Name: Daube of Beef Oyster Blade with Garlic
Yield: Serves 6-8
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 100 ml veal glace or strongly flavoured meat stock; 1.8-2 kg beef oyster blade, trimmed of fat; a large bouquet garni of 12 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves, 10 parsley stalks, 4 strips orange zest with pith removed, tied with twine; 12-16 x 1 cm slices light sourdough bread or baguette; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 100 ml Armagnac or brandy; 750 ml pinot noir; 300 g pickled pork belly; 1 pig’s trotter, split lengthwise; 150 ml olive oil; 40 cloves garlic, peeled; a piece of pork skin from the loin with all the fat shaved off, large enough to line the base of the casserole; ½ cup finely chopped curly-leaf parsley

Preparation info

Serves
6-8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

French

By Damien Pignolet

Published 2005

About

Rather than using flour as a thickening agent, a daube relies on the gelatinous quality of the meat, as well as pork skin and a calf’s foot or pig’s trotter, to enrich the cooking medium of wine and stock. This absence of flour results in a pure flavour and a luscious, sticky sauce. Once the cooking liquid has boiled, it must cook very slowly; what I would call a quiver. Always use good-quality wine - the result will be worth the extra cost.

Serve a simple salad or a few prawns with