Recipe: Pot-au-Feu

This pot-au-feu recipe will make a good broth and an excellent meat!

Fill a large stewpan halfway with water, bring to a boil, add coarse salt (50 gr (1.75 oz) for 5 litres (5.25 qt)) and 8 gr (0.3 oz) of crushed pepper.

Cook the rib of beef for 10 min. Add carrots (peeled and whole), the bouquet garni (make a large one by tieing together the green part of your leeks) and onion. Cook for another 10 min and then add the turnips and the panais. Finally add the leeks, washed and tied together.

Progressively remove the froth that forms on the surface so that the stock remains clear.

Cook for 50 min.

Heat the sugar cubes with a ladleful of stock in a small saucepan. Let it caramelize and then add another ladle of stock. Add this mixture to the pot-au-feu so that it takes a nice golden colour.

After having finished this first part of the recipe, add the beef shoulder palette and the shin and leave to cook for 2 hours in a light boil without forgettiong to remove the froth from the surface from time to time.

30 minutes before the pot-au-feu is done, prepare your marrow bone in a hollow pan. In order to kep the marrow from leaving the bone you should place a carrot slice on each end and tie everything up using some string.

Cover the bones with the stock and leave to cook for 30 min, covered.

This recipe will make a flavourful stock and fabulous tasting meat!!!

Compostion: Place the vegetables in a large bowl surrounding the meat, which should be presented already cut into pieces.

Beside this bowl, serve the bones in a round dish (do not forget to remove the carrots!!) with the stock.

Present this dish with a variety of mustards, a bowl with high grade sea salt, some roughly crushed pepper and a small jar of horseradish, and now "let's get working"!!!

You will suddenly notice that the guests have become silent...

If you are enjoying your pot-au-feu in a friendly atmosphere, do not hesitate to bring up the Chabrot (or Chabrol) tradition in which each guest rinses their bowl with a good dash of red wine (always drinking with moderation, of course).

(*) The panais is an ancient vegetable that used to be cultivated for its roots. The "panais sauvage" is a common plant that you may find in the meadows or on road edges.

This vegetable still remains quite unknown. It should not be peeled unless it is waxed. Its flesh becomes darker when it is in contact with air and this makes us have to cook it immediately or to put it in water adding a dash of lemon or a dash of vinegar. The panais may be prepared like a carrot, a salsify or a turnip. It may aso substitute these vegetables in several recipes, such as this one.