Long slow cooking is essential to achieve the deep flavour of a classic French beef daube. The cheapest cut of beef is transformed into a luxurious dish. Dark chocolate adds a complex flavour and gloss to the sauce with no sweetness. It may not be strictly traditional to add chocolate but you can find French recipes which do use it.
There are many recipes for beef daube and some seem rather complicated. This one is really quite straightforward, I think. Ideally, you need a medium sized cast iron pot with a lid to cook this, but any large saucepan will suffice. Whole pieces of beef are much better suited to this dish than beef chopped into cubes. The slow cooking will naturally break down the meat somewhat, so if you use ready diced beef you could end up with shredded bits. In fact, you could use one whole piece of beef, which is quite traditional for this dish.
Ingredients (serves 3 to 4)
100g chopped bacon or lardons
4 or 5 fat cloves of garlic, sliced thickly
500g beef shin (preferably in whole pieces, not ready diced)
Oil to fry
250ml red wine
150ml beef stock
A small bunch of thyme and rosemary, tied together
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
1 heaped tsp tomato paste
Peel from half an orange
Juice of half an orange
5 shallots (peeled and left whole)
9 black olives
2 medium carrots
20g dark chocolate (minimum 70%)
Salt to taste. Chopped parsley to scatter.
Method
There are many recipes for beef daube and some seem rather complicated. This one is really quite straightforward, I think. Ideally, you need a medium sized cast iron pot with a lid to cook this, but any large saucepan will suffice. Whole pieces of beef are much better suited to this dish than beef chopped into cubes. The slow cooking will naturally break down the meat somewhat, so if you use ready diced beef you could end up with shredded bits. In fact, you could use one whole piece of beef, which is quite traditional for this dish.
Ingredients (serves 3 to 4)
100g chopped bacon or lardons
4 or 5 fat cloves of garlic, sliced thickly
500g beef shin (preferably in whole pieces, not ready diced)
Oil to fry
250ml red wine
150ml beef stock
A small bunch of thyme and rosemary, tied together
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
1 heaped tsp tomato paste
Peel from half an orange
Juice of half an orange
5 shallots (peeled and left whole)
9 black olives
2 medium carrots
20g dark chocolate (minimum 70%)
Salt to taste. Chopped parsley to scatter.
Method
- Fry the bacon or lardons with the garlic for several minutes. Set the garlic and bacon aside and add a little oil to the pan.
- Pat the beef shin pieces dry and fry until browned on both sides.
- Add the garlic and bacon back into the pan with the beef. Pour the red wine and beef stock over and heat until simmering
- Add the thyme, rosemary, peppercorns and bay leaves. Stir the tomato paste through until dissolved.
- Simmer on the hob, covered, for 2 hours. If you prefer you can cook in the oven at 160C. or in a slow cooker.
- Add the orange peel, orange juice, shallots, carrots and olives. Continue to cook for a further 40 minutes or until the beef is completely tender.
- Add the chocolate and stir until melted through. Add salt to taste. Scatter chopped parsley over before serving.
