Saving the Daube

Sometimes when someone speaks about food or a favorite dish, they almost gasp. Their voice rings of an ooohhh and an aaahhh. For some reason they lower their voice to a half-whisper, almost as though they are telling you a secret. This was the case when my good friend in New Orleans, Walli, talked about Daube Glace’ and said she wished I could learn how to make the dish. Daube is pronounced dohb.

My response to her description was, “Huh?”. Walli went on to speak about this decadent spread you put on bread like butter and then she said it had meat in it and again, I said, “Huh?”. She could only tell me how delicious it was and that she would have to find me a good recipe. I was curious at the time and then time went by.

Every so often, usually when I am due for a visit, Walli sends me some New Orleans “reading material”. Newspaper articles and magazines arrive, which she knows will make me yearn for the Crescent City….the food, the music, the people, the food….oh, the yearning. This year, as I flipped through the latest issue of New Orleans Magazine Walli had sent, a piece of paper dropped out. I was staring at a recipe for Daube Glace’ from the December, 2007 issue of the same magazine.

I was already hooked to try the recipe when I read the following excerpt from the article: ”Daube glace’ is such a classic that it has been chosen for the Ark of Taste of the international Slow Food movement, which aims to rediscover and preserve forgotten or threatened to be forgotten tastes. We don’t want to forget it because tradition is one reason our city is unforgettable.” Yes, indeed.

My research had begun. Daube is a French stew consisting of meat, veggies, seasoning and liquids, one of which is red wine. The glace’ is essentially drippings placed in beef consomme and gelatin. It sounded like gourmet debris gravy, or rather debris spread. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is where the term “debris gravy” actually came from. Seen as a delicacy, what I really love is that Daube Glace’ is about using everything and stretching the applications of a dish.

The stew was the first step to conquer. I found many recipes, many variations. As I read through versions, I could almost hear voices from generations ago speaking of what their mother or grandmother used for ingredients. My preference for recipe components kept coming back to the December, 2007 New Orleans magazine recipe. I really liked the idea of using Madeira as the wine. I was not deterred by the two pounds of pigs’ feet used in their recipe, though I did begin to think about some substitutions.

Now here we go. I can hear the great debate brewing. How can one be authentic and true to the cultural history of a dish if you modify ingredients with significant substitutions? I believe you can accomplish this if you stay true to the process and the flavor profile. In the case of Daube, slow cooking and the combination of pork and beef flavors are critical. My solution to the pigs’ feet was going to be larding the beef with bacon fat.

FXCuisine.com did an excellent job of demonstrating a classic French execution of Beef Carrot Daube. I have worked to create a recipe that will be practical for the home chef and still deliver the complex, rich flavor of slow cooking! For a New Year’s Day early supper, I served my version of Daube with braised greens and Hoppin’ John . I also made an herb lemon cream and tomato salsa garnish. It was a great meal and a fine way to start 2009. Look for all of the recipes to be posted soon and I will be making the glace’ with my leftovers!

Let’s start with the stew. I can almost hear my Southern foodie buddies gasping, however, since I am a Northerner paying homage to a Southern dish, I will proudly call it…..

Delaware Daube

To get started with prepping the meat, you will need the following:

• 2-3lbs. of beef (you choose the cut – a shoulder roast would work well – I took out a package of what I thought was a roast and it turned out to be two very large strip steaks – no problem, but the cost of that cut of meat is not necessary)
• 5-6 garlic cloves, split in half and 10-12, 1 inch pieces of bacon fat
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 T each of Creole seasoning and kosher salt
• 1 t. each of white pepper and cayenne pepper
• oil for searing, about 3 T.

Spice Recommendation: For Creole seasoning, I like “Joe’s Stuff” and for a great pepper blend, try Walker & Sons “Slap Ya Mama-White Pepper Blend“. You would use 2 t. of the blend instead of a t. each of white and cayenne pepper.

To prep the rest of the stew you will need:

• 2 turnips – medium, cubed
• 6 carrots – large and the more the better, 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces
• 1 onion – large, small dice
• 3-4 large button mushrooms, small chop
• 1 T crushed garlic
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme and 3-4 bay leaves
• 1+ c. of Madeira
• more Creole seasoning, kosher salt and white pepper, to taste
• a few dashes each of hot sauce and Worcestershire
• 1-14 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• beef stock and vegetable stock – (you are going to need enough liquid to cover all of the above ingredients. I used Better Than Bouillon and ended up with at least 12 cups of stock – I used a ratio of 2:1 beef to vegetable stock)
• 1/2 c. of all-purpose flour and 8 T of butter for a roux in the final step.

Start by larding the meat. Cut 1″ slices in the meat and stuff with a piece of the bacon and a half of a garlic clove. Technically if you are making a stew you cube the meat and when braising, you keep the meat whole. In this recipe you are going to cook it whole, let it cool and rest, overnight if possible. Then you will remove the meat and pull it apart, almost shredding it.

Mix the flour and spices to coat the meat before searing. Add oil for searing to a large stock pot or Dutch oven and heat on medium-high. Generously coat the meat with your mix and sear the meat until it is good and brown. Remove the meat and immediately add the veggies and garlic(not the tomatoes) to the same pot. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper and saute for a few minutes on high heat, sweating the veggies.

Add the Madeira next and reduce the wine by half, taking about 3-5 minutes. Add stock, herbs, tomatoes and the splashes of hot sauce and Worcestershire. Stir well and place the meat back in the pot. Bring the whole mixture to a low boil and immediately reduce heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Simmer for four hours. Vent the lid and rest long enough to refrigerate overnight.

The next day, skim off any fat that you wish. Pull out the meat and pull it apart. In a new pot, start your roux. Melt the butter and gradually add in the flour, whisking continually. Cook the roux down on low-medium heat until it is a reddish brown. Whisk frequently and think about the color of a penny. Add the meat and the contents of the other pot and bring up to temperature on low-medium heat. It is day two and you can eat the stew. Enjoy and get ready to make the glace’ with the leftovers!

Well, thank you for taking the time to read all about how I spent my time this past New Year’s Day. You could call this plate, “The Good Luck Plate”. Tradition has it that Greens and Hoppin’ John are necessary for luck and prosperity in the year to come. The Daube on the plate made the whole dish. I already feel the good fortune of the discovery of such rich flavor. Thank you, New Orleans. Happy New Year, ya’ll.

Tagged as: ark of taste, daube, daube glace, French stew, hoppin john, larding meat, madeira, new orleans, new year food, New Year supper, slow food