Aki's Kitchen - Recipes


Beef Bourginon ... continued			Main Meals 1 2
	Preparing the Beef Chunks: Skin onions and chop into 1/4 inch pieces (a little larger or smaller in size doesn't matter); set aside. Wash the beef chunks well and then pat dry with paper towels. Remove any excess fat and sinew (picture 1), then cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch cubes ( picture 2). Place cubes in a large mixing bowl, or platter ( picture 3). Sprinkle 5 tablespoons flour over the cubes, then toss cubes to coat evenly with flour and set aside (see picture 4). For the next step, you will brown the floured cubes in batches, otherwise, if you try to brown all of the cubes at once, you'll make a mess of things. Some of the pieces won't brown well, while others will burn.

1. Removing the sinew: a tough, rubbery tendon.

2. Cutting large chunks into cubes.	3. Coating cubes in flour.	4. Cubes ready to be browned.
2. Cutting large chunks into cubes.	In a large nonstick pot, heat 3 tbsp oil over medium - high heat until hot. Take a few cubes at a time and shake off the excess flour and then carefully drop them into the hot pot, placing as many cubes as possible to make a single layer. Brown cubes for 4 - 6 minutes, turning them over after every minute or so, long enough to brown on all sides (picture 5). If necessary, add some more oil to pot as the cubes are frying. The bottom of pan should always have a thin layer of oil when frying the cubes; otherwise, the flour won't brown well and it will burn and blacken - you don't want this to happen. Once again, use more oil for each consecutive batch of floured beef cubes; don't be shy about adding more oil to the pot. When you're finished browning the cubes, pour out the fat and wipe the pot dry with paper towels. Remove browned cubes to a clean large mixing bowl, or platter (picture 6) and repeat with remaining cubes in same manner, but before placing a new batch of floured cubes into the pot, toss the floured cubes once again, with whatever flour is left in the mixing bowl, because the cubes will stick to each other as they rest in the bowl. You want each cube to have an even coating of flour.

5. Browning floured cubes.

6. Browned floured cubes.
	In the same pot, sauté the diced onions with the extra 2 tablespoon oil, over low - medium heat, for 2 - 4 minutes, or until just softened, but not wilted. Add in the tomato paste and continue cooking for another 2 - 3 minutes, stirring well to breakup the tomato paste and to slightly cook it. This step helps to remove some of the acid in the tomato paste. Increase the heat to high and add in all of the browned beef cubes, but not their accumulated juices. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring to coat beef cubes evenly with tomato mixture (picture 7). At this point, things will look messy and this is to be expected. Add in the red wine and enough water to cover beef cubes by 2 inches. Add in the garlic powder, beef base, bay leaf, cinnamon, clove and pepper, and then stir well to dissolve dry ingredients; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally as it reaches a boil. When at a boil, reduce the heat to medium, give everything a good stir and cover with matching lid. Cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, or until tender. Stir mixture every 7 - 8 minutes to prevent it from sticking to pot. After 30 minutes of cooking, add some more water enough water to keep beef covered. Add water every 30 minutes or so, always keeping beef covered with water as it cooks. In the meantime, prepare the onions, mushrooms and carrots mixture. In a large nonstick pot, sauté diced carrots and sliced mushrooms in 1 tbsp oil over medium heat, for 3 - 4 minutes, or until mushrooms have released their liquids; transfer to a small bowl. In the same pot, sauté boiler onions over medium heat, for 5 - 6 minutes, turning onions occasionally and adding a little more oil if necessary; onions' surface will not be completely sautéed. Then add in about 2 cups, or more, of the boiling beef liquid, enough to cover onions (picture 8) and then lower heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally . When onions are almost tender, add in the sautéed carrots and mushrooms and continue to simmer for 10 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender; remove from heat and set aside. Note: if onions are not available, simply sauté the carrots and mushrooms in 1 tablespoon oil, for 2 - 3 minutes, over medium heat. Pour in about 2 cups of the boiling beef liquid; cover and let simmer on low heat for 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender; remove from heat and set aside. In the meantime, check up on the beef mixture and replenish the liquid with more water as necessary and continue cooking beef until almost tender. Assembling the Bourguignon: After 1 1/2 hours of cooking the beef mixture (or more, depending), test the beef for doneness by cutting through a cube using a fork alone. The fork should break the cube into 2 pieces easily and when tasted, the beef should be tender, not chewy. If beef if still chewy, then continue cooking until almost tender. When beef is almost tender, add in the vegetable mixture and cook over medium heat, partially covered and reduce the liquid to half. Stir the mixture every 3 - 4 minutes, carefully, without breaking apart the boiler onions. At this point, you want to reduce the liquid to become a sauce and to complete the cooking of the beef and vegetables at the same time. By the time you're finished cooking everything, the sauce should be reduced to half of its original amount, as compared to when you first started making it. And, the sauce should also be thick and hearty. Make sure that when you add the vegetables that the beef is almost, or completely tender; otherwise, the vegetables will turn into mush by the time the beef becomes tender and you don't want that to happen. It's better to have the beef fully tender than not. When cooked, remove the bay leaf before transferring to a serving bowl and serve. If making a head of time, then allow the pot to cool to room temperature and then transfer mixture to a glass or ceramic container: cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Note: Don't refrigerate the mixture in the same pot that it was cooked in, nor transfer it to a metal container; the low acid amount in the sauce can slightly ruin the nonstick or metal finish of the pot.

7. Cooking browned cubes with sautéd onions and tomato paste.

8. Adding beef liquid to the sautéed carrots and mushrooms.
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*Looking Back at Everything You've Made!* This meal takes a few hours to make - but it's worth it, because it tastes great.