Daube Chaude à la Provençale

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5½ to 6-quart cocotte or Dutch oven with a tight lid
• •Slim paring knife or narrow boning knife
• •Nonreactive marinating bowl
• •Parchment paper
• •Kitchen twine
• •Broad degreasing spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the bacon

   Chill the eight larding strips until firm enough to push through the beef without folding. Have the fresh bacon rind prepared through Blanchings (No. 273), then drain it thoroughly and cut it into ⅔-inch squares. Tie the parsley stems, thyme, bay leaf, and dry lemon peel into a compact bouquet garni, keeping the lemon peel in the centre.

2. 2

   Lard and marinate

   Make a narrow channel through the centre of each beef cube, following the grain, with a slim paring or boning knife. Push one chilled bacon strip into each channel. Put the beef in a nonreactive bowl and season it with the salt, pepper, and quatre-épices, then pour over the cooled Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168). Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours, turning the cubes every 45 minutes so every surface meets the wine and vinegar.

   No larding needle is required. If the bacon buckles, chill it for another 15 minutes and widen the channel slightly. The bacon belongs inside the meat, where it bastes the shoulder during the long braise.
3. 3

   Render the bacon

   Set a heavy 5½ to 6-quart cocotte over medium-low heat and add the finely chopped bacon while the pot is still cool. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the fat has rendered and the bacon is lightly golden. Do not take it to a brittle crisp; it still has hours of cooking ahead.

4. 4

   Colour the vegetables

   Add the whole onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to the rendered bacon. Raise the heat to medium and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, turning the vegetables until their edges take an honest golden colour. Equal-sized carrot pieces replace the classical olive tournage here. The shape was service polish; the size, which lets the vegetables cook evenly, is the part that matters.

5. 5

   Fry the beef

   Lift the beef from the marinade and reserve every drop of the Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168). Dry the cubes very thoroughly with towels, then add them to the cocotte among the vegetables. Fry for 7 to 8 minutes, turning the meat so its surfaces colour lightly and leave a brown fond on the pot. If the pot floods and the beef begins to boil, raise the heat and keep cooking until the moisture evaporates and the bacon fat sizzles again. Ça se rattrape. Do not discard that liquid, because it carries wine, seasoning, and beef juices.

6. 6

   Moisten and seal

   Heat the oven to 275°F (135°C). Pour the reserved Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168) and the remaining red wine into the cocotte, scraping the floor until the fond dissolves into the liquid. Add the bacon rind prepared through Blanchings (No. 273) and nestle in the bouquet garni. Bring everything to a full boil for 2 minutes, then press a round of parchment over the surface and close the cocotte tightly with its lid. If the lid fits loosely, place a sheet of foil across the rim before setting the lid in place.

7. 7

   Braise without fuss

   Transfer the sealed cocotte to the oven and braise for 5 to 5½ hours. Leave the lid closed for the first 4 hours. Check once after that: the liquid should barely tremble, the vegetables should be very soft, and a fork should slide into the beef without resistance. If the meat remains firm, it is not ruined; its connective tissue simply has not yielded. Reseal the pot and give it another 30 to 45 minutes. If the liquid has fallen below halfway up the meat, add 2 tablespoons of hot water and close the pot again.

8. 8

   Degrease and serve

   Remove the bouquet garni and let the daube settle for 10 minutes. Skim the clear fat from the surface with a broad spoon, leaving the dark, gelatinous gravy beneath it. If the gravy is thinner than a light coating sauce, lift out the meat and vegetables and boil the liquid for 5 to 10 minutes until it turns glossy; return everything gently so the cubes stay whole. Taste for salt and pepper, then serve the daube in its cocotte or in a warmed deep serving bowl, the home equivalent of the hot timbale. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for unsmoked slab bacon with its rind attached. Cut the firm interior into larding strips and reserve the skin for the braise; the rind supplies the gelatin that gives the gravy body without flour, stock, or reduction carried too far.
• •Choose a dry red built on Grenache, Syrah, or Mourvèdre, with fruit and enough acidity to survive five hours in the pot. It needn't be dear, but it must taste sound before it goes in. Pour the same style at the table.
• •Keep the marinade to 2 or 3 hours. The vinegar seasons and firms the surface pleasantly in that time, but an overnight soak would push the outside of the cubes toward a cured texture the source never intended.
• •Serve with plain boiled potatoes, fresh ribbon pasta, or short macaroni to catch the gravy. Pick one and keep it simple. The daube has already done the talking.

Advance Preparation

• •The Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168) may be prepared and cooled in advance according to its own entry. Keep it refrigerated until the beef is ready for its 2 to 3-hour marinade.
• •Daube is excellent made 1 or 2 days ahead. Cool it promptly, cover, and refrigerate; the fat will set into a firm cap that lifts away cleanly, leaving the gravy clear and full-bodied.
• •Reheat a chilled daube covered in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 45 to 60 minutes, adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of water only if the set gravy is too firm. Stir as little as possible so the beef remains in generous pieces.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 370g)