Daube is the classic French dish of slowly braised beef, red wine, vegetables, and seasonings. Before the introduction of modern ovens, a daube was cooked in a daubière, a heavy casserole or pot with a concave lid. Over a wood fire, the lid would be filled with water to help radiate heat around the stew.
I think there are as many recipes for daube as there are cheeses in France, after some experimenting, the recipe below is my personal favourite.
As with
almost all stews, this tastes infinitely better the day after cooking, the beef
also benefits from a days’ marinating, so all-in-all it’s at least a three day
process.
Ingredients:
2 kg Stewing
Steak (shin, thick flank or brisket is best)
500gr Belly
Pork, the rind removed, and cubed into bit-size pieces
1 Pig's
Trotter
1kg fresh
tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (or for ease 2 x 400gr tins of chopped
Tomatoes)
500gr Carrots,
peeled and cut into small chunks
500gr Flat Mushrooms, quartered
2 Bay Leaves
Salt and
freshly-ground Black Pepper
750ml
Water
1 tablespoon
(15ml) Tomato Purée
Marinade:
1 litre “robust” Red
Wine
3 medium peeled and quartered onions
1 bouquet garni
2 strips of Orange Rind finely chopped
2 large cloves of Garlic, peeled and chopped
2 whole Cloves
1 Cinnamon Stick
Generous amount of Black Pepper
2 tablespoons (30ml) Olive Oil
Prepare the marinade
ingredients and add the cubed stewing beef – I prefer not to trim the beef to
much, allowing all of the gelatinous bits to melt into the pot during cooking.
Leave in the fridge or a cool place to marinate for about 24 hours turning the
meat occasionally.
Next day, remove from
fridge and allow to come back to room temperature. Now add the cubed belly pork.
Wash the pig trotter and split (it may be easier to get the butcher to do this
for you) and add to the beef.
Meanwhile
pre-heat oven to 150’C . Place all the ingredients, except the mushrooms, into a
heavy casserole. Now add water, until all ingredients are covered.
Place lid on casserole and gently bring the mixture to near the boil on top of
the cooker.
Now transfer the dish to the oven, and cook for 3½ - 4 hours or until the beef is very tender.
After cooking remove the trotter and use a fork to pull its meat
in shreds from the bones. The smell will be amazing – please try not to lose any
of the precious juices, and now return the shredded meat to the daube. Remove
the bouquet garni, cinnamon stick and cloves.
Allow the daube to cool and leave in fridge until tomorrow (or even the day after).
One hour before eating, remove from
fridge and skim off any excess fat. Add mushrooms, place casserole under a very
gentle light and allow daube to heat gently
Check for seasoning before serving. Traditionally daube is
served with delicious buttery wide noodles, however I often serve just with
fresh crusty bread.
Enjoy!
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