A Cassoulet Catastrophe and The Implementation of Plan B-Perfect Beef Bourguignon | Vicki James
Photograph by sf James
We recently moved to a new home, and I wanted to celebrate with our friends. A few years ago, I made a French cassoulet that was to die for. So, I decided it was the perfect recipe to share with friends to celebrate.
Cassoulet is a hearty, wintertime meal that feeds a crowd. There’s an internet company D’Artagnan that provides all the authentic ingredients, such as duck confit, duck and Armagnac sausages, the very important beans and everything else needed. I was happy to find the cassoulet kit on sale and ordered it, scheduling it to arrive five days before the party. I ordered the cassoulet kit early because it is best to start cassoulet a few days in advance. The beans must soak overnight, and the cassoulet is best if cooked up to a certain point and allowed to sit in the fridge until party day.
This sounds like a post about making cassoulet, doesn’t it? But it’s not. Unfortunately, there was a cassoulet catastrophe.
Due to a winter storm, Fed Ex experienced delays. When the food failed to arrive by the Thursday before our party, I panicked. Fed Ex could not guarantee delivery, so I had to make a Plan B. In this case, the B stands for Beef Bourguignon! Fortunately, I located a blog, which I’d written a few years ago, to help me remember the finer points of cooking Beef Bourguignon.
Since the last time I’d made it, I’d acquired a 5 1/2 quart Le Creuset Dutch oven. When I had made it before, I’d used a stainless-steel Dutch oven.
I never thought of buying such expensive cookware for myself. My daughter and her husband were fans of the brand, so for the last few years, I have been buying them pieces for Christmas and special occasions.
However, during my recent move, some of my cookware was lost creating a cookware conundrum. However, I will save this tragic story for another day.
Because of our moving mishap, I decided to splurge on the Le Creuset Dutch oven when I found it on sale for half price. The Beef Bourguignon was the first time I’d given my new cooking tool a real workout.
However, the Le Creuset just wasn’t big enough to cook for eleven people. Therefore, I decided to double the recipe which required me to have double the cooking capacity. A friend who knew about our cassoulet catastrophe gave us a Lodge enameled Dutch oven which I used for the second batch. I cooked the two batches at the same time with the one-two Dutch oven punch.
To my surprise, the enameled cast iron cooked the meal in less time. In my first post of this recipe, I recommended cooking the beef in the oven for three hours to get it fork tender. Since I was venturing into new cooking territory with the enameled cast iron, my cooking common sense led me to check the beef after 2 1/2 hours. Much to my delight it was perfectly cooked in both ovens.
The next stage in the cooking is to boil the sauce to reduce it. Of course, I boiled the sauce in two enameled iron ovens. The reduction process was also less. 45 minutes of boiling was sufficient to create a deep, glossy reduction. Therefore, I did not need to boil the sauce for an hour like I did when I cooked it in a stainless-steel Dutch oven!
This experience taught me that purchasing an enameled cast iron Dutch oven is worth the investment. If you don’t want to spend hundreds on the French brand, a Lodge product costs far less and can be purchased for around $50.00. It took a bit longer to reduce the sauce in the Lodge, but not so much that it made an enormous difference. The quality of the stew in the two ovens was equivalent.
Another tip I want to share: since Beef Bourguignon should be made a day before you plan to serve it, you want a reheating method that will not scorch the meat or dry it out. After searching the internet for the best method, I found a suggestion for reheating the stew in a Crock Pot/slow cooker. I set the slow cooker on “low” and checked it after about two hours. I decided it was the right temperature and turned it down to the “keep warm” setting. Since I had a second batch I needed to warm up in the slow cooker, I put the first batch back in the Le Creuset Dutch oven and put it in the oven on “warm” repeating the warming process in the slow cooker the same way I did the first batch. By the time I was ready to serve, I had two batches of Beef Bourguignon at the perfect temperature. Neither batched dried out and was cooked to Beef Bourguignon perfection.
My guests simply raved! The stew had an incredible depth of flavor because the enameled cast iron Dutch ovens made the difference. They certainly shaved a significant amount of time off the preparation. Moreover, the way the enameled cast iron conducts evenly conduct improving the cooking process. Moreover, the Dutch ovens helped me to create and cook the absolute best Beef Bourguignon I have ever made.
I wanted to update my blog on Beef Bourguignon because I wanted those who were making it in enameled cast iron dutch ovens to know they may overcook it if they use the cooking times I recommended in the original blog. Does this seem like overkill? Maybe so, but when it comes to making perfect Beef Bourguignon, the devil is in the details.
So out of the ashes of our cassoulet catastrophe came the best Beef Bourguignon ever. I relearned something I already knew.
The lesson: When you use good tools to cook you can take your cooking to higher levels than you can imagine.
The proof a great Beef Bourguignon is in the smile on our friend’s faces. From left to right is Brooke, Matt, Laura, Russell, Stacey, Vicki, Justin (he gave us the Lodge Dutch Oven & gave us the idea of Plan B providing much needed cooking support), Sara, and John. Not pictured Vicki’s husband Stuart who took the picture.