Like many stews, this one–called a daube in France–is best served the next day. In fact, some cooks heat and cool it over several days for maximum flavor. If you can’t wait, no problem. You’ll find it utterly irresistible right out of the pot.–David Leite
LC Terroir Note
The best wine to use in this beef stew recipe? One from the same region as the ingredients–and no, we don’t mean the liquor aisle around the corner from the produce section of your local supermarket. Stick with something from the South of France. A lovely Côtes du Rhône would do quite nicely–not to mention inexpensively.
Provençal Beef Stew | Daube Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sliced carrots
- 1/4 cup sliced celery
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons mixed herb: parsley, thyme, crumbled bay leaf, and rosemary or savory
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 2 cups dry red or white wine
- Salt
- 12 black peppercorns
- 1 pound beef shank
- 1 pound beef short ribs
- 1 pound grainy beef chuck, cut into small chunks
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 35 ounces canned tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- Bouquet garni of bay leaf, parsley sprigs, and thyme leaves, tied together
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- Parchment paper, cut to fit the inside diameter of the pot
- 1/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 2 dozen brine-cured black olives, rinsed and pitted
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Directions
- 1. To make the daube, saute the carrots, celery, and onion in the olive oil in a small skillet over low heat. Add the herbs and garlic and continue cooking until the flavors are released. Add the wine, salt, and peppercorns. Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
- 2. Place the beef cuts in a bowl and pour over the cooled marinade. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight, turning the meat once or twice.
- 3. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Place the meat and the marinade in a heavy casserole or Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid. Scatter the sliced onions and then add the pancetta, tomatoes, bouquet garni, and orange zest. Wet the parchment circle and place it on top, pressing down to remove any air bubbles. Cover and cook for one hour. Lower the temperature to 250°F (120°C) and cook an additional 3 to 4 hours, until the meat falls apart easily.
- 4. Set the pot on top of the stove over very low heat. Remove the parchment and stir in the mushrooms and olives. Cook until the mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni and skim the fat from the top of the cooking liquid. Adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve over cooked noodles.
Hungry for more? Chow down on these:
- Irish Beef Stew from Dianasaur Dishes
- Sunday Beef Stew from Never Enough Thyme
- Hungarian Beef Goulash from Leite's Culinaria
- Classic Provençale Daube from Leite's Culinaria
Provençal Beef Stew | Daube Recipe © 1994 Paula Wolfert . Photo © 1994 Emily Sandor. All rights reserved.
[Jackie Gorman] The Provencal Beef Stew spent the day in the Crock-Pot on Sunday. I cut down on the amount of liquid, using two 14 1/2-ounce cans of diced tomatoes, drained, rather than the 35 ounces called for in the recipe and layering the ingredients as the recipe instructs. I checked on it at the 6 hour mark and the onions on the top were still raw. At that point, I stirred them as well as the bouquet garni into the other ingredients. At the 8-hour mark, there wasn’t really that much of a change. Because there was even more liquid, I took the parchment paper off at that point, not knowing if that was the problem. We left everything in the slow cooker until after the Giants won the World Series (yeah, Giants!). At that point (11 1/2 hrs!) the onions were cooked nicely. I was surprised that they still had quite a bit of texture. There was still quite a lot of liquid. We put the solids into one container and the liquid into another and refrigerated them overnight. The next day I heated the solids and some of the liquid in a large saucepan. As the stew started to warm up, there was a lot of fairly thin liquid. I love serving dishes like this over mashed potatoes but wanted a thicker gravy, so I made a beurre manie out of 1tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour and added that to the pan. Now I had my thick gravy. I also had a pan of potatoes starting to boil, and when I looked at the rest of the liquids from the initial cooking. I remembered the nice flavor that potatoes take on when they’re cooked in a stew, so I put the remaining liquid into a separate pan and added some of the potatoes so that they would cook in all of that goodness. Dinner was very good. The meat had great flavor and the stew with the thickened gravy was very good over the mashed potatoes. The potato chunks that cooked in the stew’s liquid were also very good. Next time I’d like to try mixing all of the ingredients together, rather than layering them as the recipe directs you to do. I’d also like to see what would happen if potato chunks were added, as the starch may help absorb some of the liquid and the potatoes might have a wonderful flavor.