The Pot-au-feu
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the beef into 2-inch squares.
Place the bones at the bottom of a stock pot and add the meat on top.
Pour in the cold water to completely cover the meat.
Heat and skim
Heat the pot gradually by placing it by the side of the fire.
Skim off any scum that forms on the surface as it heats.
When nearly boiling, add 1 cup of cold water to check the boil and help the scum rise.
Continue to skim off grease and scum until the surface is clear.
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 meat and flavour that the broth draws out during slow simmering.
- Bone
- Releases gelatin and savoury flavour into the broth over long, gentle heating.
- Cold water
- Extracts flavour from the meat and bone as it heats gradually.
The step that matters
Heating gradually and skimming the scum. Heating slowly from cold lets impurities and proteins rise to the surface where they can be skimmed off. Letting the pot boil hard early would emulsify the scum into the broth, leaving it cloudy and greasy.
“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.
More pot-au-feu recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.