Mastering the art of French cooking

I have no business attempting any recipe that does not have a picture. The reason for this is that I do not have the ability to follow a recipe. I usually have every intention to follow it, but somehow I always end up putting my own twist on things. If there is a picture, I at least have an idea what I'm working towards, and can fake it at the end.

This is why I should not own the book: Mastering the art of French cooking, but as I am sure so many other soft hearted movie goers did, after leaving the cinema watching Julie and Julia, I found myself in a bookstore, with a (thankfully) cheaper reprint for release with the movie. (It's all marketing baby.)

So, at this very minute, there is an approximation of Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck's Boeuf Bourguignon in our oven.

"Do you you know what Boeuf Bourguignon is?" My husband asked somewhat patronisingly when announced it being on the dinner menu. "Some form of beef stew?" I said/asked while flipping through the pages of the pictureless book. "Good," he said, "I was afraid you thought it was fancier because it's French."

Glad we cleared that up.

So the beef stew in red wine, with bacon, onions and mushrooms (currently still minus the onions and mushrooms) is in the oven, and there are a whole lot of onions being braised on the stove. In a little bit I will attempt the sauteed mushrooms. The recipe ask for fresh and well dried mushrooms. I have a can of sliced mushrooms in brine.

You can see where this is going.