is subsequently placed into or over another container that holds heated water. This technique is used to cook custards gently so that they cook all the way through and still don't crack on the top. It can also be used to melt things gently, such as chocolate. Making sauces that require an emulsion is another common application for Bain-Marie.

On and on we could go identifying and defining French terms in cooking, but my point here is just to acknowledge the fact that much of modern day cooking techniques are based on classic French cooking. Here are some recipes that will demonstrate the point.  Remember, when making an emulsified sauce(meaning one liquid is suspended in another liquid in the form of small globules), use either a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl over the top of a sauce pan.  I prefer the latter method versus the double boiler for two reasons.  The stainless bowl provides more surface area in which to incorporate air into the mixture and the mixture is further from the heat source than in a double boiler.  These types of sauces all require low and slow.  The water in the sauce pan should be at a low simmer, not a boil and the top bowl or double boiler pan should never touch the water in the bottom pan.  

Hollandaise

Ingredients: (yield of 1 generous cup)

10 TBSP butter

3 large egg yolks

11/2 TBSP cold water

11/2 to 2 tsps fresh lemon juice

dash of hot pepper sauce(optional)

salt and white pepper to taste

Preparation:

Melt the butter over low heat. Skim the foam off of the top and keep the butter warm. Off of the heat, place the egg yolks and water in the top of a double boiler or in a large stainless bowl. Beat the eggs and water with a whisk until light and frothy. Place the bowl over, not in, barely simmering water and continue to whisk until the eggs are thickened, about three to five minutes. Do not let the eggs get too hot or they will begin to scramble. Remove the pan or bowl from the heat and continue to whisk until the mixture has cooled just slightly. Whisking constantly, add the warm butter very slowly. When the butter is incorporated, whisk in the lemon juice, hot pepper sauce(optional), and salt and pepper. If the sauce is too thick whisk in a few drops of warm water. If at any time the sauce looks as if it is about to separate, whisk in a few TBSP of cold heavy cream. If the sauce does separate, simply whisk another egg yolk in a clean bowl and then whisk that yolk into the sauce to reform the emulsion.  Enjoy this smooth velvety sauce over cooked vegetables, poached eggs or broiled meats. Here is a photo of Hollandaise.

Béarnaise

Béarnaise is a very close cousin to Hollandaise. The major difference is that we first make a white wine, vinegar and shallot reduction which will be used to flavor the sauce in place of the lemon juice and hot sauce used for the Hollandaise. Béarnaise is heavenly on grilled meat or fish, especially filet mignon.  

Ingredients:(yield of one generous cup)

3 TBSP dry white wine

3 TBSP tarragon vinegar or white wine vinegar

1 shallot, minced

6 sprigs tarragon, leaves removed,chopped & reserved

8 whole black peppercorns, lightly crushed

10 TBSP butter

3 large egg yolks

11/2 tsps cold water

salt and white pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a small sauce pan combine the wine, vinegar, shallot, tarragon sprigs with the leaves removed and the crushed peppercorns. Bring to a simmer and simmer until reduced by two thirds. Remove the tarragon sprigs and discard. Reserve the warm liquid. Melt the butter over low heat. Skim the foam off of the top and keep the butter warm. Off of the heat, place the egg yolks and water in the top of a double boiler or in a large stainless bowl. Beat the eggs and water with a whisk until light and frothy. Place the bowl over, not in, barely simmering water and continue to whisk until the eggs are thickened, about three to five minutes. Do not let the eggs get too hot or they will begin to scramble. Remove the pan or bowl from the heat and continue to whisk until the mixture has cooled just slightly. Whisking constantly, add the warm butter very slowly.  Then, to season the sauce, whisk in the warm reserved vinegar and wine reduction and the reserved chopped tarragon leaves.  Salt and pepper to taste. Notice that the basic sauce prep is the same as for the Hollandaise  above.  We just season it differently at the end.  

Beurre Blanc 

Beurre Blanc(white butter) is another of the French sauces. It is most commonly used to flavor poached or seared fish, but also goes well with chicken or pork. It has a relatively neutral flavor, so it can be seasoned with many different herbs or spices.  It is another hot emulsified butter sauce that is made with a reduction of vinegar, white wine and shallots, into which whole butter is blended.  

