Name: Slow Cooker Daube of Beef
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 8 h 30 min
Total time: 8 h 45 min
Yield: 2 Servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 400 g Stewing Beef; 125 g Baby Onions; 150 g Carrots; 75 g Prunes; 2 Garlic Cloves; 1 Orange; 6 Garlic Cloves; 3 Tbsp Flour; 1/4 Tsp Dried Thyme; 1/4 Tsp Dried Rosemary; 1/4 Tsp Dried Marjoram; 1/4 Tsp Dried Savory; 1/4 Tsp Salt; 1/4 Tsp Pepper; 250 ml Beef Stock; 375ml Red Wine; 1 Bay Leaf; 1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar; 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste; 500 g Floury Potatoes; 50 g Butter; 50 g Cream

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My Slow Cooker Daube of Beef is a take on a French red wine beef stew with prunes. Comfort food at its best.

Overhead portrait image of a daube of beef stew on a bed of creamy mashed potato served in a shallow white bowl

Simple Slow Cooker Classic French Beef Stew.

Ain’t no finer winter warmer than a good beef stew and this one hails from the Provence region of France. Traditionally cooked in a terracotta pot called a daubière my version leans on the slow cooker.

France is often known as the home of lah-di-dah fancy food, but it has a wonderful portfolio of comfort food.

Whether it be Coq au Vin or another beefy stew, Beef Bourguignon the French rock homely simple comfort food!

Close up portrait image of a daube of beef stew on a bed of creamy mashed potato served in a shallow white bowl

What Cut of Meat to Use.

My recipe calls for some stewing beef. Now that just means a fairly fatty cut of beef that does a lot of work.

My favourite cut of beef for a stew is shin of beef, it has a lot of connective tissue. When it is slow-cooked this breaks down it adds a body to the resulting sauce that cannot be replicated with another cut.

It is what I use in my traditional British Beef Stew along with so many other recipes.

Some recipes call for a combination of short rib and shin, but I actually made this recipe with beef cheek.

A less popular but wonderful piece of meat if you can get your hands on it. You simply must check out my beer braised beef cheek recipe.

However, you can use any of these cuts of meat or even chuck and the recipe will work out just fine!

Just trim off the majority of the sinew and off you go.

Portrait image of a daube of beef stew on a bed of creamy mashed potato served in a shallow white bowl

Sauces for Stews.

When cooking a stew in a slow cooker or pressure cooker there is one part of the dish that is often overlooked. That is the sauce!

Both of these ways of cooking almost eliminate all evaporation. Something that is not the case when cooking in using other methods.

This means that sauces and gravies can often be wishy-washy.

For me, the sauce or gravy defines a stew and a good one points to a recipe that has been loved.

So aside from good quality wine or stock, I always take an extra step when I am using one of these devices.

That is to reduce the sauce, it takes about 10 minutes.

You can do it whilst making the silkiest mashed potatoes. as that is just about the best side for this simple recipe!

Landscape image of a daube of beef stew on a bed of creamy mashed potato served in a shallow white bowl

2 Servings

Slow Cooker Daube of Beef

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours 45 minutes

Daube of Beef is a classic French beef stew, I cook mine in the slow cooker before reducing the cooking liquid down to create the richest of sauces.

Ingredients

400 g Stewing Beef
125 g Baby Onions
150 g Carrots
75 g Prunes
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Orange
6 Garlic Cloves
3 Tbsp Flour
1/4 Tsp Dried Thyme
1/4 Tsp Dried Rosemary
1/4 Tsp Dried Marjoram
1/4 Tsp Dried Savory
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Pepper
250 ml Beef Stock
375ml Red Wine
1 Bay Leaf
1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp Tomato Paste

For the Mashed Potato:

500 g Floury Potatoes
50 g Butter
50 g Cream

Instructions

Peel, top and tail the onions.
Cut the carrot into 1-1.5cm thick coins.
Add half of the oil to a pan over a medium heat and fry the carrots and whole onions until golden.
Cut the beef into 2 -2.5cm chunks.
Mix together the flour, dried herbs, salt and pepper in a bowl.
When the vegetables are golden transfer to the slow cooker.
Dredge the beef in flour, patting off any excess.
Fry the beef until golden over a medium heat in the pan we cooked the vegetables in using the leftover oil if required. *
Whilst the beef is frying peel the zest from the orange using a vegetable peeler.
When browned add the beef to the slow cooker.
Turn the heat under the pan to high and deglaze it with the red wine.
Add the beef stock and when this comes to the boil pour into the slow cooker.
Bash the garlic cloves with the side of a knife then add the orange zest, prunes, tomato paste, red wine vinegar and bay leaves.
Stir then cook on low for 7-8 hours.
Bring a large pan of generously salted water to the boil.
30 minutes before the beef is cooked, peel and cut your potatoes into a 2cm dice.
Boil the potatoes until cooked, this will take around 25 minutes.
15 minutes before serving, remove the solids from the stew and pass the cooking liquid through a fine sieve into a pan.
Reduce the cooking liquid by 2/3rds.
When the potatoes are almost cooked gently heat the cream in a pan.
Put the potatoes through a potato ricer and add the butter and heated cream and mix.
Add the solids back into the reduced sauce and warm before serving.

Notes

*It is best to fry off the beef in batches.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1045Total Fat: 39gSaturated Fat: 22gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 119mgSodium: 823mgCarbohydrates: 120gFiber: 14gSugar: 32gProtein: 26g

Calorific details are provided by a third-party application and are to be used as indicative figures only.

Beth Neels

Wednesday 11th of September 2019

This is the most delicious crockpot stew I have eaten! My mom had a bourginon recipe from Craig Claiborne that was so delicious and I believe I prefer this one to even that!

Brian Jones

Sunday 15th of September 2019

Thanks Beth!

Michelle

The orange zest and prunes in this recipe is a delicious surprise! They add amazing flavor and depth along with the other ingredients to this comforting stew. Great recipe!

Thanks Michelle :)

John Taylor

Saturday 7th of September 2019

Hi Brian, Lovely recipe and top notch snapography once again. I've cooked pork knuckles with prunes, but never beef. Will definitely be trying this one out soon. Just wondered, was there was any particular reason you chose to slow cook the beef, rather than fire up your Instant Pot, hob or oven?

Monday 9th of September 2019

Cheers John, like you I usually associate prunes with pork, but apparently they appear fairly often in the provencal version of this recipe... The first time I had them with beef though was in a Hungarian recipe and they were stunning.

As for the cooking method, there is often no rhyme or reason, it is just the way I decided to develop that particular recipe. I get a bit "bored" with the same old internet tropes that this method or that method is the best, when in reality there are lots of ways to cook any dish and arrive at a great meal.

I usually only include one in each recipe as I typically test each recipe 3 or 4 times before it lands on my site, doing that for 3 or 4 cooking methods would be prohibitive.

So in short, "cuz I could" lol.