French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [198]
Cook very slowly, Gas No. 1 or 2, 290 to 310 deg. F., for 4 to 5 hours; about half an hour before serving, put in the tomatoes, roughly chopped, and the goose or beef stock, and cover the pan again.
A purée of potatoes, or rice, goes with the daube, which is even better when heated up again next day. Enough for four.
JARRET DE BŒUF EN DAUBE
SHIN OF BEEF STEWED IN WINE
Cut 4 to 6 oz. of fat bacon or salt pork into little cubes and put them, with a tablespoon of olive oil, into a heavy and fairly wide iron or earthenware pot; when the bacon fat runs add a large sliced onion. On top, arrange about 3 lb. of shin of beef, off the bone, skin and excess fat removed, and cut lengthways into thick pieces. Add a clove or two of garlic, and a big bunch of parsley, thyme and bayleaf, all tied with a thread. Pour in a large glass (6 to 8 fl. oz.) of red wine, previously heated. Let it come to a fast boil and leave 3 or 4 minutes. Add an equal quantity of hot water, or stock should you chance to have it, and allow to boil again. Season with 2 teaspoons of salt.
Cover the pot with paper or foil and a well-fitting lid. Transfer to a very slow oven, Gas No. 1, 290 deg. F., and in about 3 hours it will be cooked. Or you can half-cook it one day and finish the process just as slowly the next, for, as explained in many of the recipes in this chapter, wine stews improve and mature with reheating. The sauce is to be neither thickened nor reduced; it is to be mopped up with plenty of bread, rice or potatoes. And if your oven is too small for your cooking pot, then it can simmer extremely gently on top of the stove. There should be enough for six people.
BŒUF À LA MODE
COLD BEEF IN JELLY
Recipes for this dish vary quite a bit, every cook having his own idea as to the seasonings and herbs, but the essentials are always the same. They are a large piece of a secondary cut of beef such as topside, top rump, or even sometimes a shoulder cut, plus calf’s feet, carrots and wine. The dish can be served either hot or cold, but is at its best cold when the juices have set to a beautiful soft, limpid jelly, but although this aspect of the dish seems to make it an ideal one for summer, beware of making it in sultry or thundery weather, for the jelly easily goes sour under such conditions.
Ingredients are a 4 to 5 lb. piece of roll of silverside, top rump or topside, 4 oz. of strips of back pork fat, 2 onions, a bouquet of herbs, 2 lb. of carrots, 2 calf’s feet, pint of red or white wine, a small glass of brandy, meat stock or water, butter, oil or lard, and seasonings.
The meat must be boned, and preferably, although not essentially, tied in a large sausage shape. It should also be larded lengthways with little strips of back pork fat as explained on page 75, and if you do this yourself, season the pieces of fat with a little salt, pepper, chopped herbs and, if you like, garlic; if the butcher has already done the larding, simply rub the meat well with the seasonings.
Slice the onions and let them take colour in a little fat; put in the meat and let it brown on the outside. Pour in the warmed brandy and flame it. Then add the wine. Let it bubble a minute or two. Add the calf’s feet, split and rinsed in cold water, a little more salt, 2 carrots, a big bouquet of parsley, bayleaf, thyme (sometimes a little piece of orange peel is included in the bouquet), and a crushed clove of garlic. Pour in enough stock (veal stock is ideal) or water to just cover the meat. Seal the pot with a couple of layers of greaseproof paper or foil, then a well-fitting lid.
The beef must now simmer extremely slowly for 3 to 5 hours, either on top of the stove or in the oven. When the dish is to be served cold, it can be cooked a little longer than when it is to be served hot, because even though the meat appears to be very tender indeed it will still harden up a little when it is cold. It should, in fact, be tender enough to cut with a spoon, hence the