Ingredients:(yield approximately 1 cup)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 TBSP minced shallots

2 TBSP heavy cream

8 oz. unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Combine wine, vinegar and shallots in a small(1 Quart) saucepan. Place on range on medium heat and simmer to reduce, until the liquid barely covers the shallots. Add cream and reduce again until the cream is lightly thickened and very shiny. Reduce heat to low. Begin whisking the butter a piece or two at a time into the reduction. Whisk continually and keep adding butter until it is all incorporated into the sauce. If the mixture gets too hot reduce heat or remove the pan from the flame. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in a glass or ceramic container to hold warm until time to serve. This sauce is excellent on seared halibut or sea bass.

Beurre Rouge

Beurre Rouge(red butter) is the first cousin of Beurre Blanc. It is made exactly as the Beurre Blanc above, except that you substitute dry red wine for the white wine and you use raspberry vinegar versus the white wine vinegar in the Beurre Blanc. The taste is a little fruitier and it is commonly used on darker cuts of fish or fowl. For example it is good with striped sea bass or chicken leg and thigh quarters.  This is fish topped with caramelized onions and Beurre Rouge served with a vegetable tart. We made this dish in a class last Friday night.

Bechamel

Bechamel is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine, even though it first appeared in Italian cookbooks. It is really a simple white sauce which is made from a white roux(butter and flour) and milk. It can be flavored in many ways such as with nutmeg or tarragon to be used with seafood or it can be used as the base for other sauces such as Mornay, which is Bechamel with cheese. It is also used to cream vegetables. Every good cook needs to know how to make a Bechamel.  

Ingredients:(yield one cup)

2 TBSP butter

2 TBSP all purpose flour

1 Cup milk

salt and white or black ground pepper

grated nutmeg

Preparation:

Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the flour until well blended and smooth, about one and a half minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in the milk. Return the pan to the heat and slowly bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Continue cooking and whisking until the sauce is smooth and thickened, about one to two minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper and nutmeg to taste. Other flavor variations can be created by adding 1 tsp lemon juice or a dash of worchester or a tsp of sherry or herbs such as parsley, chives or tarragon. For a thicker bechamel use 3 TBSP each flour and butter to form the roux, and then add the cup of milk.   

Sabayon

Sabayon is a dessert sauce, but it is also an emulsion like Hollandaise, Béarnaise and Beurre Blanc.  It is made with a Bain-Marie technique as well.  You may have heard this dish called Zabaione, which is the Italian equivalent.  Regardless of what it is called, it makes an excellent dessert, especially when mixed with whipped heavy cream and spread over fresh berries. This recipe combines the sabayon with the whipped cream.  If you wish to have the sabayon plain, simply stop at that step.  

Ingredients:(4 servings)

5 Egg yolks

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup champagne

1 cup heavy cream, whipped until stiff and chilled

4 cups fresh mixed berries like raspberries, blueberries and cut up strawberries

mint leaves for garnish

Preparation:

Set up a double boiler or a medium sized stainless steel bowl over a pot of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. 

Remove the bowl from the heat but leave the water to simmer. In the bowl, using a whisk, beat the eggs and sugar together approximately three minutes until pale yellow. Slowly whisk in the champagne and set the bowl over the simmering water. Continue to whisk constantly, approximately 10 to 15 minutes, until eggs triple in volume, thicken and reach a temperature of 140 degrees when measured with an instant read thermometer. The egg mixture should slightly stiffen but still hold air. Remove from the heat and cool the mixture completely in the refrigerator. 

When mixture is cool, gently fold in the prepared whipped cream. Fill 4 wine glasses with berries. Splash the berries with champagne and then ladle about two ounces of sabayon over the berries. Garnish with a mint leaf. A raspberry liquor may be substituted for the champagne in the recipe. Enjoy!!

I hope you have gained a little appreciation of the influence of French culinary history on modern cooking and a little better understanding of the use of Bain-Marie or double boiler type cooking when preparing sauces that require an emulsion. Give some of these recipes a try and if at first you don't succeed, try again.  In the end, you will get the hang of it and they can really take your meals up a notch.  

Pork Chops with Apples and Cranberries and a side of Baked Squash

We like pork chops and I have several ways that I fix them.  Jan's favorite way has a sweet side to it.  She loves sweet flavors with pork, so I came up with this method a few years ago and I have made it many times.  We usually have either squash or sweet potatoes with the pork. Tonight we went with the squash. 

