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Pot Au Feu

A French beef stew simmered for three hours with bones, vegetables, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Leek and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Pot Au Feu

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare a fire that will burn for three hours without adding coals.

  2. Tie the beef with string to keep its shape and smash the bones.

Make the broth

  1. In a stewpan, add the bones, then the beef, and pour in the cold water.

  2. Add the salt and bring to a boil.

  3. When scum rises, add ½ cup of cold water and skim three times.

  4. Wipe the edges of the pot, then add the vegetables.

  5. Once boiling, move the pot to the side of the fire and let it simmer gently for 3 hours.

  6. Remove the meat and place it on a dish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Leek + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together590 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Leek + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + parsniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,097 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and flavorful as it simmers slowly in the broth.
Bones
Release gelatin and savory flavor into the broth during the long simmer.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and body to the broth and serve as a vegetable course.
Onions
Add savory depth and aromatic sweetness to the broth as they cook down.
Leeks
Add a mild onion flavor and tender texture to the broth and vegetables.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and soft texture as they cook through in the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the liquid heats. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting, so skim carefully as it forms.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, onion, leek, celery, turnip, parsnip):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, leek, celery, turnip, parsnip. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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