Provencal Daube Lamb Stew with Côte du Rhône Wine

This red-wine version of  Provencal Daube Lamb Stew is from Marie-Helene’s kitchen at Remember Provence. The owners of the online made-in-Provence boutique, use only seasonal ingredients and traditional handcrafted pottery from the region for cooking. They feel this combination produces the best culinary results. Daube is a slow-cooked wine stew in Provence. In this case, Avignonnaise daube is the Provencal culinary match to beef Bourguignon. The daube is slow-cooked in a traditional earthenware daubiere handcrafted in the village of Vallauris.

The specific pear-shaped design of a daubiere creates a traditional slow-cooker. The terracotta pot is large enough to hold all the ingredients (meat, vegetables, spices and wine) for the recipe. Similar to a casserole dish, a daubiere has a broad base, but then it narrows at the neck to retain the moist heat from the vegetables. There are piercings in a daubiere’s lid allowing steam to escape and liquid marinade to enter slowly.

Lamb Stew a Daube with Côte du Rhône Red Wine

A Provencal daube is like most stews, easy to prepare and best if left to cook slowly for a long period until the meat is tender.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 hours hrs

Total Time 7 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine French, Provencal

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 Leg of Boneless Lamb minimum 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs)
• 200 g (7 oz) Bacon lardons cut in small pieces
• 200 g (7 oz) pork rind see notes
• 200 g (7 oz) bacon bard see notes
• 100 ml (3.5 oz) olive oil per 1 litre of wine
• 1/2 litre (2 cups) red wine Côte du Rhône
• 4 carrots
• 4 onions
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 sprig thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 sprigs parsley
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 orange for zest

Instructions

 

• Prepare the marinade with the wine, olive oil, 2 sliced ​​onions, 4 cloves of garlic, and the herbs.
• Cut the lamb leg into large cubes of about 90 g (3 oz).
• Pierce each piece of bacon. Allow the meat to marinate for at least 2 hours.
• Chop the 2 onions and crush 2 cloves of garlic.
• Cut some coarse orange zest. Cut the remaining rind. Blanch together in a pan.
• Arrange the bards of bacon, the pieces of meat in the bottom of the daubiere, then cover with minced onions, then spices and so on alternating layers. One each layer, season very lightly (beware of salt already present in bacon).
• Arrange the orange peel in a bouquet garni in the center of the preparation.
• Filter the marinade with a sieve and pour over, taking care to reserve the equivalent of a large glass to pour on the daubiere lid after covering. Cover with bacon bards before closing with the lid.
• Cook over low heat, simmering for 5 hours.
• When there is no more marinade on the lid, the stew is sufficiently cooked, but you can still allow it to simmer without fear.

Notes

Note: The daube can also be cooked in the oven or in a fireplace as they did in ancient times, but no direct flame as that would crack the ceramic. A daubiere is designed to work in a medium-heat oven.

* bacon is the French "lardons" - small rectangular pieces of pork ham with some white fat in them. They're often smoked. In North America, use bacon strips and cut in pieces

** Pork rind is what we call "couenne" in French, which is the skin of the animal with the white fat part attached to it. Often called pork scratchings.

*** bacon bard is a thin slice of white fat that can surround a piece of meat to give more flavour.

I'm not sure how the Canadian or American butcher sell these specific parts of pork, even if they sell them. In France, butchers do, but you won't find this at the supermarket.

Keyword Herbes de Provence, Lamb, Wine

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Other Recipes for Provencal Daube:

A Wintery Daube Provençal

A Spicy Twist on Daube à la Provençal

Pork Cheek Daube a Fall Weather Stew from Provence

Carolyne Kauser-Abbott

With her camera and laptop close at hand, Carolyne has traded in her business suits for the world of freelance writing and blogging. Her first airplane ride at six months of age was her introduction to the exciting world of travel.

While in Provence, Carolyne can be found hiking with friends, riding the hills around the Alpilles or tackling Mont Ventoux. Her attachment to the region resonates in Perfectly Provence this digital magazine that she launched in 2014. This website is an opportunity to explore the best of the Mediterranean lifestyle (food & wine, places to stay, expat stories, books on the region, travel tips, real estate tips and more), through our contributors' articles.

Carolyne writes a food and travel blog Ginger and Nutmeg. Carolyne’s freelance articles can be found in Global Living Magazine, Avenue Magazine and City Palate (Published Travel Articles).