To bake squash I use an old recipe from Paula Deen.  We have been using this recipe for some time, but I haven't found anything I like better and it is really simple. I have used it for both acorn and butternut squash, with the same results for both.  Tonight we happened to have a butternut squash on hand. Here is the squash recipe from Paula Deen:

Ingredients:

One winter squash, either butternut or acorn
2 TBSP butter, melted
2 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP maple syrup
Salt and pepper

Preparation:


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a jelly roll pan with heavy duty aluminum foil. Cut the squash in half and clean out all the seeds. Lay squash on the lined pan cut side up and salt and pepper as desired. Combine the melted butter, brown sugar and maple syrup and stir well. Brush the cut side of the squash liberally with the mixture and pour any excess into the cavity of the squash. Bake until tender, approximately 1 hour.  

While the squash is baking, I start the preparation of the pork. I do this without a recipe, but since I am sharing it, I have estimated the quantities. Here is the recipe I came up with:

Ingredients:(Serves 2)


2 thick cut pork chops, either loin or bone in
2 eggs
2 TBSP milk
1 cup flour
salt and pepper
Panko Bread Crumbs
2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP olive oil
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thin sliced
1/4 cup dried cranberries or dried cherries
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsps cinnamon
1/4 cup Amaretto di Saronna
1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Crack the eggs into a flat dish and add the milk. Stir until well blended. Add the flour to another flat dish and add salt and pepper to the flour and mix well. Put Panko bread crumbs into another flat dish, using what you think it will take to coat the chops. First dredge the chops, one at a time in the egg mixture. Next dredge in the flour and coat both sides well. Put back into the egg mixture and finally dredge in the Panko until both sides of the chop are evenly coated with the Panko bread crumbs. Melt the butter and olive oil in an oven proof skillet with a lid. Brown the chops well on each side, about 4-5 minutes per side.  

While the chops are browning, mix the apple slices, cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, Amaretto and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is reduced by half.  

When the sauce is reduced add it to the skillet, putting some fruit on top of the chops and spreading the rest evenly around the meat.  
It should look like this:

Cover the skillet and put into the same 400 degree oven with the squash. Your squash should be about halfway through baking at this time. Leave the meat in the oven until the squash is done, about another 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.  

Mushroom Risotto

Risotto is a Northern Italian dish, consisting of rice cooked to a creamy consistency in a broth. The broth can be meat, fowl, seafood or vegetable based, depending mostly on what is available and what you are going to add to, or serve with, the risotto.  For example, if I am making a risotto to serve with grilled shrimp, I would use a fish stock as the broth, but if I am serving the risotto with chicken, I would use chicken broth.  Chefs have become very creative with what and how they add things to risotto.  Almost always there is some onion that has been sauted in butter or olive oil, but in this recipe I have added mushrooms as well. Asparagus or other vegetables are common in risotto too.  Finishing with butter and grated parmesan are standards as well.  A little lemon zest is often stirred in at the end.  Use your imagination !!

All risottos use the same basic process.  First you melt some butter in a pan and saute the onion.  Once the onion is soft you add the rice (typically arborio in the U.S.  Other varieties are sometimes used in Italy). You stir the rice into the butter and onion mixture to coat each grain of rice in a film of fat.  Next you add some dry wine, either white or red, again depending on the flavor profile you are trying to attain.  You stir and cook until all of the wine has been absorbed by the grain.  Then you turn the heat to medium high and begin to add very hot stock gradually, in small amounts, stirring constantly, only adding more stock when the previous amount has been absorbed into the rice.  When the stock has all been added and absorbed into the grain, you remove from the heat and stir in some pats of butter and typically some grated parmesan cheese.  The consistency should be creamy.  The grains of rice should still be distinct and have a resistance to the bite.(al dente)

I love risotto as an accompaniment to fish, seafood or chicken.  In this recipe I added mushrooms and served it with roasted chicken. I think the result was delightful.  

Risotto is not hard to make.  It is just a little time consuming.  It takes about thirty minutes of constant attention and stirring to get to the right consistency, but the result is worth it.  Here is the recipe as I made it tonight:

Ingredients:

2 Cups water
3 Cups low sodium chicken broth
5 TBSP butter, divided into two 2 TBSP portions and one 1 TBSP portion

6 Large baby bella mushrooms, chopped
1/2 Cup chopped green onion(reserve some of the green tops to use as garnish)
1 Cup uncooked Arborio rice 

1/3 Cup dry white wine (like chardonnay)
1/4 Cup grated Parmesan

Preparation:

Combine water and broth in a two quart saucepan and heat over medium heat until it comes to a simmer.  Reduce heat to low and keep warm.

Melt 1 TBSP butter in a small skillet and saute the mushrooms until tender.  Set aside.

