epicuric
Legendary Member
On balance, I have decided that I prefer to believe that this dish is indeed traditional, centuries old Burgundy country fare, and not the product of sophisticated C19th Parisien chef's. The few local recipes that I could find all suggest that Charolais beef is used. This breed does originate from the area, but there are older breeds, and my limited experience of Charolais has not been particularly positive. They are also a very commercial breed - if you buy Irish beef from a supermarket there is a strong likelihood that it will be at least part-Charolais. I decided to use beef from an older, more traditional breed (albeit British), more in keeping with the spirit of the recipe. Likewise, if we assume that if, like the near identical coq-au-vin recipe, it is a means of using up tough cuts, I wanted the cheapest, toughest cuts of meat I could find. Cue these beauties:
Longhorn, grass fed (none of this corn rubbish) and reared slowly to 30 months on a farm 3 miles away. It's a small, family run farm, 100% organic, the highest standards of welfare, and the meat is butchered on the premises.
The chosen cuts were cheek and tail:
These were browned in butter first thing this morning, along with onions and carrots, transferred to a Crock Pot, covered with red burgundy (1 1/2 bottles
) and a bouquet garni of fresh thyme, parsley and chervil added, along with bay leaves. This will simmer away on the lowest setting for around 12 hours until all the connective tissue and bone marrow have melted into the sauce, and the meat has fallen of the bones. If I can resist it for that long. The aroma's floating around the kitchen are driving the dogs wild - it's bordering on cruelty.
Will post up pictures of the finished dish later this evening.
Longhorn, grass fed (none of this corn rubbish) and reared slowly to 30 months on a farm 3 miles away. It's a small, family run farm, 100% organic, the highest standards of welfare, and the meat is butchered on the premises.
The chosen cuts were cheek and tail:
These were browned in butter first thing this morning, along with onions and carrots, transferred to a Crock Pot, covered with red burgundy (1 1/2 bottles
) and a bouquet garni of fresh thyme, parsley and chervil added, along with bay leaves. This will simmer away on the lowest setting for around 12 hours until all the connective tissue and bone marrow have melted into the sauce, and the meat has fallen of the bones. If I can resist it for that long. The aroma's floating around the kitchen are driving the dogs wild - it's bordering on cruelty.Will post up pictures of the finished dish later this evening.
