Daube is a stew of beef slow cooked in wine, the dish originated from the south of France. Beef cheeks are the hard working muscles on the face of the cow/bull, it is a tasteful cut with wonderful gelatinous buttery texture provided its cooked slowly & gently.
Adapted this recipe from Justin North’s “French Lessons“. Justin North is chef owner of Becasse, Plan B & Etch. He has been cooking since he was 15 years old & has trained under great chefs like Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons & Liam Tomlin at Banc. I met him briefly & asked a question during Sydney Morning Herald’s “Good Food Month” Molecular gastronomy event, at the Powerhouse museum sydney october 2008. He seems to be a great bloke, his food at Becasse & Plan B rocks. Plan B does the most amazing wagyu beef burger for only $10.
For the daube
- 4 x 300g beef cheeks
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stick
- 6 garlic cloves
- 6 sprigs of thyme(love it)
- 1 bay leaf(1 bay leaf goes a long way)
- 1 litre red wine(I used a bottle of McGuigan’s estate red wine blend, it was in a 1 litre bottle)
- 500 ml port(I used a DeBortoli tawny port)
- Plain flour for dusting cheeks
- 4 tbsps olive oil
- 2 litres brown veal or beef stock
- Salt & pepper
- Place the cheeks in marinading container.
- Chop roughly the onion, carrot & celery. Add to the marinading container with the cheeks. Also add the garlic & herbs.
- Combine port & red wine in saucepan, heat to the boil. Lower heat and simmer until reduced by half.Allow to cool until lukewarm, add to marinading container.
- Leave marinade to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate. Leave to marinate for 24hrs.
- Next day, preheat oven to 140 degrees. Strain beef, vegetables & herbs. Set aside the vegetables & herbs and reserve the marinade.
- Lightly dust the beef cheeks with flour.(Flour used to prevent cheeks from burning when browning, not thickening)
- Heat oil in large casserole pan, brown beef cheeks until browned evenly. Set cheeks aside.
- Add the reserved vegetables to pan & brown evenly. Add marinade to pan and bring to the boil. Lower heat & simmer until liquid is reduced by half.
- In another pan bring the brown veal or beef stock to boil.
- Add beef cheeks, herbs & stock to casserole pan. Bring it to gentle simmer.
- Cover tightly casserole pan with a lid. Braise in oven for 4 hours.
Serve the daube of beef cheeks with baby roasted carrots & potato puree.