Melt 2 TBSP butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until soft.  Add cooked mushrooms.  Add rice and stir for two to three minutes. Add wine and stir until absorbed. Increase heat to medium high; stir in one cup of the hot water and broth mixture.  Cook uncovered, stirring frequently, until liquid is absorbed.  Your mixture will look something like this before the liquid is absorbed.

Continue stirring and adding water broth mixture a cup at a time, allowing each cup to be absorbed before adding another. When you are ready to start adding the final cup of liquid, add it a little at a time and stop adding liquid when you think the consistency of the risotto is right.  It may take the whole last cup of liquid but maybe not.  Rice should be tender but al dente, and have a creamy texture. It should cling together when served and not have a ring of liquid on the plate around the rice.  This process will take approximately 25-30 minutes.  

Remove from heat and stir in final 2 TBSP butter and the Parmesan cheese.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  I served my risotto with roast chicken and asparagus as pictured here:

Serve with crusty bread and a crisp oaky chardonnay.  Enjoy!!!

Shrimp in Prosciutto and Salmon Toasts

I love appetizers and I especially love shrimp appetizers.  Smoked salmon probably comes in second.  Here is a picture of the appetizer tray We had on Saturday night:

The shrimp are a little time consuming but I think they are worth it. The recipe goes like this:

Shrimp In Prosciutto

Ingredients: (makes 18 Pieces)

18 large shrimp (10-15 count/lb.), peeled and deveined
18 large fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
18 slices prosciutto, sliced as thin as possible
Italian seasoning
2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP olive oil

Preparation:

Peel and devein the shrimp, wash and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle shrimp lightly on both sides with Italian seasoning. 

After you have seasoned the shrimp with the Italian seasoning, wrap a basil leaf around a shrimp and then wrap the shrimp and basil with a slice of prosciutto.  You probably won't need an entire slice of prosciutto for each shrimp.  You don't want the prosciutto to be too thick.  The prosciutto will adhere to itself as you wrap the shrimp.

When you have all of the shrimp wrapped, melt the butter and olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.  Saute the shrimp in the butter and olive oil until the prosciutto is turning golden brown and the shrimp are cooked through,(three to four minutes per side). When shrimp are  done, blot on paper towels and serve. You can wrap the shrimp and store in the fridge a day ahead of sauteing and serving if desired.   

Salmon Toasts

Ingredients:(makes 12 pieces)

6 slices pumpernickel bread

Creme Fraiche

1/4 cup nonpareil capers, chopped

1/4 of a medium onion, finely chopped

12 Oz. thinly sliced smoked salmon (Nova)

12 sprigs fresh dill

Preparation:

Toast the pumpernickel bread.  Lay the toasted slices of pumpernickel on a cutting board and using a 2"biscuit cutter, cut a couple of circles of toast from each slice.  Discard the edges of toast that you cut off around the circles.  Spread each round of toast with Creme Fraiche.  Top the Creme Fraiche with some chopped capers and onions.  Now top with a double layer of the thinly sliced salmon.  Garnish each toast with a piece of fresh dill and serve.  

Cream of Asparagus Soup

We started our meal on Saturday night with some wonderful Cream of Asparagus Soup.  This is a very easy soup to make and it always goes over well.  I serve it with a dollop of creme fraiche and a couple of asparagus tips as garnish.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients: (Makes 8 1 cup servings)

2 Lbs. fresh asparagus, washed and bottoms snapped off
2 cups water
1 large stalk celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
21/2 cups chicken broth (Use vegetable broth for vegetarian)
1/2 tsps salt
1/8 tsps black pepper
Dash of ground nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Creme Fraiche

Preparation:

Cut tips off of sixteen asparagus spears. In a small saucepan bring 2 cups water to a boil.  Add 16 asparagus tips to the boiling water and boil for one minute.  Drain and plunge tips into ice water.  This will help the asparagus tips to retain their beautiful green color and stop cooking.  Dry off the tips and set aside.


Cut the 16 stalks from above and all of the rest of the asparagus into 1 inch lengths.

Heat water to boiling in a 3 Qt. saucepan.  Add asparagus, celery and onion to the water.  Cover and heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer for about ten minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Do not Drain. 

Carefully place asparagus mixture in blender.  You may have to do two batches depending on the size of your blender. Cover and blend on medium speed until smooth with no chunks. 

Melt butter in the 3 Qt. saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat.  Stir in broth.  Return to heat and heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir for one minute.  Reduce heat and stir in asparagus mixture, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Heat to just boiling.  Stir in whipping cream.  Heat just until hot.  Do not boil or the cream may curdle.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve with a dollop of the creme fraiche in the middle of the soup. Top the creme fraiche with two of the par-boiled asparagus tips. Serve with a crispy baguette and some sauvignon blanc.  Enjoy !!   

