Pot-au-feu et son bouillon
Pot-au-Feu (French Beef and Vegetable Stew)
The Sunday dish of France: beef simmered for hours with vegetables. You get two courses from one pot: a clear broth to start, then the meat and vegetables with mustard and pickles.
Equipment: Large pot or Dutch oven (8 quarts)
Contains: none of the 9 major allergens (check the labels of broth and bacon). Always check the labels of store-bought ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) beef shank, bone-in (or oxtail)
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) boneless beef chuck roast or short ribs
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 10 black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt
- 12 cups cold water
- 4 carrots
- 2 leeks
- 2 celery stalks
- 4 small turnips
- 1/4 small green cabbage (optional)
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) small Yukon Gold potatoes
- To serve: Dijon mustard, coarse salt and cornichons (small French pickles)
Instructions
- Put the beef in a large pot with the cold water and bring slowly to a simmer over medium heat. For about 15 minutes, skim off the foam as it rises.
- Stick the cloves into the onion and add it with the garlic, bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns and salt. Cover partly and simmer very gently, the surface barely trembling, for 2 hours.
- Halve the carrots lengthwise and cut the leeks and celery into 3-inch pieces. Add them and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the peeled, halved turnips and the cabbage wedges and simmer 20 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in a separate pot of salted water, so they do not cloud the broth.
- The meat is ready when a knife slides in easily. Strain some broth into a saucepan, season it and serve it first, in cups.
- Slice the meat and arrange it on a platter with the vegetables and potatoes. Serve with mustard, coarse salt and cornichons.
Olivier's tip
The French say: for good broth, start the meat in cold water; for good meat, in boiling water. Pot-au-feu wants both, so we start cold and simmer slowly. Refrigerate leftover broth overnight and lift off the fat before using it.
A word from Paris
Pot-au-feu means “pot on the fire”. In French homes, the leftover beef becomes hachis Parmentier the next day: chopped meat topped with mashed potatoes and baked, the French cousin of shepherd's pie.
French word of the day
moutarde
moo-TARD
mustard
