Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2

by Julia Child

  Turn down oven to 325 degrees. Season the meat with salt, pepper, and herbs. Pour in the wine and enough stock or bouillon to come ½ to ⅔ the way up the meat. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove. If you are using it, drape suet over meat. Place foil on top, cover the casserole, and place in middle level of oven. Baste meat several times during cooking, and regulate oven heat so that liquid is only slowly simmering in casserole. Paupiette is done when a knife will pierce the meat easily.

  TIMING: 1½ to 2 hours for top-grade beef; as much as an hour more for other cuts and qualities.

  (*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES: Meat may be either stuffed or browned in advance of braising. Braised meat may be kept warm in a 120-degree oven for an hour or more. It may be cooled and reheated, but will not have quite the same delicious texture.

  6) Sauce and serving

  A hot serving platter

  A sieve set over a saucepan

  If needed: 1 Tb of cornstarch blended with 2 Tb white wine, vermouth, or stock

  2 Tb soft butter

  A hot sauce bowl

  Watercress, parsley, or whatever vegetables you wish, to garnish platter

  Remove paupiette to hot platter, discard strings and fat, replace foil cover over meat, and keep warm in turned-off oven. Strain cooking liquid into saucepan, pressing juice out of braising ingredients. Skim off fat. You should have 1½ to 2 cups liquid slightly thickened by the braising ingredients and the crumbs in the stuffing. (If thin, remove from heat, beat in cornstarch mixture, and simmer for 2 minutes.) Correct seasoning. Just before serving, stir in butter, a half spoonful at a time, spoon a little sauce over meat, and pour rest into sauce bowl. Garnish platter with greenery or vegetables, and serve immediately.

  Other stuffings—other garnishings

  In addition to the green-pepper stuffing and the garlic and rice stuffing in the following variations, and the veal and pork stuffing on page 319 in Volume I, other possibilities are listed. Rather than the braising and sauce-making system described here, you may follow that for the daube, or for the beef stews and their variations, which include pistou, pipérade, and ginger flavorings.

  VARIATION

  The following recipe describes the procedure for making individual paupiettes. We have suggested large and luxurious slices of meat; the stuffing is spread over them, and the slice is rolled up like a rug. When you wish to be more economical, make twice the amount of stuffing, use beef slices half as large, and rather than rolling like a rug, fold the meat around the stuffing to enclose it, almost exactly as illustrated for the stuffed cabbage leaves.

  Paupiettes de Boeuf à la Catalane

  [Beef Rolls Stuffed with Peppers, Onions, and Mustard Bread]

  For 4 paupiettes, 1 per person

  1) Preparing the beef for stuffing

  4 slices of top round of beef 10 to 12 by 6 to 7 inches and ⅜ inch thick (see Beef Cuts for Stews)

  Waxed paper

  A mallet or rolling pin

  Salt and pepper

  ½ tsp thyme or oregano

  (If you cannot have the beef sliced to your order and have difficulty at home, you can freeze the piece of beef and slice when not quite stiffened, or when partially thawed. This will not harm the meat at all.) Trim off all outside fat and gristle. One by one, pound each slice between sheets of waxed paper with a mallet or rolling pin, to break down the fibers somewhat and to prevent meat from cooking out of shape. Lay out flat, season tops with salt, pepper, and herbs.

  2) Green-pepper, onion, and mustard-bread stuffing—for 3 cups

  1½ cups minced onions

  1 tsp mixed, ground thyme, bay leaf, and oregano, or mixed herbs such as Provençal or Italian seasoning

  Olive oil or cooking oil as needed

  A medium (10-inch) frying pan (no-stick recommended)

  1½ cups diced green bell peppers (2 medium peppers)

  A mixing bowl

  3 slices light rye bread

  4 to 5 Tb strong, Dijon-type prepared mustard

  2 or 3 large cloves of garlic, mashed or minced

  1 egg, lightly beaten

  Salt and pepper

  Cook the onions and herbs with 3 tablespoons of the oil in the frying pan for 8 to 10 minutes over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender and starting to brown. Stir in the diced peppers and cook, stirring, 4 to 5 minutes more, until peppers are almost tender. Scoop into mixing bowl. Spread both sides of the bread with mustard, film frying pan with ⅛ inch more oil, and brown bread lightly on both sides. Dice the bread and add to the bowl; stir in the garlic, egg, and salt and pepper to taste.