Beef Burgundy

Beef Burgundy is a classic French dish.   One of the nicest things about it is, that you can mostly prepare it a day or two before serving.  I did mine through the first five steps yesterday, so it is in the fridge just waiting to have the stock reduced and the garnish of mushrooms and onions prepared and added.  I can do that late today, just before company arrives, and hold it on very low heat for an hour or two.  

I have tried several beef burgundy recipes over the years, including the one from Julia Child's classic, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and one from French Laundry chef and owner Thomas Keller.  I have settled in on a recipe from America's Test Kitchen. Almost all of the recipes I have seen call for using Chuck Roast. You pull the roast apart at the fatty seams and using a knife, remove all of the fast and silverskin.  Then you cut the meat into chunks about 11/2" square.  Beware of buying stew meat at the butcher, as the pieces are generally cut too small and won't hold up to the several hours of braising required to produce the tender meat and thick silky sauce that you are going for.  

Here is the recipe from America's Test Kitchen:

Why This Recipe Works

Our beef burgundy recipe would have to live up to its potential, with satisfyingly large but tender chunks of beef in a sauce brimming with voluptuous wine and infused with aromatic vegetables, garlic, and herbs. For flavor, we rendered some salt pork until crisp and then browned large chunks of beef chuck roast in the rendered fat. For the braising liquid, we used a combination of canned chicken broth and water, enhanced with a small amount of dried porcini mushrooms and tomato paste. A full bottle of red wine (preferably a Burgundy, but a good Pinot Noir will suffice) was added to the liquid, which we thickened with a roux to finish our beef burgundy recipe

NOTE FROM THE TEST KITCHEN If you cannot find salt pork, thick-cut bacon can be substituted. Cut it crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces and treat it just as you would salt pork, but note that you will have no rind to include in the vegetable and herb bouquet. To make this dish a day or two in advance, see “Advance Preparation of Beef Burgundy,” below. Boiled potatoes are the traditional accompaniment, but mashed potatoes or buttered noodles are nice as well.

Ingredients:

Beef Braise

• 6 ounces salt pork, trimmed of rind (see Step 1 below), rind reserved, and salt pork cut into 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch by 1-inch pieces
• 10 sprigs fresh parsley leaves, torn into quarters
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 medium onions, chopped coarse
• 2 medium carrots, chopped coarse
• 1 medium head garlic, cloves separated and crushed but unpeeled
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled
• ½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed (optional)
• 4 - 4 ¼ pounds beef chuck roast, prepared as described in Steps 2, 3, and 4 below
• Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• ⅓ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 ¾ cups canned low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 bottle red burgundy wine, (750 ml) or Pinot Noir
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste

Onion and Mushroom Garnish

• Onion and Mushroom Garnish

• 36 frozen pearl onions, (about 7 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• 10 ounces white mushrooms, whole if small, halved if medium, quartered if large
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leave

Instructions:

1. Bring salt pork, reserved salt pork rind, and 3 cups water to boil in medium saucepan over high heat. Boil 2 minutes, then drain well.

2. Cut two 22-inch lengths cheesecloth. Following "Making The Vegetable and Herb Bouquet," below, wrap parsley, thyme, onions, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, porcini mushrooms, and blanched salt pork rind in cheesecloth and set in 8-quart nonreactive Dutch oven. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.

3. Set 12-inch skillet with salt pork over medium heat; sauté until lightly brown and crisp, about 12 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon to Dutch oven; pour off all but 2 teaspoons fat and reserve. Season beef with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high and brown half of beef in single layer, turning once or twice, until deep brown, about 7 minutes; transfer browned beef to Dutch oven. Pour 1/2 cup water into skillet and scrape pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits; when pan bottom is clean, pour liquid into Dutch oven.

4. Return skillet to high heat and add 2 teaspoons reserved pork fat; swirl to coat pan bottom. When fat begins to smoke, brown remaining beef in single layer, turning once or twice, until deep brown, about 7 minutes; transfer browned beef to Dutch oven. Pour 1/2 cup water into skillet and scrape pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits; when pan bottom is clean, pour liquid into Dutch oven.

