Cold Braised Beef
Boeuf Mode
Preparation info
Difficulty
Medium
Yield:
8
Servings
Appears in
Sauces
Published 1991
This home-style French dish is a model of simple, natural cooking, in which the braising liquid is served along with the cold beef. The dish can also be prepared in the same way using white wine instead of red; it is then called boeuf Ă la bourgeoise.
In rustic preparations of this dish, the carrots and onions used in the braising are returned to the gelée and constitute part of the garniture for the finished dish. In a restaurant, a new set of carrots and sometimes onions (pearl onions are most attractive) are simmered in the degreased braising liquid and used as the garniture.
Ingredients
| fatback | ||
| cognac | ||
| parsley, chopped | ||
| garlic cloves, chopped | ||
| red wine | ||
| onions, chopped coarsely | ||
| carrots, |
||
| large bouquet garni | ||
| boneless rump roast | ||
| veal foot, split and halved crosswise ( |
||
| vegetable oil | ||
| brown stock | ||
| salt and pepper | to taste | to taste |
| carrots, sliced crosswise |
Method
- Cut the fatback into strips for larding. Combine the Cognac, parsley, and garlic, and marinate the fatback overnight in the mixture.
- (This marinating step is optional.) Combine the red wine, onions, chopped carrots, and the bouquet garni, and marinate the roast in the mixture for 6 hours. Drain the roast and pat it dry, reserving the marinade.
- Lard the roast in the direction of the grain with the strips of fatback.
- Blanch the veal foot pieces and rinse them in cold water.
Preheat the oven to .275°F (135°C) - In a
4 -quart 4 liter - Bring the liquid to a slow simmer, skimming any froth that floats to the surface. Cover the pot with a sheet of aluminum foil and then with a lid. Transfer to the oven and continue
cooking for4 hours - Remove the roast from the pot and cover it with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
- Strain the cooking liquid and carefully skim any grease from it. (The easiest way to do this is to let it set in the refrigerator overnight, removing the solidified grease when it is cold.) Reserve the veal foot pieces.
- If the gelée is too light or does not jell when it is cool, reduce it by one-fourth to one-third to concentrate its natural gelatin. When it sets to the correct consistency, season with salt and pepper.
- Strain the gelée through a fine chinois lined with a wet cloth napkin or a triple layer of cheesecloth.
- Simmer the sliced carrot rounds in the gelée until they are soft.
- Bone the cooked veal foot. Cut the gelatinous flesh into strips or cubes and stir into the gelée.
- When the braised beef has cooled, slice and layer it in a terrine with the carrots and barely melted gelée, chill to set, and slice or spoon out to serve (like an hure). Alternatively, mold the sliced beef and carrots in individual oval gratin dishes.
Variations
A larded and braised piece of beef assembled in a terrine with its natural gelée and aromatic garniture can be used as a model for an almost infinite variety of cold meat terrines and hures. The gelée can be flavored with wine, which can be added at the beginning of the braising or at the very end during the final flavoring of the gelée.
In a traditional boeuf mode, carrots and onions constitute the principal garnitures, but obviously these can be modified according to season, location, and occasion. A southern French or California version might be garnished with tomatoes (peeled, seeded, and salted to remove excess moisture), fennel (cut into wedges and precooked in braising liquid or stock), garlic cloves (peeled and poached), or wild mushrooms, for example.
The gelée almost always benefits from a generous quantity of freshly chopped herbs added while it is cooling. Parsley works beautifully, but chervil, tarragon, or a combination of classic fines herbes also works well.
Copyright © 2017 by James Peterson. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.