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AFTER lengthy consideration about what kind of confectionery box—no, what kind of meat dish I should prepare for the grandpas and grandmas, I arrived at one answer.
On that Sunday afternoon, at a time just before an afternoon snack, I stood in the kitchen with my apron on and declared, “Simple is best, as they say. I’m going with the straightforward option of tender, simmered meat. To be more precise, red wine braised beef loin. It’s easy, popular, and delicious.”
Techi sat leisurely on the kitchen counter as she said, “Red wine braised beef, huh? Sounds like it has nothing to do with preserves this time.”
“Nope. This is meant to be a gift, so it would be strange for me to involve my personal hobby, won’t it? I mean, if they made a specific request for my preserves, I would go ahead and do just that. But they haven’t, so I’m going with a more standard route.”
She folded her arms and hummed. “Interesting. By the way, you just mentioned it’s easy and popular, but…this counts as easy?” She furrowed her eyebrows slightly. “You’ve certainly got a big lot of ingredients here.”
Her eyes scanned the display of ingredients on the counter: carrots; onions; garlic; celery; beef; an assortment of herbs; and Muggi bouillon.
I smiled. “I’ve got a lot of ingredients, yes, but the recipe itself is simple. You only have to cut the ingredients, do the necessary preparations, then simmer it all slowly. For the chopping part, you can even use an electric blender to do the hard work for you, so it’s a recipe that almost anyone can find success with.”
“Huh.” She raised an eyebrow. “But you’re still doing a test run today despite that?”
“I suppose. I want to make enough to distribute to everyone who helped keep an eye on the property for us, and that’ll be an incredible amount. If I fail with such a big batch, my wallet is going to cry, so I’ve got to do a test run first just in case.”
Techi nodded. “I see. Well then, it sounds like my job is to taste your test run and give you my feedback, got it. All right, Mikura, good luck and work hard.” She propped up her chin on her palm and stared at me carefreely.
Under her watchful gaze, I got to work.
Start with prepping the vegetables. In terms of ratio, you want more carrots and onions, less celery and garlic. Prep your vegetables by washing them and peeling them. Finely chop the garlic. As for all your other ingredients, mince and crush them as finely as possible. If this step is too much manual work, feel free to blend them all in one go in an electric blender. You could even grate your ingredients. As long as you come out with tiny pieces at the end, anything goes.
Next is prep for the beef. Cut your beef into cubes. If your priority is having a fulfilling texture and amount per bite, make your pieces bigger. Season with salt and pepper. Rub your seasoning thoroughly into the meat. Sprinkle on flour.
Heat a large pot. After the pot is hot, drizzle in oil. Sear the surface of your beef, which should be covered with flour. At this step, you don’t have to cook it all the way through, but you need to grill the surface properly. Wipe away excess grease with kitchen paper. Turn your steak cubes until all the sides are golden brown. Transfer from pot onto a plate.
Sauté the chopped garlic in the oil left behind in the pot. Once the garlic is cooked, add in carrots, then onions, then celery. Turn to low heat and cook the mixture slowly. Once it starts bubbling, add beef cubes back into the pot.
Simmer the beef with the vegetables and vegetable juice for a few minutes before adding the bouillon stock cubes. Gently pour in red wine.
You could choose to add other alcohol on top of your red wine. For this batch, I decided to add a small amount of brandy.
Cover your meat fully with the mixture of vegetable juice and wine, then simmer. If there isn’t enough water, add small amounts of water at a time so that it won’t become too diluted.
Add thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf to your pot. Don’t overdo it with the herbs—too much thyme and rosemary means that it’s almost the only thing you’ll taste, and there’s no point adding too many bay leaves either. Cover the pot and simmer over low or medium heat for roughly two hours.
At the two-hour mark, temporarily remove meat from the pot. Add a generous amount of butter to the broth and keep simmering. Cook the mixture until a good amount of the water evaporates, leaving you with a thick, gooey consistency. The sauce is the most important part of this dish’s taste, so make sure to simmer it thoroughly. Taste it as you go, adding salt for flavor and butter for aroma and richness when necessary.
While the sauce is cooking, arrange your meat in a deep dish. Pour the thick sauce over the meat. Garnish with cream and parsley. Bon appétit.
All that was left to do was toast some baguettes and arrange them on a separate plate. Once I finished serving everything on the low table, dinner was ready.
The moment I started moving from the kitchen to the living room, Techi speedily moved to her usual seat and sat down. She stared unblinkingly at the beef. “Now that’s interesting. You called it red wine braised beef, but it felt more like vegetable juice braised beef.”
I also settled on my seat. “I can’t argue against that. When the pros are cooking, they don’t mince the vegetables this finely. They actually scoop out the vegetables midway and toss it out, because it’s only there for flavor. But it’s kind of a waste when you cook at home, so I tend to go with a recipe where you keep simmering them and turn them all into sauce. Thanks to this extra step, you really draw out the flavors of your ingredients, and both the sauce and the meat turn out delicious in the end.”
Hearing that, this time, Techi stared intently at the kitchen. “Huh. You didn’t chuck out the vegetables that you’re supposed to throw, so that’s why you’ve got so much sauce left over… You’ve got quite a lot in that pot. What are you going to do with it?”
“For now, I’ll move them into plastic food containers and store them in the fridge,” I replied. “Tomorrow, I’ll add beef stew roux to the sauce and remake it into beef stew. You don’t have to use good beef for this—something cheap and readily available will do. Because you’ve got plenty of fancy beef flavors and essence inside that sauce, the resulting beef stew is heavenly, as if you used high-grade beef in the stew instead. It doesn’t have to be stew—curry also works, but personally, I think stew is better. That’s why I also prepared baguettes to go with our braised beef—the flavor of the sauce is somewhat similar to the taste of beef stew, so dipping your bread in it is amazing.”
It appeared that Techi had succumbed to her hunger, because she clapped her hands together and began glowering at her plate. Smiling with fond exasperation, I placed my palms together and voiced my thanks for the food.
She echoed my words before picking up her fork, stabbing a piece of red wine braised beef and tossing it eagerly into her mouth.
I had a piece of my own. The meat was tender, melting in my mouth even before I chewed. The savory goodness and sweetness of vegetables had seeped into the beef properly, and combined with the rich and elegant flavor of the beef, it was simply exquisite. I mustn’t forget about the sauce—the herbs, butter, and cream added aromas and richness into the mix, which had wonderful chemistry with the beef itself. The end result was simply tantalizing, and I could proudly puff out my chest and declare that I’d done a great job.
I scarfed down the meat, then took bites of my baguette soaked in the sauce. It was practically the taste of paradise. Techi must’ve been just as absorbed in the delectable taste, because next to me, she stuffed her mouth with meat and baguette—which I’d prepared extra for her—into her mouth at an astounding rate. She was more zealous than usual, her eyes were shining brighter than usual, and she looked more blissful than usual as she dined.
As I watched her, I gained the conviction that braised beef loin was the best possible gift for beastfolk. Nodding happily to myself, I relished in the taste of my portion of red wine braised beef and baguette once again.