  3) Stuffing the paupiettes

  The seasoned beef slices

  The stuffing

  Toothpicks

  Strips of fresh pork fat, blanched bacon, or suet

  Assuming that the beef slices are roughly rectangular in shape, choose the neatest of the small sides to be the exposed end of the roll. Divide stuffing in four, spread one part over each slice, leaving an inch of clear meat for the exposed end and ½ inch at the sides. Roll the meat up to enclose the stuffing and secure with 2 or 3 toothpicks.

  4) Browning, braising, and serving the paupiettes

  Follow the ingredients and method in the Master Recipe, Steps 4 through 6.

  OTHER STUFFINGS FOR PAUPIETTES

  Farce Niçoise

  [Olive and Pimento Stuffing with Garlic and Herbs]

  For 4 paupiettes—2 cups

  ¼ cup stale, not-too-fine crumbs from non-sweetened, homemade-type white bread

  2 to 3 Tb wine vinegar

  ⅔ to ¾ cup (two 2¼-ounce cans) chopped ripe black olives

  ½ cup (about 3 ounces) canned red pimentos, diced

  2 large cloves of garlic, mashed or minced

  ½ tsp sage

  ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese

  Salt and pepper to taste

  Drops of Tabasco sauce

  ¼ cup (2 ounces) finely minced fresh pork fat or blanched bacon

  4 Tb strong, Dijon-type prepared mustard (to spread on paupiettes)

  Stir the bread crumbs in a small bowl with enough vinegar barely to moisten them; let sit for a few minutes. Stir the olives, pimentos, garlic, sage, and cheese in a mixing bowl. Blend in the moistened crumbs, and season strongly with salt, pepper, and Tabasco. Blend in the minced pork fat or bacon. Just before you are ready to stuff the paupiettes, spread topside of meat with mustard, then with the stuffing.

  La Farce à l’Ail de Mme. Cassiot

  [Rice and Garlic Stuffing with Herbs]

  This fine and very simple stuffing for garlic lovers may have either rice or rather coarse stale bread crumbs for a base. If it is bread crumbs, however, they must come from the type of bread that has texture and body, like your own French bread. Because the typical store-bought, white, squashy bread disintegrates into mush, we have confined our recipe to rice. If you want crumbs and have the right sort, stir ½ cup beef stock or bouillon into 1½ cups of stale crumbs; let sit 5 minutes, then squeeze crumbs as dry as possible in the corner of a towel.

  For 4 paupiettes—2 cups

  ¾ cup cooked rice

  ¾ cup fresh pork fat or blanched bacon (6 ounces)

  6 to 8 large cloves of garlic, very finely minced

  ½ tsp thyme or oregano

  ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

  ½ tsp salt

  ⅛ tsp pepper

  4 Tb strong Dijon-type prepared mustard

  Either put the rice and pork fat or bacon through the coarse blade of a meat grinder, or put rice through a food mill and finely mince the fat or bacon. Stir together in a bowl with the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. Just before you are ready to stuff paupiettes, spread topside of each slice with mustard, then with the stuffing.

  BOEUF EN DAUBE À LA PROVENÇALE

  [Braised Pot Roast of Beef with Wine, Tomatoes, and Provençal Flavorings]

  This is a large, whole piece of braising beef larded with strips of ham, marinated in red wine and herbs, and slowly
simmered in a lightly thickened mixture of the marinade liquid, beef stock, and tomatoes, which turns into a rich ready-made sauce at the end of the cooking. It is a splendid braising method, and one you can adapt to stews as well as pot roasts, and to duck, goose, lamb, livers, and hearts as well as to beef. Rather than the usual potatoes or pasta and buttered peas or beans, or glazed carrots and onions, and sautéed mushrooms, you could serve the little white turnips sautéed in butter, or the onions stuffed with rice, and either the broccoli braised in butter or one of the sautéed zucchinis. A full-bodied red wine is definitely called for here—a Burgundy, a Côtes-du-Rhône, or a Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

  TIMING NOTES

  Braised beef may be made ready for cooking a day ahead or may be fully cooked a day or two in advance, if need be. Allow yourself enough leeway for the actual braising, however, if you wish to serve soon after it has cooked. Unless you are sure of your meat quality, allow 5 hours from the moment you put it into the oven to the moment you wish to serve. This will give you extra time for tough meat, and leisure for the details of trimming and sauce making.

