It seems Julia Child Has been whispering to me lately. Note the following occurrences of the past week: 1) My darling daughter gave me a beautiful book to record recipes and notes. While I have used this book a couple of times to write recipes, I just noticed the quote just inside the front cover: “Learn how to cook: try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and above all have fun.” – Julia Child. 2) My other (also darling) daughter, her friend and I watched a movie featuring Amy Adams, which resulted in us talking about other Amy Adams movies, specifically “Julie and Julia” a good movie based on an excellent book by a woman (played by Amy Adams) who cooked several hundred Julia Child recipes over the course of a year (and blogged about it!). And, 3) Teresa (unaware of the previous 2 occurrences) suggested we cook a Julia Child recipe this week. That led us to Daube de Boeuf! Thanks, Julia!
This Daube de Boeuf, which is adapated from Julia Child’s casserole of beef, wine and vegetables, is braised until it is melt-in-your-mouth tender. The flavor of this casserole is per-fect-ion – not a single ingredient’s flavor is lost in this creation – the smoky bacon, super tender beefy beef (I know that sounds weird, but one bite and you will know what I mean), hearty mushrooms, marinated onions, carrots, tomatoes. You can taste each one. I guess we shouldn’t have expected less from Julia.
The recipe is very much a casserole, as ingredients are layered and baked in a large casserole dish, but it turns out stew-like, in that it has a sauce that you want to drape over noodles or potatoes and then sop up with a nice baguette.
But don’t think this is anything like your standard Beef Stew! It is in an entirely different part of the food universe from good ‘ol Set-It-And-Forget-It in the CrockPot (or Instant Pot!) Beef Stew, (although I think it’s the ingredients here, not the lack of CrockPot, which you certainly could use). The complexity of flavors will absolutely knock you over! Julia certainly knew what she was doing here.
Sometimes the Universe talks to you. On the occasion it whispers “Julia Child” in your ear, you know what to do. Daube de Boeuf! Enjoy!
Daube de Boeuf
Daube de Boeuf is a Casserole of Beef with Wine and Vegetables. This recipe is adapted from Julia Child, in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We have changed a few things to adapt to our specific timing and kitchen: we are using canned tomatoes, rather than fresh and have changed the layering since we used a...
Ingredients
- 3 lb Chuck roast, cut into 2" squares that are 1" thick
- 1 1/2 c Dry white wine
- 1/4 c Gin or brandy (Optional)
- 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
- 2 tsp. Salt
- 1/4 tsp. Pepper
- 1/2 tsp. Thyme
- 1 Bay Leaf, crumbled
- 2 Cloves Garlic, mashed
- 2 c Thinly sliced onions (about 2 medium)
- 2 c Thinly sliced carrots
- 1/2 lb Thick-cut Lean bacon, cut into 2" x 1" slices
- 6 oz Mushrooms, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 2 1/2 c Tomato purée (most or all of a 28-oz. can)
- 1 c AP flour, whisked or sifted
- 1 qt Beef Stock
Instructions
- In a large bowl, place the beef, wine, optional spririts, oil, salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf, garlic, onions, and carrots. Cover and marinate at least 3 hours, or, If you are marinating in refrigerator, 6 hours. Stir frequently.
- When you are getting ready to put the casserole together, simmer the chopped bacon in 2 quarts of water for about 10 minutes. Drain. Dry bacon with paper towel. Prepare the sliced mushrooms.
- Preheat oven to 325F. Remove the chunks of beef from the marinade, reserving the marinade and all of the marinated vegetables.
- In a large, deep casserole dish (should hold at least 5 Qt.), layer ingredients in the following way: Half of the bacon, half of the marinated vegetables, half of the mushrooms, half of the tomatoes. Next, dredge the pieces of beef in the flour, shaking off excess, and layer the pieces, pushed close together. Atop the beef, place the remaining vegetables, mushrooms, tomatoes and finally the remaining bacon pieces.
- Pour the reserved marinade over the layered casserole. Then pour as much beef stock to almost cover all of the ingredients. Bring the casserole to a simmer on the stovetop, then cover and place into the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Meat pieces should be fork-tender.
For people unfamiliar with French, pronounce the “au” of “daube” like the “eau” of eau de Cologne. In southern France it comes out close to “dob”, with a slight lengthening of the vowel. In the rest of the country the vowel is more closed. The word comes from “daubière”, a jug-like recipient in which the ingredients would be sealed, and then cooked slowly, often in the baker’s oven after the bread has been baked and the oven extinguished, rather as a tagine was traditionally cooked in Morocco.
Graham – Thank you so much for this comment – I am no expert on the French language, so thank you for this much-appreciated nugget of information!
This looks so yummy!!! Will have to pin for later! <3 – http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com
Thanks so much! I hope you get a chance to try it!
This looks delicious – but that isn’t surprising if it is a julia recipe! I could do with a big bowl of this. I always pronounced it doe-b but I don’t know if that is right haha.
Thanks! I know, Julia is a cooking goddess in my book! I’ve looked up the pronunciation of this word, and it seems there are 3 choices: “Dob”, “Dobe”, and also “Doob-a”, so I guess the answer is however you want to say it, it’s delicious!
idk how to say “daube” (my high school french is very fleeting), and i’m pretty sure it’s not “dab” or “dobby” ? this sounds delicious and i’m jealous that julia has been whispering in your ear (boring things have been swirling around me instead).
You are so funny! Truthfully, I don’t know how to pronounce it either, I just know it’s delicious! I wish Julia would’ve taught me a little French because I took Mucho Espanol.