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Pot-au-feu Soup

A slow-cooked beef and vegetable soup with herbs, served over bread and topped with Parmesan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 590 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Pot-au-feu Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the beef and cold water in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a boil over high heat.

  3. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface as it simmers.

  4. Once boiling, add salt, pepper, and liver pieces.

Add the vegetables and simmer

  1. Add carrots, turnips, onions, roasted onions, celery, parsnip, potatoes, and any seasonal tomatoes.

  2. Stir in the chopped sweet herbs.

  3. Reduce heat and let the mixture boil slowly for 6 hours.

Serve

  1. Place slices of bread in a tureen or deep platter and pour the stew over them.

  2. Any leftovers can be added back to the pot for the next day.

  3. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Slow simmering breaks down tough connective tissue, making the meat tender and enriching the broth.
Liver
Adds deep, rich flavour to the broth as it simmers.
Potatoes
Starch thickens the broth slightly and gives the stew body as they soften.
Carrots
Release natural sugars during long cooking, adding gentle sweetness.
Onions
Break down during simmering, adding savoury depth and sweetness to the broth.

The step that matters

Skim off the foam while the broth comes to a boil. Foam carries impurities and proteins that can make the broth cloudy and greasy-tasting. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-flavoured.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, liver, carrot, turnip, celery, 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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