Pot au feu?

[SaligoBay]

Right, all you good cooks out there, what's the secret of this one?  

I followed my neighbour's instructions, and checked in a French recipe book just to make sure.   And still, it tastes like what it is - meat and veg boiled in water.   Yuck yuck yuck!!!    The only way to redeem it is to add a few stock cubes and liquidise it into soup.

Boo hoo, it's all too much, I just want an Indian takeaway!!!   

[letrangere]

 "just want an Indian takeaway"

Oh, absolutely, SB.  Give me a murgh mukhani anyday.  I've often felt I should get more excited about pot au feu than I do but I can't.  And that's despite having eaten what are supposed to be extremely good ones.   OH loves a certain restaurant on Place de Vosges where it's the speciality.  But I think even he's more turned on by the surroundings than the food.  Incidentally, they serve it here accompanied by little dishes of gherkins and mustard, a much needed flavour enhancer.

Elizabeth David has the following to say:  "No mystery attaches to the making of a pot-au-feu so long as it is understood that it is two dishes, first a beef broth which may be thickened with rice or pasta or served as a clear consomme and, secondly, the boiled beef which has itself contributed the major part of its savour to the broth."  She then witters on for several pages about the importance of good stock.  She says even more about the particular cut of meat required.  Then vegetables:  "Onions, leeks, carrots, a very small proportion of turnip, celery and parsnip, plus grilled tomatoes (really???) and, when available, a few pea-pods dried in the oven to give colour.  The usual bouquet.  Cabbage in the pot-au-feu is frequently encountered in France, but in my opinion, utterly wrecks it."  I fully agree with her, surely boiled cabbage should always be avoided?

What to cook it in:  "French cooks disagee fiercely on the subject, conservative housewifes swearing by the efficacy of their earthenware marmites, and professional cooks advocating copper (so long as the tin lining is in mint condition)."

I wish I could quote more but she continues for about 4 pages.

Elsewhere (ie Larousse), apparently Mirabeau thought it was "the foundation of empires".  Now there's a thought.    Again, pages of advice and tips but the full page colour picture of the end result looks exactly like what you described, ie boiled meat surrounded by attractively arranged vegetables.

All this reference to meat with shin reminds me of the Italian dish osso bucco, but that's utterly delicious and completely foolproof so long as you have the right cut.

I'd stick with the Indian.

M

[Alexis]

Did the stock look and taste just like washing up water?  If so, you made it perfectly.  Could it be that you didn't float week old pain deux in it?  Perhaps you had chopped your carrots and not lobbed great big monsters in.

The beef is supposed to be tough and dry.

Saying that, I have had a nice pot au feu once or twice.  I bet the cook put a stock cube in or something.  There again, I have had some pretty rubbish ones too.  All part of my job as eating for France!

[Leschenauds]

We buy the pot au feu basket of veg with the bouquet garni enclosed, pressure cook the lot with a maggi chicken stock cube for about 20 minutes then roughly break up the bits with a potato masher, makes a very nice chunky vegetable soup. One could always, of course, make a beef stock and use that.

[SaligoBay]

Thank you, everyone, I feel much better now!   I thought I must have been missing something, because the recipe is basically what they mock the Brits for - boiled meat, with veg boiled for an hour and a half. 

In the end it turned out okay, it just needs a LOT more salt than I'm used to using, and wonder of wonders, the Boy ate the soupy stuff with vermicelli in and said it was Really Nice. 

So lots of salt, and the recipe said to cook the potatoes separately in salted water, but I didn't do that, they just went into the pot.

It was okay, but it does take a long time to cook.  Tonight's spag bol will be much quicker!

 

[opas]

Instead of using salt in your cooking ,try using soy sauce...it adds a much deeper flavour and salts at the same time.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

I eat it and enjoy it, can't think of anything better to do with a mountain of fresh winter veg, a cheap cut of meat and stale bread; plus it takes next to no time to prepare.

 

[Dick Smith]

[quote]Instead of using salt in your cooking ,try using soy sauce...it adds a much deeper flavour and salts at the same time.[/quote]

You can also get a Maggi 'soy sauce' which is very nice, but might be a bit too salty for anyone with high blood pressure.

I would recommend that you use the meat and veg to make a bourguignon or daube - much nicer.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

I wouldn't want pot au feu after just digging the garden or dealing with paperwork... it's good to come home to after chainsawing.

Bourgignon needs much better meat and next to no veg and is much more civilised, ideal after a day dealing with paperwork but to me a different thing altogether, I used to cook it a lot when I lived in town but can't remember the last time I got round to it here at paradise corner... and daube or similar is perfect after digging or something, it's sort of in between... both take more time to prepare, too.

[letrangere]

"I would recommend that you use the meat and veg to make a bourguignon or daube - much nicer"

Hear, hear.  I make a daube to die for, haven't time now but will post recipe one day. Make it several days in advance.  Or how about a Moroccan tagine?  Do you cook, Dick?  M

[Patf]

I don't know if this would take away from the authenticity of the dish, but I always fry the meat, onions and othe veg before adding any liquid when making any sort of casserole. This is supposed to seal the meat but it also gives a richer brown sauce. Some recipes say to shake up the meat in a bag with seasoned flour which gives a thicker gravy but I prefer without flour. Pat.

[letrangere]

Pat, I'm with you entirely, always fry meat first to seal it and agree it does enhance the flavour.  But Larousse emphasises the fact that for pot au feu all the ingredients have to be boiled from scratch in cold water, supposedly to tenderise the meat but I've always felt it does the complete opposite.  M

[Alexis]

That is not a pot au feu Pat.  That is a good old stew.

I make blanquette de veau sometimes and that is boiled too.  I have never eaten it 'out' so asked OH if it was supposed to taste like it did!  I suppose I will get used to it.

I always brown my meat too.  If it is beef bought here, it then goes straight into the pressure cooker to be blasted into tenderness.  Sometimes more than once.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

Yes, and stale bread is depressing with a stew, fresh bread is  an improvement but potatoes better still... fresh bread in pot au feu goes a revolting gluey texture whereas stale bread is very nice. IMO.

[Dick Smith]

Yes I do cook (how can you tell) but not pot au feu or the various clones, which are a bit tasteless. I just bought an 8 litre pressure cooker, which has had a couple of pretty tasty beef stews through it - I like bourguignon and daubes and Normandy stuff - chicken with cider and creme fraiche etc. Also onion soup... I find that I need a number of bouillon cubes in most dishes, unless the are wine-based.

[Diana]

I have not cooked this for years but when I did I always used Elisabeth David's receipe and it was excellent. I'm sorry I don't have her book to hand to pass on the receipe.

Diana

[Loiseau]

I did a "northern France" meal for some Vendean friends last week, including "carbonnade de boeuf à la flamande".  I followed a recipe by Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec, which was fairly like british stew except that one didn't roll the meat in any flour.  I bought the best braising steak I could find in the supermarket, browned it (ditto *lots* of sliced onions), poured in real Flemish beer - and then got cold feet and added a beef stock cube...and simmered for three hours.

The result was really tasty - in spite of no flour.  But I think the pre-browning is vital.  Perhaps my French guests were so enthusiastic *because* I had browned the meat first!  I did find the meat rather fibrous compared to British braising steak - though admittedly tender.

I did "flamiche aux poireaux" to start; then accompanied meat with cauli and braised chicory (both produced in vast quantity in the north); followed up with Maroilles cheese; and finished with "tarte au sucre" (recipe from internet!).  Yummmmm.

 

Angela
http://www.the-vendee.co.uk