The word ’daube' comes from the French 'daubière’, a kind of braising pot used for the long, slow cooking of less tender cuts of meat. Here I’m using venison shoulder steaks but the dish could be made with a half shoulder on the bone which would probably improve the flavour. I used Moroccan style salted wrinkly olives and ‘de-salted’ them before using by simmering in several changes of water. If you use something like Kalamati olives, then you probably won’t need to do this. Either way, don’t add salt until the end of cooking the daube so that you can judge how salty the final sauce is.
Ingredients (serves 2)
500g thick cut venison shoulder steaks
Thinly paired peel of 1/2 an orange
200 ml red wine
1/2 tsp pink peppercorns
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
A few fresh bay leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic, chopped
300 ml chicken stock
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
50 ml brandy
10 - 12 pitted black olives
Salt to taste
Method
Ingredients (serves 2)
500g thick cut venison shoulder steaks
Thinly paired peel of 1/2 an orange
200 ml red wine
1/2 tsp pink peppercorns
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
A few fresh bay leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic, chopped
300 ml chicken stock
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
50 ml brandy
10 - 12 pitted black olives
Salt to taste
Method
- Place the venison in a large dish and add the red wine, pink peppercorns and orange peel. Cover and leave to marinate overnight.
- Heat the oven to 160C
- Heat the oil in a hob proof/oven proof casserole dish. Add the bacon and fry gently until the fat starts to render. Remove the bacon and set aside.
- Add the chopped onion to the pan and fry gently until translucent. Add the garlic and fry for a few more minutes. Remove the garlic and onion and set aside.
- Remove the venison from the marinade and pat dry with a cloth or paper towel. Reserve the marinade.
- Add the venison steaks to the pan and fry on a high heat to sear and brown on each side.
- Add the marinade, bacon, onions and garlic and tomato paste to the pan, together with the chicken stock and brandy, stirring well, to mix. Bring to a simmer.
- Cover the pan and cook in the oven for 2 hours. Check from time to time and add a little water if the stock reduces too much.
- Remove the venison from the pan and set aside. Pass the stock through a fine sieve into a measuring jug. Top up the stock with boiling water if required, so that you have 300 ml of stock. The final sauce should be a rich reddish brown colour.
- Return the sauce and venison to the pan. Add the olives and cook for a further 1/2 an hour.
- Add salt to taste.
