Daube Provençal (ATK)

• portions: 4-6

Ingrédients

¾ ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed well

1 boneless beef chuck-eye roast (about 3½ pounds), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2-inch chunks

1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 tablespoons olive oil

5 ounces salt pork, rind removed

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch rounds (about 2 cups)

2 medium onions, halved and cut into 1/8 inch- thick slices (about 4 cups)

4 medium garlic cloves, sliced thin

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/3 cup all-purpose flour bottle

1 bottle red wine (see note)

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup water

4 strips zest from 1 orange, removed with vegetable peeler, each strip about 3 inches long, cleaned of white pith, and cut lengthwise into thin strips

1 cup pitted niçoise olives, drained well

3 anchovy fillets, minced (about 1 teaspoon)

5 sprigs thyme, tied together with kitchen twine

2 bay leaves

1 can (14½ ounces) whole tomatoes, drained and cut into ½-inch dice

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

1. Cover mushrooms with 1 cup hot tap water in small microwave-safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap, cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife, and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. Let stand until mushrooms soften, about 5 minutes. Lift mushrooms from liquid with fork and chop into ½-inch pieces (you should have about 4 tablespoons). Strain liquid through fine-mesh strainer lined with 1 paper towel into medium bowl. Set mushrooms and liquid aside.

2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Dry beef thoroughly with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large heavy- bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking; add half of beef. Cook without moving pieces until well browned, about 2 minutes on each side, for total of 8 to 10 minutes, reducing heat if fat begins to smoke. Transfer meat to medium bowl. Repeat with remaining oil and remaining meat.

3. Reduce heat to medium and add salt pork, carrots, onions, garlic, and tomato paste to now- empty pot; cook, stirring occasionally, until light brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Slowly add wine, gently scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits. Add broth, water, beef, and any juices in bowl. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to full simmer. Add mushrooms and their liquid, orange zest, ½ cup olives, anchovies, thyme, and bay, distributing evenly and arranging beef so it is completely covered by liquid; cover partially and place in oven. Cook until fork inserted in beef meets little resistance (meat should not be falling apart), 2½ to 3 hours.

4. Discard salt pork, thyme, and bay leaves. Add tomatoes and remaining ½ cup olives; warm over medium-high heat until heated through, about 1 minute. Cover pot and allow stew to settle, about 5 minutes. Using spoon, skim excess fat from surface of stew. Stir in parsley and serve.

Notes

Serve this French beef stew with egg noodles or boiled potatoes. If niçoise olives are not available, kalamata olives, though not authentic, can be substituted. Cabernet Sauvignon is our favorite wine for this recipe, but Côtes du Rhône and Zinfandel also work. Our favorite cut of beef for this recipe is chuck-eye roast, but any boneless roast from the chuck will work. Because the tomatoes are added just before serving, it is preferable to use canned whole tomatoes and dice them yourself – uncooked, they are more tender than diced tomatoes. Once the salt pork, thyme, and bay leaves are removed in step 4, the daube can be cooled and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Before reheating, skim the hardened fat from the surface, then continue with the recipe.

SCIENCE: Why 'Simmer' in the Oven? Like many of the beef stews tested in our kitchen, our Daube Provençal is cooked in the oven. Why do we prefer this method to a stovetop simmer? To test this myself, I cooked one daube in a 350-degree oven and simmered the other one on the stove. Both stews produced moist, tender meat in 2½ hours, but the textures of the braising liquids differed dramatically. The stovetop stew produced a thin sauce more like soup, while the oven-braised daube yielded a silky and luxurious sauce. Why so different? At moderate temperatures, the flour in a braising liquid gradually absorbs water, thus thickening the sauce. If the liquid gets too hot, however, the starch breaks down and loses its thicken- ing properties, resulting in a thinner sauce. Because stovetop cooking heats from the bottom only, the flour closest to the heat source loses its thickening ability. Daubes were traditionally cooked in a covered urn-shaped pot (called a daubière). The pot was placed in the fireplace-away from direct flame-on a bed of hot embers with more embers piled into the indentations in the lid. The result? Even heat from above and below that gently simmered the stew. So oven braising is not only more effec- tive than stovetop simmering. It's also more authentic. -S.W.

ON THE STOVE Concentrated heat from below thwarts flour's thickening properties.

IN THE OVEN Evenly distributed heat allows starches to work their magic.

Cooks illustrated 2025