Sunday, January 23, 2011

Beef stew with mustard, herbs, and white wine (beef daube)

Dad had a chunk of beef that was perect for stew meat. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your approach) I've managed to make most of the TJOC stew recipes already. One of the only ones I had left was Beef stew with mustard, herbs, and white wine (beef daube). TJOC says that "This is a refreshing change from the heavier flavors that we associate with beef stew". I wasn't particularly excited about this recipe because I LIKE the heavier flavors that we typically associate with beef stew.

I seasoned some flour (love the bowl--Michelangelo always was my favorite):



I cut the meat in to cubes, dredged the cubes in the seasoned flour, and then browned them in olive oil.



I added dry white wine to the pot:



The wine was brought to a boil and then simmered until it reduced by half. Dijon mustard was whisked into the wine (TJOC loves Dijon mustard, it's in about half of the recipes in the book). I then returned the beef to the pot, along with a can of tomatoes, sliced onions, garlic cloves, and bouquet garni:



We simmered the dish over low heat for a couple of hours. When the meat was tender, we removed the beef, onions, and tomatoes to a platter (a rather annoying step):



The stock was boiled again until it was reduced to a third and slightly thickened:



Everything was then added back to the pot:



The stew was good but not great. It was definitely lighter than typical stew. If you don't love onions, look at other stew recipes because this one isn't going to work well for you. It was jam packed with onions and oniony flavor. I personally don't feel this recipe was worth the effort, especially when the beef stew recipe is so amazingly delicious.

Random facts:
  • According to Wikipedia, a daube is a French stew with beef braised in wine, vegetables, garlic, and herbes de provance, so this actually was relatively authentic.
  • In certain areas of France, bulls killed during bullfights are typically used for daube (Wikipedia). The picture on Wikipedia looks far more delicious than what I made.
  • Wikipedia also states that there is typically a day between each step in the daube, making the authentic recipe even more inconvenient than TJOC's version. No thanks.

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3 comments:

  1. I am making this for a dinner party tomorrow night. I had to double the recipe and found that I have way too much onions. I also had to add some beef stock to cover for the braising. Maybe I boiled down the wine too much. I'm wondering if I can thicken it up a bit with cornstarch and avoid having to serve it in a bowl. What do you think?

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  2. Any suggestions as to how to thicken this up a bit? I had to double the recipe and my recipe did not call for flouring the beef first. I also had to add some beef stock to cover for the braise. I don't want to serve it in a bowl. I'm adding asparagus and roasted baby potatoes to the plate.

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  3. That is exactly what I would do. I would attempt to thicken it up with flour or cornstarch and then add the meat and onions back to the gravy. Let me know how it turns out!

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