Daube niçoise, like many other Niçoise dishes, is a very old recipe, considered to be a « poor man’s dish », which has become a staple of Niçoise gastronomic cuisine, along with salade niçoise and pan-bagnat. I’ll soon be introducing you to these two other Niçoise dishes, which are much simpler to prepare.

This recipe is easy to make but takes a while to prepare (1 night of maceration and 3h-4h of cooking).

Ingredients

• 1Kg of beef for braising (lean pieces: gite à la noix, cheek or more gelatinous pieces: chuck)

For marinade

• 75 cl de vin rouge de Provence
• 2 carots
• 1 celery sprig
• 1 parsley sprigs
• 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf)
• 3 small cloves of garlic

To prepare

• 15 g de floor
• 15 cl of Cognac
• 2 onions
• 100 g bacon (slices to be cut into lardons)
• 2 large beef heart tomatoes, seeded and peeled.
• Salt and pepper

To finish cooking

• 100g fresh or dried porcini mushrooms

1) Daube niçoise marinade

• I peel the garlic and remove the germ. I slice the carrots and celery and place them on a plate.
• If not, I cut the meat into pieces about 5 cm square.
• Place the meat in a container large enough to hold it, along with a few vegetables and the bottle of red wine.
• Add the chopped carrots and celery, bouquet garni, peeled and roughly crushed garlic cloves and parsley.
• Pour in the entire bottle of red wine to cover.
• Cover and marinate overnight (12h).

2) Step-by-step preparation

• I separate the meat from the marinade. Reserve the marinade without the bouquet garni and parsley. Carefully drain the pieces of meat with kitchen paper.
• I add a little neutral oil to a frying pan and sear the pieces of meat over high heat on both sides, reserve the pieces of meat and deglaze my pan with a little marinade.
• I collect the meat juices and pour them into the marinade.
• Put the oil in a large ovenproof container like a casserole dish, and first brown the chopped onions,
• Then add the bacon once the onions are translucent. Stir and simmer for 2 minutes.
• I add my meat, and dust it with half a tablespoon of flour. Stir and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Mix well, then add the 15 cl Cognac. Stir and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Add the peeled tomatoes. Stir and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Finally, I pour all the marinade into the casserole dish and season with salt and pepper. Stir and simmer for 2 minutes.

3) Low-temperature cooking

• Cover and place your casserole in the oven on traditional convection heat, preheating to between 120°C and 140°C for about 3 to 4 hours. I like meat that flakes with a fork, so I left it in for a total of 4 hours.
• An hour before the end of cooking time, add the porcini mushrooms to the casserole and return to the oven.
• This long, low-temperature cooking reduces the sauce and concentrates the flavors in a tasty, tender meat that pulls away easily. This is the key to determining whether or not the cooking time is sufficient.

Tips

• I prefer to sear my meat in a pan because I use a high heat.
• Unlike other dishes, Daube Niçoise tastes even better when reheated.
• Daube nicoise goes well with Polenta, pasta or gnocchi as a garnish.

Original ideas

1. All daubes can be prepared using this long, low-temperature cooking method with red wine. A few ingredients can be changed to easily transform this daube niçoise into a traditional or Provencal daube.
2. Une astuce utilisée par les grands chefs pour apporter de la douceur au plat, c’est d’ajouter des carrés de chocolat. Il doit être ajouté dans la sauce à la fin de la cuisson, juste avant d’être dégusté (1 à 2 carrés pour 8010g de viande)