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Pot-au-Feu. the French National Broth.

A traditional French stew of beef shin, fowl, and root vegetables simmered in a seasoned broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek 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. the French National Broth.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the bone from the shin of beef, break it up, and tie the meat into a neat shape with kitchen twine.

  2. Place the beef and bone into a large pot with 4 quarts of cold water.

  3. If using a fowl or partridge, split it in half and add it to the pot.

  4. Chop the carrots, turnips, parsnip, leeks, onions, and parsley root.

Simmer

  1. Bring the contents to a simmer over low heat, adding a little salt.

  2. Remove scum carefully from the surface.

  3. Add the chopped vegetables, bay leaf, parsley root, and pepper to the pot when it begins to boil.

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. Turnip + leektop 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. Parsnip + leektop 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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin of beef
Provides rich meat flavour and gelatin that gives the broth body as it simmers slowly.
Fowl or partridge
Adds additional savoury flavour and richness to the broth as it cooks.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and aroma to the broth as they soften in the liquid.
Leeks
Add a mild onion-like aroma and sweetness to the broth.
Onions
Add savoury depth and sweetness to the broth as they cook down.

The step that matters

Bringing the pot to a simmer. Heating gently over low heat and skimming scum keeps the broth clear. A hard boil makes fat and impurities emulsify into the liquid, leaving it cloudy and greasy.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Beetrootfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, parsnip, leek, parsley, pepper. 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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