Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2010

My Julia project

Like so many others who dabble in cooking, I received Julia Child's cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" for Christmas.

Yesterday, I set about making the much-ballyhooed Boeuf Bourguignon. It's all the rage since the movie "Julie & Julia." Everyone is doing it, right?

So I sliced and boiled salt pork. I peeled 18 pearl onions. I rendered the salt pork fat so I could brown the beef. Then transferred everything to another dish so I could brown the vegetables. Then combine it all (this is going MUCH quicker than it did in the kitchen)... then I get to the part about adding the wine. I like this part.

I've chosen a good wine because that's what Julia said to do. Pick one that you drink, not just cooking wine... so I'm thinking that I'm getting a glass of leftover wine when I put this whole thing in the oven to cook for 2-3 hours. I'm going to sit down with my wine and enjoy the moment. It's going to be worth it at that point, right?

Not so much.

The recipe calls for 3 measured cups of wine. Want to know how many cups of wine are in your average, every day bottle?

That's right -- 3 cups!

Why get my hopes up? Why not just say "Add a bottle of wine." Don't let me think there will be leftovers.

Of course, there were other bottles willing to help out...