The story behind the classic French dish boeuf bourguignon

Once maligned by the French, this beef and red wine stew has arguably become the national dish. Chefs the world over have embraced the Burgundian classic — even if they don’t always agree on the recipe.

If the French have elevated cookery to an art form, boeuf bourguignon is perhaps the most prized of their national collection — beef cooked slowly in fruity red wine until so soft, sticky and deliciously savoury that to call it a mere stew feels almost insulting.

This classic of provincial French cooking was described by the great post-war British cookery writer and Francophile Elizabeth David as ‘the domain of French housewives and owner-cooks of modest restaurants rather than of professional chefs’. These days, however, the boundaries between home and haute cuisine are less strictly drawn, and you’re as likely to find it deconstructed in one of Burgundy’s many Michelin-starred restaurants as you are at the kitchen table.

Bourguignon, of course, means, ‘of Bourgogne’, or Burgundy, a region in eastern France between Lyon and Paris best known for its wine. Indeed, along with Champagne to the north, and its great rival Bordeaux to the south west, it can fairly claim to be one of the most famous production areas in the world. It’s here the traveller will pass road signs bearing names more often spotted towards the bottom end of the wine list; places like Mersault and Nuits-Saint-Georges — pretty villages lapped by a green sea of meticulously tended vines
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Beaujolais Wine Is Back: What to Look For and How to Drink it

The French wine varietal Beaujolais is making a comeback after decades in the shadow of Burgundy. Here’s what to look for and pairing ideas.

Years ago, while I was tasting exquisite Bordeaux vintages with a high-flying collector, he described Beaujolais in a memorable way: “Sadly stuck in the shadow of Burgundy.” He dismissed it with a wave of his hand. The way he said it, referring to its neighbor to the north, you’d think the region was a sickly Dickensian orphan with no hope.

Until recently, the region struggled mightily from a bad rap—and for good reason. In the 1970s and ’80s, the late, legendary wine merchant Georges Duboeuf created a whole November festival around the release of Beaujolais Nouveau, the entry-level wine named for its being bottled and distributed so soon after harvest.

It succeeded but also created a “crisis,” says Sonja Geoffroy, who works on the winemaking team at the wonderful family-owned Chateau Thivin, in the town of Brouilly (try their Cote de Brouilly). “People didn’t know there was anything beyond Nouveau.” The success created such a demand that many producers planted new versions of Gamay vines that delivered on yield but not quality.

By the late 1990s, Beaujolais was the wine that dared not be sipped in some circles—even though great stuff was still being made by the top producers in the region’s best vineyards. Critics and collectors wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot wine stem.

Fast-forward to today, when the crus of Beaujolais—the wines from 10 areas in the northern part of the region officially designated as producing the highest quality—are some of the most talked-about bottlings among wine lovers in the know. They can age very well, but most are not made to cellar for more than a decade. We still need something to drink tonight with dinner, right?

Netflix apologises for ‘sexualising’ young girls in French film promo

Video streaming giant Netflix has apologised after its promotional material for a French film sparked accusations that it was sexualising young girls.

The award-winning Cuties (Mignonnes in its French release) follows 11-year-old black girl Amy as she grows up in a working-class area of Paris, defies her family and becomes aware of her burgeoning sexuality.

The poster promoting the film in France shows four brightly dressed girls throwing confetti as they walk up a street.Image

However, in the United States and internationally Netflix chose an image showing the four young stars posing in tight costumes baring their legs and midriffs.

“We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties. It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance,” Netflix said on Twitter late Thursday.

“We’ve now updated the pictures and description.” Continue reading “Netflix apologises for ‘sexualising’ young girls in French film promo” →