Pot-au-Feu Variations

Like so many of the great French dishes, the pot-au-feu has innumerable variations. In Central France— le Massif Central—a deluxe version called a mourtayrol or mortier is made by adding a small ham and a hen to a regular pot-au-feu of beef. A small mound of panade, a bread-crumb stuffing held together with an egg and in this case flavored with saffron, is put in each bowl before the broth is poured in. A Provençal version contains the usual cuts of beef, a large chunk of lamb shoulder, a little white wine (unusual in classic versions), a few seeded and chopped tomatoes, a dried melon rind, and juniper berries. In Gascony the pot-au-feu gets a chunk of lamb shoulder, a goose leg, and a hen stuffed with a spicy panade. Again in central France, in the Auvergne, cabbage leaves are blanched, made into little packets stuffed with a ground pork mixture, and braised in the oven. A packet of braised cabbage is then placed in each bowl before the broth is ladled in. (Don’t ever cook cabbage directly in the pot-au-feu or it will flavor the whole thing.) The Burgundian version of pot-au-feu contains a small whole cabbage (sometimes cut into wedges through the root end) and a good amount of celery. If you’re going to try the Burgundian version with the cabbage, cook the cabbage separately with some of the pot-au-feu broth.