Olivier Poels 5:40 p.m., November 19, 2021
A complete dish that combines broth, vegetables and boiled meat, pot-au-feu is a preparation that probably dates back to the end of the Neolithic period.
Prehistoric man does not boil his meat, he grills it on the fire.
Boiling it is a major advance in the history of cooking, as it allows, among other things, to tenderize very hard pieces.
The term pot-au-feu comes from the container, the pot that goes into the fire.
In the Middle Ages, it was a dish for the poor in which we put what we found: often a piece of beef that cooked for a long time in salted water.
Then add the vegetables.
The pot-au-feu is bourgeois from the 18th century and acquires its letters of nobility!
In 1867, the Larousse described the pot au feu as “the basis of our cuisine”.
Many chefs will then reinterpret it and invent variants with foie gras, duck, truffle or lamb.
When we talk about the pot-au-feu recipe, two great schools face each other: starting cold or hot cooking of meat?
It depends on whether we favor the quality of the broth or the taste of the meat ... When cold, this guarantees better broth.
The pot-au-feu recipe
Ingredients:
- 600 gr.
stewed meat (cheek, chuck, rib dish, tail, etc.)
- 4 marrow bones
- 3 carrots
- 3 turnips
- 2 leeks
- 1 celery stalks
- 1 bouquet garni
- 1 onion
- Cloves
- Salt / pepper
1. Cut the vegetables into good-sized pieces
2. Prick the onion of 3 cloves
3. Place the vegetables and meat in a large saucepan.
4. Add the bouquet garni and cover with cold water
5. Start cooking and simmer gently at low broth for 2h30
6. After an hour, salt the end of the marrow bones and cook them.
7. Take out the vegetables and meat
8. Serve the broth afterwards