  BEEF CUTS FOR BRAISING WHOLE

  TOP ROUND, tende de tranche. Sometimes called inside round, this is a first-choice piece for braising whole because it is solid meat with no separations, and is not fibrous when cooked.

  UNDERCUT CHUCK, basses côtes découvertes. The continuation of the roast rib of beef section into the shoulder end, usually ribs 2 to 5, makes a choice and tender morsel. You will probably find this only at Jewish or European markets, although a supermarket boneless chuck pot roast can substitute for it.

  SHOULDER-ARM POT ROAST, macreuse. Again, this may not be available except at Jewish or foreign markets; it will usually take longer cooking than the two preceding cuts, but has excellent flavor.

  BOTTOM ROUND OR SILVERSIDE, and EYE OF ROUND, gîte à la noix and rond de gîte à la noix. These two cuts always look attractive, especially the eye of round, with its long, shapely form that resembles a tenderloin. We prefer the bottom round to the eye because it is less fibrous when cooked, but both are acceptable choices.

  SIRLION TIP or KNUCKLE, tranche grasse. This cut from the round has numerous muscle separations, and is sometimes called knuckle because it passes over the knee of the hind leg. It braises well, but needs firm tying to give it an attractive shape.

  MIDDLE OF BRISKET, milieu de poitrine. Although coarse-grained when cooked, brisket has excellent flavor; slice it on the bias like flank steak. A good butcher will bone and de-fat it for you; if it is a long, flat piece, roll and tie it for braising.

  For 8 to 10 people

  1) Preparing the beef

  A trimmed and boned 6-lb. piece of braising beef from preceding list (preferably one that can be tied into a cylindrical shape 10 to 12 inches long)

  For optional larding of meat: a 4- by 6-inch slice of prosciutto or ready-to-cook ham slice about ¼ inch thick

  Trim meat, if necessary, to make a fairly even cylinder or rectangle with no loose fat or gristly pieces. To lard the meat, follow illustrated directions, using ham rather than the pork fat called for in the larding directions. Whether or not you have larded it, tie the beef, also as illustrated, to keep it in shape during cooking.

  2) Marinating the meat—at least 12 hours or for several days

  NOTE: You may omit this step and proceed directly to Step 3.

  1 bottle (almost 4 cups) full, strong, young, red wine (Mâcon, Beaujolais, California Mountain Red)

  ½ cup red-wine vinegar

  ¼ cup olive oil

  6 cloves unpeeled garlic, halved

  2 medium-sized onions and 2 carrots, sliced

  1 Tb coarse salt or table salt

  The following herb bouquet, tied in washed cheesecloth: 2 imported bay leaves, 4 cloves or allspice berries, 6 peppercorns, ½ tsp each of dried fennel seeds, oregano, thyme, and marjoram

  An enameled, glazed, or stainless bowl or casserole just large enough to hold meat comfortably

  Mix the marinade ingredients in the bowl or casserole, add the beef and baste it. (Liquid should come at least halfway up.) Marinate, turning and basting meat several times a day, for at least 12 hours or for several days either at a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees or in the refrigerator. When you are ready for the next step, drain beef, and wipe thoroughly dry with paper towels. Strain marinade, reserving both liquid and vegetables for Step 5.

  3) Browning the beef and the braising ingredients

  NOTE: If you have not marinated the beef, add all the ingredients from Step 2, except the vinegar, to the ingredients here.

  Either 4 Tb rendered fresh pork fat or goose fat;

  Or olive oil or cooking oil

  6 ounces (¾ cup) lardons (1½-inch sticks of blanched bacon ¼ inch thick)

  A heavy, covered casserole or roaster large enough to hold meat comfortably (or brown meat in a large frying pan and transfer to roaster afterwards)

  For added flavor and body: 1 quart of sawed veal knuckle bones and/or beef soup bones; or a split and blanched calf’s foot

  The drained marinade vegetables

  The marinade liquid

  A strip of fresh pork fat ⅛ inch thick and long and wide enough to cover top and sides of beef; or beef suet

  White string

  The marinade bouquet of herbs

  Optional but desirable for the sauce: a 6-inch square of blanched pork rind (Volume I, page 401)

