Recipe: Bearnaise Daube

Name: Bearnaise Daube
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 300 min
Total time: 320 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 4.4 lb (2 kg) beef cheeks (Bazas or Charolais for example) cut into large cubes; 2 veal feet cut in half; 1 pork rind; 1 knuckle of Bayonne ham (if possible); 2.2 lb (1 kg) potatoes in quarters (Bintje); 2.2 lb (1 kg) new carrots (or thin carrots if available) peeled and cut into chunks; 2.2 lb (1 kg) yellow onions sliced; 2 medium turnips in quarters; 3 garlic cloves just crushed or a few sprigs of garlic chives sliced; 1 bouquet garni; 1.1 oz (30 g) dried French porcini mushrooms; Salt; Freshly ground pepper; 1 bottle of good red wine (Cahors or Madiran); 1/4.25 qt (4 litre) mineral water

By AFTouch-Cuisine 5/5 (5 reviews)

Prep 20 min

Cook 300 min

Total 5h20

Servings 8 serv.

Ingredients for 8 servings

Adjust for

servings

4.4 lb (2 kg) beef cheeks (Bazas or Charolais for example) cut into large cubes
2 veal feet cut in half
1 pork rind
1 knuckle of Bayonne ham (if possible)
2.2 lb (1 kg) potatoes in quarters (Bintje)
2.2 lb (1 kg) new carrots (or thin carrots if available) peeled and cut into chunks
2.2 lb (1 kg) yellow onions sliced
2 medium turnips in quarters
3 garlic cloves just crushed or a few sprigs of garlic chives sliced
1 bouquet garni
1.1 oz (30 g) dried French porcini mushrooms
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 bottle of good red wine (Cahors or Madiran)
1/4.25 qt (4 litre) mineral water

Step-by-step directions

1 In a large, wide casserole pot, brown your pieces of beef in duck fat (if possible), then remove them to a plate.

2 Line the bottom of the pot with the large pork rind and the veal feet.

3 Place a layer of beef pieces, season, add the ham knuckle, then a layer of vegetables, repeat if needed. Add the bouquet garni and the dried porcini mushrooms lightly chopped.

4 Cover with the wine and water, salt (not too much) and pepper, then cover the pot.

5 Cook for a minimum of 4 hours 30 minutes in a medium oven preheated to 230°F (110 °C) (gas mark 4), then turn it off while leaving it inside.

6 Serve with potatoes cooked in a steamer basket, then placed on the daube for the last 15 minutes of cooking. What a shame that bakers no longer leave the oven to cool down slowly overnight, for that is where the true daube cooking happened. In the morning, you would only have to remove the fat that had risen to the surface and it was perfect (an experience I had many years ago in Langon at Olivier's place).