Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon

Without a doubt in my mind the most difficult and taxing recipe that I’ve ever tried was the Beef Bourguignon recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking from Julia Child. I have to admit at first to really enjoying how the MAFC presents recipes and I wish more recipes followed that design. Following this one was only really challenging in that there are quite a number of call-outs to other recipes that you have to master first in order to build the primary recipe. From individually patting-dry each chunk of beef to getting just the right color on the pearl onions and NOT CROWDING THE MUSHROOMS it’s nearly a whole day cooking affair. The reward at the end is definitely worth all the labor and it was important for me to master it so that I could build up my culinary confidence. Now when I botch a dish I can at least lean back and say “But I *can* pull off a kick-ass Beef Bourguignon.”