Marie-Louise’s Pot-au-Feu🥩 It’s cold in France right now and my mother-in-law made her pot-au-feu, exactly like her mother and grandmother made it. This is a delicious, comforting one-pot meal that will take the chill off any cold day. She always serves the bouillon (cooking liquid) as a first course, then serves the meat and vegetables after. She starts by filling her grandmother’s “marmite” (large pot) halfway with cold water. Starting with cold water produces a clearer bouillon, which is the goal. Then she places the meat into the water with a clove-studded onion, adds salt, covers the pot, and brings it to boil. Next she skims the surface of the water several times during 20 minutes of simmering to remove impurities and create a clear bouillon. Next she adds the bouquet garni, vegetables (except for the potatoes) to the pot and cooks her pot-au-feu for about 3 hours at a simmer. Marie-Louise prefers to steam the potatoes separately as they “muddy” the bouillon and make it cloudy if cooked in the pot-au-feu. Serve bowls of piping hot bouillon first, then serve the meat and vegetables as the second course. The house will smell wonderful as the stew cooks slowly on the stovetop. I will post the recipe and my Americanized version of it on Substack next week. If you’d like to receive it to your inbox, you can subscribe at the link in my bio!
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