Executive summary: Man, that was good! I am going to make it on a regular basis.
Long story: I was waffling between laughing at myself and screaming as I made it today. First off, I have never had so many New Year calls and video chats come in as today. All while I was prepping and cooking. I would normally let them go, but if my 93-year old dad calls, I have to answer, and if my sister calls and I don't answer, then she calls my dad and tells him, "Ben's being mean!" and then I have to hear it from my dad. Once those calls came through, I literally tossed the phone into the other room.
Then, I don't know if it's the Alzheimer's or what, but I was totally unprepared for making this. I somehow ignored or forgot just how much time everything takes, so started late, then I somehow grabbed chicken stock instead of beef stock at the store. Luckily I had extra stew beef, so while I was prepping the dish, I also just boiled up my own beef stock for it. Then I was so disorganized that I was spilling stuff right and left onto the floor and everywhere, so had to keep pausing to clean up my messes.
Otherwise, it was pretty straightforward. I ended up tripling the brandy, just because, and go big or go home. I forgot about the serving it over mashed potatoes or similar, so just had it straight, with the homemade bread to dunk in the gravy, and blaukraut (like sauerkraut except with red cabbage, so more sweet than sour) on the side. That ended up being a good combo. I have enough leftovers that I'll make them with mashed potatoes on Sunday.
The wine was a really good choice, not just for the cooking, but for the drinking. Once the two cups went in the recipe, there was just enough leftover for a Ben sized goblet of wine. As I said earlier, I'm not normally a Pinot drinker, but will buy this again. Though with how I discombobulated myself today, I was really close to skipping the wine and going straight for the whiskey.