I made Julia Child's famous beef bourguignon and though the end result was delicious, the process stressed me out

I've never made one of Child's recipes before, but I have had the Ina Garten version of her beef bourguignon in the past. I've also seen the movie "Julie & Julia," in which one of the characters attempts to make the dish and fails miserably.

I only hoped I wouldn't end up crying on my kitchen floor like Julie.

All of the ingredients were easy to find at my local grocery store, except for the bottle of full-bodied red wine. Luckily, I had a bottle of Merlot in my liquor cabinet that I thought would work nicely.

The total amount I spent on groceries was $46.81. You can find the full list of ingredients and instructions here.

The recipe calls for one large white onion, one carrot, smashed garlic, and pearl onions. I chopped up the carrot, smashed the garlic, and cut the onion into thin slices.

However, Julia Child recommends preparing the bacon in an interesting way.

The reason for this step is to remove the smoky flavor that is standard with most brands of American bacon.

I then set it aside for later.

With my oven set to 425-degrees Fahrenheit and the smell of bacon and beef wafting through the air, making this dish during a heatwave was looking like a worse and worse idea by the minute.

While preparing the meal isn't super time-consuming, when I was battling with the heat, everything felt more arduous. At this step, I determined beef bourguignon is best prepared in the fall or winter — or at least in a house with strong air conditioning.

At this point, Child recommends putting the pot into the oven for four minutes, tossing the contents, and putting it back in the oven. She then recommends removing the pot from the oven and lowering the heat from 425 degrees to 325 degrees.

At this step, you should also add in the smashed garlic and dried thyme. I then let the pot simmer on the stove for a few minutes.

Finally, it was time to let the oven do the work ... and for me to jump into the pool and escape the intense heat in my kitchen.

To prepare the pearl onions, you'll want to sauté them in butter and oil until they're lightly browned. Then, add in a half-cup of beef stock, salt and pepper, and a herb bouquet of parsley, thyme, and a bay leaf.

The recipe said to let the onions simmer for 40 minutes until the liquid has evaporated and the onions are tender. I found it took far less time for this to happen — about 20 minutes.

I cooked them until they were browned and slightly soft.

I panicked for a second, thinking I had ruined it. Luckily, none of the stew had burned, but if I had left it much longer, it might have.

I added in another cup or two of beef stock, plus the pearl onions and the mushrooms, to try and make it more stew-like, rather than a chunky sludge of beef and vegetables. This stressed me out slightly, as dinner ended up being done way before I expected it to be.

When making this recipe, I highly recommend checking the pot often and adding in more stock if necessary. If I hadn't checked how the dish was doing when I did, it could have ended in disaster.

The recipe says to strain the stew and simmer the remaining sauce for a few minutes in a pot on the stove. I didn't want to risk ruining the stew's consistency, so I opted out of this step. In the end, the result was delicious without doing this.

There are no words to describe just how delicious this meal was. The sauce was rich and flavorful, and the meat was fall-apart tender while still having a good texture. The vegetables also still had a bite to them, and I mopped up every last drop of the stew with the bread.

Even my mother, who's made beef bourguignon in the past from Ina Garten's recipe, said it was the best she's ever had.

While I would never make this dish during a heatwave again, it was probably one of the best dishes I've ever made myself.

Some recipes are iconic for a reason.