A Heavyweight in the World of French Cuisine
Beef bourguignon.
This dish is a regional emblem and a hallmark of its area.
It tells the tale of Burgundy in France, a region renowned for its vineyards since the Roman times.
In this dish, the two main ingredients are:
The famous Burgundy wine, and the local Charolais beef!
Ah!
It's not an exaggeration to say,
Burgundy is indeed the brightest jewel in the crown of French wines.
The unique limestone clay and rocks, weathered through history, give rise to robust and resilient red wines, which when stewed with beef, make for a perfect match!
And the Charolais beef is one of the finest breeds of cattle in France, raised in the central and southeastern areas of Charolais and Nièvre.
This breed of cattle, usually white in color,
is large and strong, with a broad forehead, a short face, a short, fleshy neck, and produces lean, high-quality meat!
...
Despite the myriad recipes for beef bourguignon that exist today, each with their own twist,
most culinary experts still prefer the shoulder cut, where the muscles are well-developed, rich in collagen, and marbled with fat.
Moreover, the meat slowly breaks down during the long stewing process, releasing collagen and enriching the broth.
At this moment, just as Megumi is preparing the ingredients according to Instructor Chapelle's method,
Tap tap tap!
Tap tap tap!
She then expertly chops.
Onions, carrots, celery are cut into chunks, and the beef is sectioned for use.
Next, the sectioned beef, along with salt, bay leaves, star anise, cinnamon, black peppercorns, and more are placed in a container, then doused with red wine to marinate.
After marinating, the beef is removed, drained, and wrapped with kitchen paper to press and absorb excess juice.
Finally, the prepared beef is seared until browned on both sides.
Then the chopped vegetables and spices are added to a casserole, sautéed briefly in olive oil, before laying out the seared beef evenly, and pouring in the red wine, Chivas, and a small amount...
No!
It's a lot!
Megumi: (⊙o⊙)
...
"Oh no."
"I accidentally spilled the whole bottle of salt..."
Seeing the glistening chunks of beef now coated in salt, she could only hold her head in her hands in frustration, nearly driven to the brink of a breakdown by the scene.
Normally, this recipe only needs to be followed carefully from the board to be successfully completed.
With previous guidance from Zane, theoretically, Megumi should have found this French dish quite straightforward!
In fact, it was indeed so.
Everything was done perfectly up until the crucial moment when she made a fatal mistake!
"What should I do?"
"What can I do now?"
"There's really no time to start over."
"But... adding so much salt as it is, if I follow Instructor Chapelle's recipe, it's bound to fail!"
Thinking this, she hastily tries to remove the excess salt from the beef, but the more flustered she becomes, the more chaotic it gets.
She fears being expelled from Yuan Moon for receiving an E grade and failing the expectations of Zane and her hometown elders.
Yet, she eventually despairs!
Such a mistake, how could there possibly be any redemption?
"Hmm? It seems someone is in trouble?"
From the podium, Chapelle, who observes every student's actions, is inadvertently caught by the sight of the bewildered Megumi and pauses in surprise.
...
"Zane."
"You... you say... at this time, what would you do if you were me?"
Desperate, Megumi finally closes her eyes, holding back the tears that nearly spill, and whispers to herself.
"Megumi, do you remember what I told you at the tavern?"
"Under stressful circumstances, if you accidentally spill an entire bottle of salt on the beef, there actually is a way to rectify it, like..."
Just then, a magnetic voice echoes in her mind.
Following that, various scenes of her time with Zane, like movie frames, continuously play in her mind.
"Eh? Could it be..."
With her eyes dimly lit, Megumi snaps back to reality.
She grasps at a straw of hope, reigniting her determination and confidence.
Snap!
A loud noise.
It's her clapping her cheeks firmly.
"Alright! Then I'll use this method."
Finally, clear-headed and calm, Megumi continues to prepare the Burgundy beef stew!
And her entire process of panic, despair, and regaining confidence is witnessed by Chapelle.
"Interesting, to see someone change their mindset so quickly when facing adversity and calmly make adjustments.
That's the quality a fine chef should possess..."
"It seems, this assessment might not disappoint me after all!"
...
In traditional recipes.
The beef is marinated in red wine for over 12 hours.
This long duration is because only when the beef is thoroughly infused with the spices and wine can it perform better during cooking.
However, in the fast-food era, a dish requiring so much time has no competitive edge in the market.
Thus, Burgundy beef stew has been modified by countless chefs over the course of history.
Now, from preparing the ingredients to the final product, it generally takes only about 2 hours.
Bundle the spices, add two cloves of garlic, and pour into the set-aside beef broth with red wine, then add tomatoes.
Next, place the pot in a preheated oven and bake for 1 hour. Only by slowly stewing can the moisture be fully retained.
And during the cooking process, the red wine will slowly evaporate, thoroughly integrating into the soup base.
After cooking the vegetables that were prepared earlier, plate them and drizzle with the red wine sauce, sprinkle a little parsley for added flavor.
Thus, the sauce is completely finished!
"This method, I remember, seems to come from Julia Child?"
Chapelle, having watched the entire process of Megumi's preparation and cooking, falls into contemplation.
In Megumi, he sees another heavyweight in the realm of French cuisine.
She is a well-known American culinary author who once studied French cuisine in Paris.
Out of love for Burgundy beef stew, she demonstrated how to cook "Beef Bourguignon" in detail in 1963 on the WGBH public television series "The French Chef."
After the show aired, this dish became an instant sensation and was regarded by many as a classic representation of French cuisine.
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