Would you like to see what a French recipe looks like? Often, the text isn't formatted the way it would be formatted in an American recipe. There are no numbered steps or "bullet lists"; there are often not even any paragraph breaks to make it easy to find the different steps involved in making the dish. You're on your own! Any questions?
ESTOUFFADE Plat préparé à
l'étouffée (ou à l'étuvée). Il s'agit de viande de bœuf ou de veau, cuite avec
beaucoup de légumes, et parfumée au vin. (Dans plusieurs régions méridionales,
on ajoute de la sauce tomate ou de la tomate fraîche.)
estouffade de bœuf
Couper en dés 300 g de lard maigre et les blanchir. Les dorer au beurre dans un
plat à sauter, puis les égoutter et les réserver. Faire bien rissoler dans
le même beurre 1,5 kg de viande de bœuf (prise moitié dans le paleron, moitié
dans les côtes couvertes), détaillée en cubes de 100 g. Couper en quartiers 3 oignons moyens, les ajouter au bœuf en les faisant
revenir. Poudrer de sel et de poivre ; ajouter 1 gousse d'ail écrasée.
Lorsque bœuf et oignons sont bien dorés, les poudrer de 2 cuillerées à soupe de
farine. Faire légèrement roussir en remuant. Mouiller de 1 litre de vin rouge et
d'autant de bouillon. Mélanger, ajouter 1 bouquet garni, porter à ébullition sur
le feu. Couvrir. Cuire de 2 h 30 à 3 h au four préchauffé à 180 °C.
Décanter le ragoût. Mettre les morceaux de bœuf et les lardons dans une
cocotte, y ajouter 300 g de champignons (de préférence sauvages), escalopés ou
coupés en quartiers et sautés au beurre. Dégraisser la sauce, la passer et
la faire réduire. La verser dans la cocotte et cuire 25 min à couvert, à petite
ébullition. Dresser dans un plat creux.
A hint: This is a recipe for beef stew that I made a couple of weeks ago. You can see that the words "stew" and "estouffade" are related, I think — it's a "smothered" dish. We ate it with potato gnocchi. First I browned the beef and some onion and put it in the slow-cooker overnight with the red wine and an herb bouquet. The next day, I sauteed some sliced mushrooms and some bacon and added them to the stew. Then I cooked some sliced carrots in a small amount of water and added the carrots and the cooking liquid to the stew for flavor. Finally, I cooked the gnocchi in the pan that the bacon and mushrooms cooked in, and then I added a little bit of the stew liquid to them, again for flavor.
May be this depends on the cookbook you use. I don't know Monique Maine, but the cookbooks by Ginette Mathiot are very clear and I never had any problem.
ReplyDeleteShe first gives a list of the ingredients and then explains the cooking process.
I wrote a comment but somehow it disappeared. I didn't mean that French recipes are inherently not clear. Sometimes they assume knowledge on the part of the reader that the reader doesn't have, but what can you do?
DeleteThe Estouffade recipe comes from the Larousse Gastronomique. Here's an example of Ginette Mathiot's recipe style, and one of Monique Maine's.
The LG could have made a better job!
DeleteIt's surprising what a good job Google Translate does on the LG recipe:
ReplyDeleteBeef stew Dice 300 g lean bacon and blanch them. Brown them in butter in a sauté pan, then drain and set aside. Brown well in the same butter 1.5 kg of beef (taken half in the chuck, half in the covered ribs), detailed in cubes of 100 g. Cut 3 medium onions into quarters, add them to the beef while sautéing. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; add 1 crushed garlic clove. When the beef and onions are golden brown, dust them with 2 tablespoons of flour. Lightly brown while stirring. Add 1 liter of red wine and as much broth. Mix, add 1 bouquet garni, bring to a boil on the heat. Cover. Bake for 2:30 to 3 hours in an oven preheated to 180 ° C. Decant the stew. Put the pieces of beef and the bacon in a casserole dish, add 300 g of mushrooms (preferably wild), escaloped or cut into quarters and sautéed in butter. Degrease the sauce, strain it and reduce it. Pour it into the casserole dish and cook, covered, for 25 minutes, at a low boil. Arrange in a deep dish.
For comparaison, here is the deepl.com translation of the same:
ReplyDeleteBeef stew Cut 300 g of lean bacon into cubes and blanch them. Brown them in butter in a sauté pan, drain and set aside. Brown 1.5 kg of beef (half in the chuck and half in the covered ribs) in the same butter, cut into 100 g cubes. Cut 3 medium onions into quarters, add them to the beef and fry them. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; add 1 crushed clove of garlic. When beef and onions are golden brown, powder them with 2 tablespoons of flour. Lightly brown while stirring. Moisten with 1 liter of red wine and the same amount of stock. Mix, add 1 bouquet garni, bring to boil on the fire. To cover. Cook from 2 hours 30 to 3 hours in a preheated oven at 180 °C. Decant the stew. Put the pieces of beef and bacon in a casserole dish, add 300 g of mushrooms (preferably wild), cut into quarters or escalloped and sauté in butter. Degrease the sauce, strain and reduce. Pour it into the casserole and cook for 25 minutes, covered, at a low boil. Arrange in a deep dish.
Deepl.com is the translating arm of Linguee.
ReplyDeleteObviously, AI has made tremendous progress. The algorythms are better and better as they are refined. Both translations are as good as possibly can be, but there was no tricky meanings in the French to begin with.
ReplyDeleteI think the Google Translate recipe is slightly better, but only slightly. I won't go into the details.
DeleteFinal human editing would be greatly facilitated by the quality of either translation. But there was no chausse-trappe, pitfall in English, in the original French.
DeleteDo you two remember when I posted a comment a couple years ago that I used Google translate to put into French? It didn't go so well, lol. So things have improved.
DeleteHOW MUCH WINE!?!
ReplyDeleteEspecially as you are specifically told not to cook with poor quality wine.......
Hahaha, that's what I was thinking. :)
DeleteThe recipe calls for a liter of red wine for three pounds of beef. Get a 3-liter or 5-liter BIB of Chinon or Bourgueil or Saumur-Champigny at the supermarket and use a liter of it to make the stew.
DeleteI'll bet that was tasty :)
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious.
ReplyDeleteThat "run on" recipe format looks daunting at first glance. But it's probably fine if everything is in the exact order it needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteYou two really know how to live!!!
ReplyDeleteWho could complain with a dish like that to look forward to eating? Not me!
Mary in Oregon