Pot-au-feu (/ˌpɒtoʊˈfɜːr/,[1]French:[pɔt‿ofø]ⓘ; lit.'pot on the fire') is a French dish of slowly boiled meat and vegetables, usually served as two courses: first the broth (bouillon) and then the meat (bouilli) and vegetables. The dish is familiar throughout France and has many regional variations. The best-known have beef as the main meat, but pork, chicken, and sausage are also used.
Background
The Oxford Companion to Food calls pot-au-feu "a dish symbolic of French cuisine and a meal in itself";[2] the chefRaymond Blanc has called it "the quintessence of French family cuisine ... the most celebrated dish in France, [which] honours the tables of the rich and poor alike";[3] and the American National Geographic magazine has termed it the national dish of France.[4]
The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française dates the term pot-au-feu to the 17th century.[5] In 1600, the king of France, Henry IV, declared, "there shall be no peasant in my kingdom who lacks the means to have a hen in his pot."[n 1] A one-pot stew was a staple of French cooking, and the traditional recipe for poule-au-pot – also known as pot-au-feu à la béarnaise[7] – resembles that for pot-au-feu.[8][n 2]
Some pot-au-feu ingredients: potato, beef, leek, carrot, celery, turnip and onion
Ingredients
The main ingredient in most versions of pot-au-feu is meat. Many recipes specify more than one cut of beef to give both the broth and the cooked meat the required flavour and consistency. Elizabeth David writes that shin, because of its gelatinous properties, is good for the bouillon but produces a mediocre bouilli, whereas a cut such as silverside cooks well for the bouilli.[11] For a large pot-au-feu, it is practicable to use both those cuts or a mixture of others. Paul Bocuse calls for six different cuts: blade, brisket, entrecôte, oxtail, rib, and shin.[12] Some recipes add a marrow bone, to give marrow to spread on the bread served with the broth.[13] Some recipes add ox liver to improve the clarity of the broth.[14]
pot-au-feu à l'albigeoise – with veal knuckle, salted pork knuckle, confit goose and sausage, in addition to beef and chicken.[7]
pot-au-feu à la béarnaise, also called Poule-au-pot– the basic pot-au-feu with a chicken stuffed with a forcemeat made of fresh pork and chopped ham, onion, garlic, parsley and chicken liver.[7]
pot-au-feu à la languedocienne – the basic pot-au-feu with the addition of a piece of fat bacon.[7]
pot-au-feuprovençal – lamb or mutton replaces some of the beef.[24]
pot-au-feu aux pruneaux – the meats are beef and lightly-salted pork knuckle, cooked with the usual vegetables but adding prunes soaked in Armagnac.[25]
Generally, the broth (bouillon) is served first. It is often enriched with rice or pasta, and croutons and grated cheese may be added, before it is served with French bread.[2] The meat (bouilli) and the vegetables are served next. Condiments may include, among other options, coarse salt, mustard, capers, pickled gherkins, pickled samphire and horseradish – grated or in a sauce.[27]
Sauces served with the bouilli may include tomato sauce, Sauce gribiche, an Alsacienne sauce (hard-boiled egg mayonnaise with herbs, capers and some of the bouillon), sauce Nénette[28] (cream reduced by simmering and flavoured with mustard and tomato), or sauce Suprême[29] (a velouté made with some of the bouillon and enriched with cream).[18]
Pot-au-feu broth may also be used for cooking vegetables or pasta. Ready-to-use concentrated cubes are available to make what purports to be pot-au-feu broth when water is added.[30][31][32]
Similar dishes
Other countries have similar dishes with local ingredients. The Vietnamese dish pho has been said to be inspired by French cuisine in former French Indochina, with a possible etymology for the name being a phonetic respelling of the French feu.[33]
^"N'y aura point de Laboureur en mon Royaume, qui n'ait moyen d'avoir une poule dans son pot."[6]
^Such one-pot, slow-cooked stews were earlier called a "pot-pourri": the term dates to at least 1564 in Middle French, and indicated a dish of mixed meats.[9] The term, which was taken up in England in the 1600s, is related to the Spanish and Portuguese olla podrida.[9]
^Saint-Ange and David suggest that if cabbage is to be served with a pot-au-feu it is cooked separately in a little of the bouillon from the main pot.[15]
^ abc"Vive La France!"(PDF). Observer Food Monthly. No. 112. The Observer. February 2011. p. 26. Archived from the original(PDF) on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
Hyman, Philip; Mary Hyman (1999). "Pot-au-feu". In Alan Davidson (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-211579-9.
