Pot-au-Feu
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a well-made fire that provides a constant gentle heat.
Separate the meat from the bones, tying the meat to keep its shape and chopping the bones into small pieces.
Place the bones in a pot and the meat on top.
Make the broth
Add cold water and salt, then bring to a boil.
Skim off the scum as it rises, adding a little cold water if necessary.
Boil three times, skimming each time, until the broth is clear.
Wipe the edge of the pot and add vegetables.
Once boiling resumes, reduce heat and let simmer gently for 5 hours for a large pot or 3 hours for a small pot.
Finish
After cooking, remove the meat and taste the broth for salt, adjusting if necessary.
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
- Meat
- Gives flavour and body to the broth as it simmers slowly.
- Bones
- Release gelatin and savoury flavour into the broth during long simmering.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the broth from the start and helps draw out flavour from the meat and bones.
- Vegetables
- Add sweetness and aroma to the broth as they cook in it.
The step that matters
Skim and keep the simmer gentle. Scum rising at a boil cloudes the broth and can taste bitter. Skimming while the heat stays low keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting, since a hard boil churns fat and impurities back in.
“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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