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Pot'aU’Feu

A clear beef broth made with bones, beef, vegetables, herbs, and spices, served with croutons and optional diced vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the bones in a large pot.

  2. Add the beef, tied neatly with string.

  3. Put the herbs and spices in a muslin bag and add to the pot.

Make the broth

  1. Pour in the cold water and bring to a gradual boil, skimming regularly.

  2. Once boiling, add the vegetables gradually to maintain temperature.

  3. Allow to boil slowly for 4-5 hours, skimming as needed.

  4. The broth should be clear and pale golden-brown when done.

Serve

  1. Serve with croutons and optionally some diced vegetables.

  2. If serving the meat hot, dish it with the vegetables and a sauce made from the broth.

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. 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
Its meat and connective tissue release flavor and body into the broth.
Bones
Release gelatin, giving the broth a fuller, richer mouthfeel.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth as they cook down in the broth.
Carrots
Contribute gentle sweetness to the broth and the served vegetables.
Leeks
Add a mild, onion-like sweetness and aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Keeping the boil gentle while skimming. Vigorous boiling churns fat and impurities into the liquid, making it cloudy. A slow simmer with regular skimming keeps the broth clear and pale golden.

Swap the allspice

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, turnip, leek, parsnip, onion, celery. 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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