Pot au Feu

Name: Pot au Feu
Yield: For 8-10 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 4 egg whites; 6 baby turnips; 24 turned or new potatoes; 2 litres beef stock or chicken stock; 100 g clarified butter; 6 leeks, white parts only, trimmed and washed; 4 onions, chopped; 1 bottle chardonnay; 2 tomatoes, cut into chunks; 1 smashed head of garlic; 2 carrots, chopped; 12 peppercorns; 1 bay leaf; 2 sprigs of thyme; 2 veal shanks, sawn into 4-cm rounds; 2 ham hocks, similarly treated; 1 kg rolled beef brisket (the older and tougher the better); 1 chicken, rooster or pheasant, cut into six pieces; 1 duck, cut into six pieces

Preparation info

For
8-10
servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Tony Bilson's Recipe Book

By Tony Bilson

Published 1987

About

Pot au feu, like cassoulet, tends to lose its qualities when cooked in small quantities. If one remembers that in farmhouses the stoves or fires were kept alight 24 hours a day in order to take the chill from the winter air — but only at a low heat in order to conserve fuel — then the imagery helps to explain the cooking process.

Ingredients

1 kg rolled beef brisket (the older and tougher the better)
2 veal shanks, sawn into 4-cm rounds
2

Oceania
Europe
France
Australia
Mediterranean
Gluten-free
Winter

Method

Chop three of the leeks, cut the others in half lengthwise to be used as a garnish when the pot au feu is served. Heat the butter and soften the leeks, onions, carrots and garlic in a large pot over a low flame. Remove them with a slotted spoon. Turn up the flame and brown the brisket, rolling it in the hot butter. Remove it to a convenient place. Brown the veal shanks, ham hocks and duck in th