  Cook the lardons slowly in the fat or oil in the casserole (or frying pan) until very lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. Pour 4 to 5 Tb of fat out of the casserole and reserve for the roux, next step. Raise heat to moderately high and brown the well-dried beef on all sides and ends, lifting and turning it with the help of its trussing strings. (This will take 10 minutes or more; regulate heat so meat browns nicely but fat does not burn. Add more fat or oil if needed.) Remove beef and brown the optional bones or calf’s foot and the marinade vegetables for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring and tossing over high heat. Set cover askew on casserole, drain out cooking fat, and pour in marinade liquid. Stir with wooden spoon to dislodge all coagulated bits of brown flavor into liquid. Tie strip of fat about beef (see illustrations), push bones aside, and lay the beef, fat-covered side up, in casserole. Add the bouquet of herbs, the lardons, and the optional pork rind to the casserole, and set aside until you are ready to braise, Step 5.

  4) The brown roux to thicken the braising sauce

  A heavy-bottomed saucepan in thick, cast aluminum or a heavy cast-iron frying pan, about 6 inches bottom diameter

  The 4 Tb reserved fat from Step 3

  ⅓ cup flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cup into flour and sweeping off excess)

  A wooden spoon

  1½ cups beef stock (or bouillon) heated in a small saucepan

  A wire whip

  A ladle

  (NOTE: You will have a better roux if you cook it separately rather than in the casserole after browning meat and bones.)

  Be sure to pick a heavy pan; melt the fat in it over moderate heat, blend in the flour, and stir continuously for about 15 minutes until flour slowly turns a dark, nutty brown. (It must not blacken, burn, and turn bitter, but it must brown properly so as to give the right flavor and color to the sauce.) Remove from heat, and when roux has stopped bubbling, blend in all the hot stock at once with wire whip. When perfectly smooth, ladle in some of the liquid from the casserole to thin the sauce, mix well, then stir all into the casserole, blending liquids thoroughly together.

  5) Braising the beef—3½ to 4 hours or longer at 350 degrees

  1 lb. (4 to 5 medium) tomatoes, not peeled, but halved, seeded, juiced, and roughly chopped (or a mixture of fresh tomatoes and strained canned tomatoes)

  A 3- by 1-inch piece of dried orange peel, or 1 tsp dried pulverized orange peel

  Optional Provençal flavoring: 6 to 7 anchovies packed in olive oil, drained, and mashed to a paste

  More beef stock if needed

  Stir
the tomatoes, orange peel, and optional anchovies into the casserole, and more stock, if needed, so that liquid comes ⅔ to ¾ the way up the beef.

  (*) AHEAD-OF-TIME-NOTE: May be prepared in advance to this point; when cool, cover and refrigerate.

  Salt to taste

  Aluminum foil

  Bring to simmer on top of the stove; salt lightly to taste if necessary. Lay the foil over the beef, cover the casserole, and set in lower third of preheated, 350-degree oven.

  In about half an hour, check to see that liquid is simmering slowly, not bubbling fast: regulate oven throughout cooking so that liquid remains at a slow but definite simmer. Baste and turn the beef several times during cooking.

  Beef is done when a fork pierces it easily, but it must not be cooked so long that it begins to fall apart. Aged, top-quality American beef usually takes 3½ hours; other grades or qualities may take an hour or so longer.

  6) Trimming the beef and finishing the sauce

  Remove beef from casserole to a board or platter. Cut and discard trussing string, discard fat covering beef (or trim off suet adhering to beef and the gristle under it); trim off any loose bits of meat.

  Remove bones from casserole, then pour contents of casserole through a sieve set over a large saucepan; press juices out of ingredients and into saucepan with a wooden spoon. Discard contents of sieve. Let liquid settle a few minutes in saucepan, then skim off all surface fat with a spoon; bring liquid back to the simmer, skimming off additional fat. Taste very carefully for seasoning and strength. You should have 4 to 5 cups of richly fragrant sauce, deep reddish brown, and the consistency of a lightly thickened soup that would coat the meat nicely, and coats the spoon. If you feel sauce should be thicker or lacks depth of flavor, boil it down rapidly to concentrate it. If it seems necessary, add and simmer a pinch of herbs, garlic, or tomato paste or a little concentrated bouillon. (If sauce has reduced too much during braising, thin out with more stock or water.)