Chuckie Bourguignon - Smoker meets Julia Child

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scooper

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
May 20, 2011
389
13
Boca Raton, FL
After seeing Gros Cochon's Pepper Stout Beef Chuck - http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/108743/pepper-stout-beef-with-qview, I got inspired to try something similar.  I pondered for several weeks and decided to try it with Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon method - http://www.food.com/recipe/boeuf-bourguignon-a-la-julia-child-148007

I will not go into all the details of the sauce making.  I followed most of Julia's method, except for the obvious meat difference.

The fact this thing came together is testament of my dedication and perseverance.  1/2 way through the smoking of the roast and the making of the wine reduction and stock, a major thunderstorm blew in.  I barely got the burger and sausage stuffers out of the smoker when the storm hit.  The Masterbuilt Propane was left on low, and with the roast in it, they both survived gusts of 30 mph, and sideways rain.  The burner never went out!

It was so impressive of a storm that I wanted to go out and get a video of it.  As soon as I stepped one foot out the door, a lightning bolt hit the transformer on the pole right behind my house.  We immediately lost power.  Long story short... 4 hours no electricity.  There are some gaps with no pics, most during the making of the sauce.  I apologize for  that, but I did the best I could to get this Sunday dinner finished.

All started out well with a nice 4.5 lb. chuckie rubbed with a basic S, P, garlic, onion, dry mustard rub.  24 hours in the fridge after these shots.

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Q-View before the storm.  Mesquite and hickory chunks, 225 temp:

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No pics of the finished stuffers.  Had to put them away during the power outage. 

After the storm, 165 and ready for braising:

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Into the pan of red wine, onion, garlic, thyme, and browned bacon, which was reduced as much as possible on the Weber grill, ready for foil:

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After learning of no estimated time of a power restore, I went into generator set up mode and got the fridges and freezers powered up, ran cords for lights and a window unit a/c.  Time got away from me, and so did the roast.

By the time I could get back to the roast it was 212 degrees!  Rut roh!  It was a tad dry, but the sauce at the end help it out.

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Power is back on, and I can finish the sauce.  Strained the wine reduction, de-fatted it, into the pot with pearl onions and quartered mushrooms, a lil' tomato paste, and some beef stock.  Added some roux and reduced it down to a smooth glace. 

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Roast pulling time!

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The obligatory Bear View:

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The building of the bowl.  Atop some low carb pasta:

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Next step.  Gotta have green:

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Topped with sauce, shrooms, and onions:

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The money dinner shot:

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I was really pleased with this dish.  So many different flavors going on.  It is definitely one I will do again.  I really like beef bourguignon done Julia's way.  But this kicks it up several notches!  Plus I didn't have to stand in the kitchen browning individual pieces of beef.  

For a while I thought Julia was pissed off at me when several more lightning strikes hit way too close to the house during the power outage.  But I think she would be proud of this one.

I'm smiling because tonight it gets a re-run!
 
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Way Better than hers!!!!

Awesome BearViews!!!

I zoomed in on the one you called "BearView", and it was like walking through a Jungle, but all of the trees & undergrowth were made of Succulent Beef!!!

Then I woke up!!!

Thanks for showing,

Bear 
 
Awesome post and perserverance. This one has been bookmarked and a Scarbelly version is in the future
 
I always hated red wine in cooking until I learned to use it properly.  Used improperly it can impart a strong and nasty flavor.

Julia was an icon because she brought good cooking to us in a way that we could accept.

I, for one, miss her and her sense of humor!

Good luck and good smoking.
 
You all are too kind!  Better than Julia's.... I dunno.  A nice meal, yes.  Julia was awesome!  She took the mystery out of how to cook real food and put it in terms anyone can understand.  (except mrs. scooper.  she lets me do all the cooking around here.).  Not only was she funny on her shows, she put a lot of that humor in her books too.  They are a good read.  The library has them.

Venture, being a chef for a couple decades helped with my knowledge of what's going on in the pot with the wine reduction and stock.  You are right about wine if it is used wrong.  Just pouring wine into a sauce will not produce good results. 

I will say this to whoever is planning to make it.  Keep the sauce on the thinner side, not thick like gravy, and make lots of it.  The pasta and meat are very thirsty, and sucked up quite a bit.  I had to stretch out the leftover sauce a bit to re-run it last night.  No biggie.  More reduced wine and stock.  Baby Brussies this time.  And a heavy dusting of GBP.

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Awesome looking chuckie!  Looks like something I just have to try.  Thanks for the post and the great idea!!
 
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