Lizzie's recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon

For a dozen people and maybe a bit for the freezer.

2 packets of lardons (bacon chunks, cut into ½ -inch pieces)
4 kilos boneless beef chuck/stewing steak, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 cup flour
Lots of olive oil
1/2 cup brandy
Handful of fresh parsley
8 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 litre local Languedoc wine (at least)
1 kilo shallots
3/4 kilo mushrooms, quartered if large – but preferably button
Salt & pepper

Other people add carrots and celery, but I think it makes it a bit too English stew-like

Now the secret with this recipe is to do lots and be generous. It freezes perfectly, is not wildly expensive if you’re lucky enough to live in France and is even better the day after. Think more in terms of lobbing stuff in, rather than measuring out exact quantities.

Turn on the oven – red hot for the first half an hour, then down to gas mark 6 (sort of upper middling with electricity - 175) for the rest of the cooking.

Get the worst bit over first – ask a friend round for coffee, and make them peel the onions. Don’t let them get away with doing the mushrooms, which only need a wipe with a damp cloth. That’s your job. Peel the garlic while you’re at it, just to show willing.

Find the plasters, sharpen your best knife, put the plasters away. Cut up the steak into chunks, remembering that they’ll shrink a bit so don’t cut them too, too small. Put some flour on a plate, season it well, then coat all of the steak chunks with flour.

Now, send the friend off to buy a couple of loaves of fresh crusty bread because you have to concentrate briefly. It’s time to start cooking. Take the very biggest pan you have that will work on the top of the cooker, and in the oven. I use one or two of those big deep trays school cooks used (when they used to cook real food in the 60s & 70s). Pour in lots of olive oil and get it smoking. Lob in the meat to sear it. If there’s too much for one go do it in batches. Rush to open all the windows or you won’t be able to see. Turn it down a little bit and chuck in everything except the wine. Toss it about until the onions look half cooked and the bacon is beginning to burn. Pour over the brandy and set light to it. Keep your eyebrows well out of the way. When that’s calmed down pour over enough red wine to cover everything completely. Season it like the clappers. Cover the pan with foil – if the pan’s enormous you’ll have to put two bits of foil together and pleat it to make it wide enough. Heave it into the oven and forget about it for at least two hours, although it’ll carry on getting better if you can wait an extra hour. Pour yourself a drink.

To serve: Toss on a generous handful of chopped parsley. Serve it from the pan, with mashed spud and chard if you have a trencherman’s appetite like me, or tagliatelle and fine green beans if you want to be a bit more French. Try not to look too disappointed when the last morsels are wiped from the pan with chunks of bread – you won’t have to eat it three days running, and you could have a takeaway pizza tomorrow, if no-one invites you out.