Pot-au-feu
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the beef in a large pot.
Add 2 quarts of water.
Simmer
Heat the pot slowly over a gentle fire.
Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.
Add a little cold water at intervals to help the scum rise.
Cook until the meat is tender and the broth is flavorful.
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
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender and flavors the broth as it cooks slowly.
- Water
- Extracts flavor and gelatin from the meat, forming the broth.
The step that matters
Heating slowly and skimming scum. Heating gently keeps the broth from boiling hard, which would cloud it and toughen the meat. Removing the scum as it rises keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting.
“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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