5. Set now-empty skillet over medium heat; add butter. When foaming subsides, whisk in flour until evenly moistened and pasty. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture has toasty aroma and resembles light-colored peanut butter, about 5 minutes. Gradually whisk in chicken broth and 1 1/2 cups water; increase heat to medium-high and bring to simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened. Pour mixture into Dutch oven. Add 3 cups wine, tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste to Dutch oven and stir to combine. Set Dutch oven over high heat and bring to boil. Cover and set pot in oven; cook until meat is tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

6. Remove Dutch oven from oven and, using tongs, transfer vegetable and herb bouquet to strainer set over pot. Press out liquid into pot and discard bouquet. With slotted spoon, remove beef to medium bowl; set aside. Allow braising liquid to settle about 15 minutes, then, with wide shallow spoon, skim fat off surface and discard.

7. Bring liquid in Dutch oven to boil over medium-high heat. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally to ensure that bottom is not burning, until sauce is reduced to about 3 cups and thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, 15 to 25 minutes.

8. While sauce is reducing, bring pearl onions, butter, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup water to boil in medium skillet over high heat; cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, shaking pan occasionally, until onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, and simmer until all liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid released by mushrooms evaporates and vegetables are browned and glazed, about 5 minutes. Transfer vegetables to large plate and set aside. Add 1/4 cup water to skillet and stir with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. When pan bottom and sides are clean, add liquid to reducing sauce.

9. When sauce has reduced to about 3 cups and thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, reduce heat to medium-low; stir in beef, mushrooms and onions (and any accumulated juices), remaining wine from bottle, and brandy into Dutch oven. Cover pot and cook until just heated through, 5 to 8 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve, sprinkling individual servings with minced parsley.

Advanced Preparation
Follow recipe for beef Burgundy through step 5. Using tongs, transfer vegetable and herb bouquet to mesh strainer set over Dutch oven. Press out liquid back into pot and discard bouquet. Let beef cool to room temperature in braising liquid in dutch oven, then cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 days. 

With slotted spoon, skim congealed fat off top and discard. Set pot over medium-high heat and bring to simmer; with slotted spoon remove beef to medium bowl and set aside. Simmer sauce briskly, stirring occasionally to ensure that bottom is not burning, until reduced to about 3 cups and thickened to the consistency of heavy cream.

 Continue with recipe from step 8.

Techniques

Beef Burgundy

1. Trimming the Salt Pork: Steady the salt pork with one hand, and with the other slide the blade of a sharp chef's knife between the rind and the fat, using a wide sawing motion to cut away the rind in one piece.

2. Trimming the Meat: (A) Pull apart the roast at its major seams (delineated by lines of fat and silver skin). Use a knife as necessary.

3. Trimming the Meat: (B) With a paring knife, trim off all visible fat and silver skin.

4. Trimming the Meat: (C) Cut the meat into large chunks measuring about 1 1/2 to 2 inches.

Making the Vegetable and Herb Bouquet

1. Cut two 22-inch lengths of cheesecloth and unfold each piece once lengthwise so that each forms a 2-ply, 22 by 8-inch piece.

2. Lay the cheesecloth in a medium bowl, stacking the sheets. Place the designated ingredients in the cheesecloth-lined bowl.

3. Gather the edges of the cheesecloth securely and fasten with kitchen twine. Trim excess cheesecloth with scissors if necessary.

Another Dinner Party !!

Tomorrow night we are having some people over for dinner.  I have been working on the menu for a couple of days and today I did some advance preparations.  The menu is:

Cocktails

Smoked salmon with Creme Fraiche, Capers and Onion on Pumpernickel Toast 

 Shrimp wrapped in Basil Leaves and Prosciutto 

Soup

Cream of Asparagus Soup 

Salad

Mandarin topped Tossed Salad

Main

Beef Bourguignon

Buttered Noodles

Honey Roasted Carrots

Dessert

Banana Cream Pie

This menu looks fairly complicated, but one of the reasons that I came up with it, is that I could prepare some of the key ingredients the day before.  Over the next few days I will go through the recipes for each course and what I was able to do ahead of time. For example, Beef Bourguignon can be made almost completely the day ahead and just warmed up on the day of the dinner.  The Asparagus Soup can be made a day ahead too, and slowly warmed up just prior to serving.  The dressing for the salad and the salad prep can be done way before dinner  and the Banana Cream pie can be made several hours prior to guests arriving.  That means that the appetizers and the carrots are about the only items that really need much work on the day of the dinner.  This plan will allow me lots of time to spend with our guests, yet serve a fairly elegant dinner without lots of last minute work.  I will have some pictures of each course and recipes over the next few days.  I hope you enjoy the journey.