Creole Daube is one of those recipes I have seen in Louisiana community cookbooks for years and often marked with a little sticky note flag. Those recipes are usually the short and sweet type written by home cooks who could undoubtedly make it blindfolded. You know, a list of ingredients then directions like “brown meat, cook trinity, add tomato sauce, serve.” It’s always intrigued me, and I turned to it when I was looking for a classic Creole dish that was not maybe as well known outside the region as an etouffee or a gumbo. So I did a little research and tinkered to create my own version. What I discovered is that Creole Daube is the perfect melding of New Orleans long history with both the French and Sicilians, who immigrated in large numbers in the 1880’s. The famous muffuletta sandwich was in fact created by the Sicilian owners of Central Grocery. Daube is the name for the classic French preparation of slowly braised meat, and in the Creole version, the addition of tomatoes and garlic, in the style of a classic red sauce, gives it the Italian touch, with a base of the must-have vegetable trinity of onions, celery and green bell pepper and a healthy dose of Creole seasoning. The end result is like an over-the-top pot roast.
You can eat Creole Daube as is, like a stew. But I love to serve it over spaghetti, which is also traditional. Rice, a more Louisiana staple, also makes a good base, as does a nice pot of grits. This big pot serves a big crowd, but leftover daube is no bad thing, and it makes a great po boy on some good French bread.
Ingredients
4 pound eye of round or bottom round roast
5 strips of smoked bacon
10 cloves of garlic
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning (like Tony Chachere’s)
Olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely diced
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
3 stalks celery, finely diced
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 cup red wine
1 (14-ounce can) crushed tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 bay leaves
Directions
- Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Choose a large, heavy Dutch oven that will fit the beef (cut into two pieces if needed) and plenty of liquid. It needs to be oven safe. A 5 – 7 quart Le Creuset is perfect.
- Cook four slices of bacon over medium heat in the Dutch oven. Remove to paper towels to drain, leaving the rendered fat in the pot. While the bacon is cooking, use a sharp, thin knife to pierce slits in the beef, about 10 per side. Just push the end of the knife through to make a little opening, don’t go all the way through the meat. Cut the remaining bacon slice into small pieces and stuff them into half of the slits with your finger. You can widen the slits with your finger if needed. Stuff the remaining holes with small garlic cloves (or large cloves cut in half lengthwise). This process, called larding, is going to add flavor and tenderness to your beef. Flip the roast over and do this on the other side. Pat the roast dry with paper towels, then sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of Creole seasoning evenly over both sides, rubbing it in to adhere.
- Place the beef in the rendered bacon grease and brown it well on all sides. Do not move the meat until it easily lifts from the surface, and make sure you really have some lovely browning, turning the meat with tongs to brown all sides. Remove the beef to a platter or baking sheet. Add a little olive oil to the pot so there is a nice slick of oil on the bottom, then add the onions, bell pepper and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are browned and the celery and pepper are soft. Keeping the heat over medium allows you to soften everything without burning. Put three cloves of garlic through a press, or finely mince them, and add to the pot. Cook a further 2 minutes, then add the tomato paste. Stir will and cook, smearing the paste across the bottom of the pot with a spatula, until the paste has turned a lovely brick red color. This sort of caramelizes the paste and adds depth to the flavor. Pour in the red wine and stir, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook for 3- 4 minutes, then pour in the crushed tomatoes and beef broth and stir well. Add the Italian seasoning, a further 1 teaspoon of Creole seasoning and stir. Return the beef to the pot, then chop up the cook bacon pieces and stir them in. Tuck in the bay leaves, cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Braise for 2 ½ – 3 hours, until the beef is meltingly tender and falling apart.
- Remove the pot from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Lift the beef out to a cutting board or platter and use two forks to shred it into thick ribbons. You don’t want string, nor do you want giant chunks. Return the meat to the sauce in the pot and stir through.
- At this point, you can cool the daube, cover and refrigerate overnight. I think this lets the flavors really deepen and meld and allows the shredded meat to absorb the delicious sauce. Spoon off any congealed grease from the top of the sauce, then reheat on the stove over gentle heat. Season with salt if needed. I do not add salt before this point, because the Creole seasoning and beef broth provide quite a bit.
- Serve over spaghetti, rice or grits.
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