Potee Lorraine is a three-hour braise in cast iron. Morteau sausage, smoked pork shoulder and breast, white beans, green cabbage, and root vegetables. Serve on a large shallow plate with vegetables arranged and sliced meats on top.
Soak the white beans the night before .
Next day:
Use a large cast-iron pot (Creuset style pot). Melt the bacon in the pot and then add the onion and the chopped leeks, as well as the diced carrots and turnips (1 cm cubes). Add the bouquet garni and the garlic.
Cover and leave the vegetables to sweat for 15 min. Then add the shoulder and cover with water. Add pepper (no salt) and the spiked onion.
Leave to simmer for 1 hour.
Cut the cabbage into 4 and remove the core, add it to the saucepan with the white beans and
the pork breast.
Add some water or stock and leave to simmer for another hour and a half.
Next, add the sausage (pricked with a needle to ensure even cooking), green beans (peeled, washed and cut into long “sticks”) and the peeled and slightly rounded potatoes.
Add water if needed and leave to cook for 20 min.
Total cooking time will be approximately 3 hours.
Place the vegetables in a large dish. Add the sliced meats and the peeled and sliced sausage on top.
This recipe is from the region of Lorraine but it is also served in many other French regions such as Berry, Auvergne, Bretagne, etc...
It is always made with cooked vegetables and smoked or salted meats. One of the most original recipes is called the Potée Artésienne. It is made with the following meats: 1/2 boned pork head, mutton breast, slightly salted bacon and one whole andouille.
Today it's still made in Auvergne, Picardy and Brittany, always on the same principle: vegetables braised slowly, cabbage, and smoked or salted meats that release their juices as they cook. Dried white beans require soaking the night before (change water three times) to ensure even cooking without bursting. Smoked pork shoulder should be farm-raised if you can find it, it makes a difference. For wine, forget light reds. Go for a Beaujolais village with body, a dry white Côtes du Jura, or a good red Sancerre. The richness of the sausage and broth needs bright acidity or subtle tannin. A white Burgundy like Meursault works too, but watch that the chill of the dish doesn't close down the flavors. As for sides, it's complete in itself: the pot vegetables become the garnish. Strong mustard on the side, toasted country bread to dip in the broth. In Quebec they call it 'pea soup,' a more rustic variant. If you find Samba potatoes, that's ideal, they hold through cooking without breaking apart.
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