Pot-au-feu is one of those quintessential meals you'll find served up in homes across France. It's a great family meal that easily feeds a few and can even be varied depending on what you have available. Here's a delicious Pot-a-feu recipe for you to try.
Pot-a-feu Recipe
Pot-a-feu translates to 'pot in the fire' and refers to the slow cooking of meat and vegetables in a pot, historically over the kitchen fireplace (fire). I cook mine in a dutch oven and it cooks well. Although this meal takes time, it's well worth the effort.
Pot-a-feu can be served a couple of different ways. Either with the broth, meat and vegetables all together, or with the broth served alone as the first course and then the meat and veggies as the second course. When served as two courses, it's usual for the platter with the meat and veggies to be accompanied by small dishes of horseradish or Dijon mustard.
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Pot-a-feu: A Quintessential French Meal
As with many traditional dishes, there are popular variations that have become almost as traditional as the original dish itself. Sometimes it's a matter of what you have available or personal ingredient preferences that influence the way you prepare and serve any recipe. Below is my preferred way of cooking and serving this hearty warming stew (it is basically a fancy French stew as far as I'm concerned). Our sweet neighbour often gifts us crates of vegetables including courgettes and parsnips so I have added parsnips into our pot-a-feu at times. Read post 'Living in the French Countryside' and 'Living in Rural France \ Salade Niçoise Recipe' for more on our kind neighbours and living in a tiny French village.
This recipe will feed eight and takes about 30 minutes to prepare and around 2 hours 30 minutes cooking time. Basically you'll cook the meat with vegetables and herbs to give it flavour and then cook the vegetables you'll eat in some of the cooking liquid. Recipe suggestions below are for serving this dish as two separate courses.
Ingredients for our Pot-a-feu Recipe
- 500g thin ribs (beef)
- 1kg chuck and blade (beef)
- 20g salt
- 600g marrow bones
- 600g potatoes (similar sized if possible)
- 600g carrots
- 400g courgettes
- Fleur de sel (or good quality salt if unable to source Fleur de sel)
- Aromatic vegetables for cooking the meat - One large onion, one large carrot, one green leaf of one leek, two cloves, four to eight peppercorns (any variety)
- Small bouquet garni
- French mustard and/or horseradish for serving
How to cook Pot-a-feu
- Trim the meat but leave it as whole pieces.
- Wash, peel and rinse the potatoes and carrots. Wash the courgettes, cut the vegetables into similar sized pieces.
- Prepare the aromatic vegetables by peeling and washing the onion and carrot and cutting into two pieces. Wash the leek leaf. Push the cloves into the base of the onion pieces.
- Place the pieces of meat in a large pot (I use one of my large copper pots), cover meat pieces with cold water and bring to the boil. Remove the meat immediately and transfer the meat pieces to another pot (I use a dutch oven). Cover with cold water. Add all the aromatic vegetables and salt.
- Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 2 hours. Then add the marrow bones and remove the aromatic vegetables. Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. You may need to scoop the fat from the top of the water during this process. Also watch the water level in the pot and add more hot water as needed to keep your meat covered.
- Using a clean pot, take one litre of the cooking liquid from your meat pot and cook the vegetables (potatoes, carrots and courgettes) in it separately. I start with the potatoes and carrots first, then add the courgette pieces later so they don't get mushy.
- Strain the broth so it's clear and fat free then serve in a soup tureen.
- Serve the meat and vegetables on a large platter or in a vegetable dish. Accompany with small dishes of extra fleur de sel and French mustard and/or horseradish. Don't forget to add a crusty baguette, or two, to the table and you'll have a healthy, inexpensive traditional French family meal.
Enjoy!
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