Daube A La Provencale - cooking recipe

Ingredients

For the Lardons
1/4 lb pork fatback, cut into dice
1/2 teaspoon salt, coarse
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon herbes de provence
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, fresh, chopped
For the Daube
4 lbs beef shank, boneless, cut into large cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups dry red wine
1 pig's foot, cut in two (about one pound)
5 ounces lean salt pork, in a slice cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 ounce dried cepes
2 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced, with juice
2/3 cup black olives, pitted
salt
bouquet garni, large, including a generous strip of orange peel
1/2 cup cognac (or Marc de Provence)
2 cups broth (or water or a combo(this amount is approximate, it is the amount needed to nearly cover all the ingr)
1 lb macaroni

Preparation

To prepare the lardons:
In a mortar, pound together the salt, garlic and herbs to form a paste. Mix in the parsley, add the lardons and mix till each lardon is well coated with the mixture.
Using a small, sharp pointed knife, pierce each piece of beef two to three times, with the grain, and force a lardon into each slit. Save any leftover lardons and seasoning.
For the Daube:
Put the meat into a non-reactive bowl, add the olive oil and red wine and marinate at room temperature for about 4 hours, turning the meat around in the marinade several times.
In a saucepan, place the pig's foot, the pork rind and the salt pork and water to cover. Bring to a boil, drain and rinse well. Cut the pork rind into one inch squares.
In a large bowl, mix the pork rind, salt pork pieces, carrots, onions, garlic, cepes, tomatoes and olives.
Put a layer of this pork rind mixture in the bottom of a daubiere or large heavy pot. Place the pig's foot halves on top and finish the layer with pieces of the larded beef. Sprinkle to taste with salt.
Continue layering the pork rind mixture and the meat pieces, burying the bouquet garni in the middle and finishing with the pork rind mixture.
Pour over the remaining red wine marinade from the bowl, the marc (or cognac) and almost enough broth and/or water to cover the contents of the pot.
Cover and place over medium low heat. Bring to a boil (this will take about an hour)and adjust the heat to very low to maintain only a murmur at the liquid's surface for about 6 hours. Skim off, as well as possible, all the fat.
Note: If, at the end of skimming, you spoon up juices with the fat, empty the skimming spoon into a bowland refrigerate it; when the fat solidifies, it can be lifted off and discarded and the jellied juices returned to the leftover Daube.
Pre-heat the oven to 400\u00b0F.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil add the macaroni and cook, 10 to 15 minutes for most sorts of macaroni. Drain well and empty into a gratin dish. Spoon some of the Daube's cooking juices over the macaroni and put it into the oven for a few minutes until the juices are bubbling. Serve the Daube directly from the cooking vessel accompanied by the macaroni.