Bœuf aux carottes

Taking a break from tourism, going back to food. The other day I noticed that the supermarché had nice "chuck" roasts — at least I think that would be the translation — at a good price (about seven euros a kilo). The French name is basse-côte and the cut, from the shoulder, is boneless — sans os. "Chuck roast" seems to be a U.S. term that's not even used in Canada (can anybody confirm?), where it's called a shoulder roast or blade roast.

When I was growing up in North Carolina in the 1950s and '60s, chuck roast was a frequent dinner. I bet it still is there. I think my sister makes it the way my mother did. It was a two or three pound beef shoulder roast, not cut into pieces but left whole and cooked in a pan in the oven with onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes. What else, I don't know, but not wine — water. Walt says his mother made the same dinner in New York State in the 1970s and '80s — that means that it was not a regional dish.

Carrots cooking in beef broth, with a few white "icicle" radishes — which are good
 when cooked — because we have a lot of them from the garden

One big difference between American and French cooking styles is that in France people seem to enjoy simpler recipes rather than more complicated ones. Instead of a beef stew — because that's what Bœuf aux carottes or "beef (braised) with carrots" basically is — with many vegetables (carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, celery, mushrooms, green beans, tomato, etc., etc.) at the same time, French recipes often call for braising beef or other meats with one predominant vegetable for flavor. So you get beef braised with carrots or with onions, or duck with turnips or with olives, or veal with prunes or with mushrooms, and so on. Of course, herbs and spices, and almost always some onion or garlic, are included too, in all the recipes. And, of course, wine.

Bœuf aux carottes can also be called Bœuf mode or Bœuf à la mode (no, not with ice cream!). The old recipes, written for cooks who didn't necessarily have an oven in their kitchen and who cooked in a fireplace, called for using a special braising pot with a concave lid into which braises — pieces of smoldering wood (charcoal, embers) — could be laid, so that the food in the pot on the hearth was heated from both the top and the bottom at the same time. Today, we just use an oven. So the dish is a stew, sort of, but it's better oven-braised, I think, rather than stewed on top of the stove.

The old recipes also called for including a calf's foot or some beef, veal, or pork rind (couenne, in French) in the pot because of the gelatin those pieces release as they cook. The gelatin enriches the braising liquid and thickens it slightly. In today's versions of such recipes, the braising liquid is thickened instead with flour or some other starch (corn, potato, arrowroot...). In France it's not hard to find a butcher shop that sells calves' feet, but in America... well, let's just say that would be a specialty item.

Here's a recipe I like, first in English and then, below, en français :

  Beef braised with carrots

2 or 3 lbs. chuck roast, blade roast, or beef stew meat
2 or 3 slices of bacon, or 3 oz. smoked ham
2 lbs. carrots
2 bay leaves
chopped parsley and/or thyme
2 onions
1 garlic clove (or more)
coarse salt and black pepper to taste
1 or 2 Tbsp. flour
3 or 4 Tbsp. olive oil and/or vegetable oil
½ bottle dry white wine

Cut the meat into one-inch cubes if it isn't already cut up. Set aside.

Chop the bacon or ham.

Peel the carrots, onions, and garlic. Chop the onions and garlic as you like, and cut the carrots into thick disks, logs, or sticks.

In a pot with a heavy bottom, heat up the oil. Brown the chunks of beef (in batches if necessary so that you don't crowd the pan). Add the bacon or ham, the onions, garlic, and carrots, and brown all for a few more minutes. Sprinkle one or two tablespoons of flour over the meat (the more flour you put in, the thicker the sauce will be) and stir well.

Gradually stir in the white wine, and add the parsley, thyme, and bay leaves. Don't forget the salt and pepper.

Cover the pot or pour the contents into a baking dish with a lid and cook it in a medium to medium-low oven (300º -325ºF) for two or three hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with steamed potatoes.

And a green salad, I might add.

Bœuf aux carottes

1 kg de bœuf (basse-côte ou paleron)
100 g de poitrine fumée
1 kg de carottes
2 feuilles de laurier
persil, thym
2 oignons
1 gousse d'ail
poivre et gros sel

1 ou 2 c. à soupe de farine
3 ou 4 c. à soupe d'huile d'olive ou d'huile végétale
375 ml de vin blanc sec

Couper la viande en morceaux d'environ 4 cm de largeur. Réserver.

Couper les tranches de lard en carrés d'épaisseur de 2 cm.

Eplucher les carottes, oignons et ail. Emincer les oignons, couper les carottes en rondelles de 4 mm environ, ou en bâtonnets.

Dans un faitout, faire chaufferl'huile. Faire rissoler les morceaux de viande, puis ajouter les lardons, les oignons, l'ail, et  les carottes. Laisser le tout cuire quelques minutes. Puis saupoudrer avec la farine (plus on en met, plus la sauce sera épaisse). Tourner.

Ajouter le vin blanc progressivement en tournant et puis le persil, le thym, et les feuilles de laurier. Saler avec une pincée de gros sel et poivrer.

Faire cuire au four à basse température (150º-160º C) pendant deux heures ou plus, en tournant de temps en temps. Servir avec des pommes de terre cuites à la vapeur.