Describe the most satisfying meal you’ve ever eaten in glorious detail.
Without a doubt the most satisfying meal has to be the first time I assembled a Boeuf Bourguignon from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. There was a huge feeling of reward as I assembled all the ingredients, cooked them all independently and then assembled them. When the dish came out of the oven it was absolutely perfect. The scent of the wine and the beef were intoxicating and the flavor of the sauce was transcendent. The entire thing takes hours to make, but the reward was very much worth every moment, even worth going so far to not crowd the mushrooms and to individually hand-pat dry each chunk of beef before adding it to the cookpot. There were three distinct callouts to other recipes including braised pearl onions and butter-browned mushrooms that all had to have a hand in creating the final dish. There was a certain delight in preparing something as simple as egg noodles to serve as the substrate for this meal – the combination of the breathtaking complex paired with mindless simplicity really spoke to me. In later iterations of this meal I varied the substrate and discovered that I liked it more if the stew was resting in an island surrounded by mashed potatoes. Of course its a meal that isn’t meant to be eaten if you are on a diet – so you either have to live with the consequences or run around the block a couple times to burn off your caloric transgressions.
I’m glad I tackled it. I can’t do it without MAFC, but I know I can do it. Since it’s one the most complicated recipes out there there is a fair bit of pride in how well my first shot went. I’ve done it several more times and each time I think about sides that could compliment the dish. If I wanted to go over the top I could prepare a delightful Risotto while the stew cooks in the oven. That would be even more of a feat since I’d have pretty much every cooking tool in my house working all at once. It would be a gustatory tour de force but at that point you’d need an even stronger wine to pair with it and you’d need to also roast some asparagus on the side to serve as a counterpoint to the smooth richness of the Risotto and the delight of the Boeuf Bourguignon.
If I wanted to be really mean, I would pair the Boeuf Bourguignon with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. That’s another contrasting pair that I love. The very high with the very low. It makes me laugh heartily.
