A Delicious Broth & Pot Pourri Main Dish - Pot of Fire

They call it the pot of fire – Pot au Feu – but it is not some dangerous kitchen conflagration, it is a gentle, slow cooking dish of beef and vegetables meant to simmer at the old stove’s edge.

   As a national dish of France – some say the national dish – it has many regional variations, and there are international variations as well.

  
Pot au Feu has spread far and wide because it has been around for a long time. This is a preparation with a history; it is related to “Pot Pourri” prepared long ago for the French royal court. But it is so basic, beef and vegetables, no doubt it dates to the earliest days of pot-cooking. In fact it is said to have been just a pot kept on the stove – into it were tossed all scraps.

   This stew has relatives in many lands but particularly, by name, in New Orleans USA. Although, there is something fishy about one version from that town beside the Gulf of Mexico, a dish by the same name but more akin to bouillabaisse. It is dosed with wine and brandy and features fish fillets, oysters, crabmeat and shrimp. Highly irregular, but then …  New Orleans. What should we expect?

   Well, I find seafood or fish versions from Martha Stewart to Weight Watchers, but it doesn’t seem right. Chef James Peterson notes the peculiarity when introducing his Mixed Shellfish Pot au Feu: “Naming this seafood soup after such a distant cousin may be carrying poetic license too far, but the two dishes do have certain similarities. Both contain a variety of ingredients simmered together and served in a light, un-thickened broth.” 

   To my way of thinking, that “similarity” could be applied to quite a variety of stews or soups. It is not really a distinguishing factor, is it? Well, moving right along…

   
                                       THE PROPER INGREDIENTS?
  
   Many chefs warn against using even pork or sausage, but then others (we will mention James Beard as an eminent example) say add those ingredients or maybe even chicken, duck, fish, mutton.

   Generally, though, this is simply beef and vegetables that simmer a long while to form a highly-regarded broth – known as the “chicken soup” of France.

   The flavoring vegetables are tossed away and fresh ones added.

   The broth is served first, followed by the beef and some vegetables on a platter.

   What vegetables? The answer is, what do you have at hand? That is the beauty of stews, often you can improvise grandly. Pot a Feu welcomes onion, turnip, carrot, radish, leek, parsnip, celery root, potato, cabbage, mushrooms … in one French recipe I saw tomatoes … as I say, what have you?

   The herbs called for in the popular version are simple enough, a bundle known as bouquet garni -- a spray of parsley, a sprig of thyme, celery leaves or stalk and bay leaf. Perhaps rosemary, or peppercorns, and it has even been heard of to add a bit of orange peel.

   As noted, many chefs warn against the use of pork, veal or mutton, saying these meats detract from the delicate flavor that is meant to be achieved. Just such a warning appears in Countess Morphy’s famous Recipes of All Nations. She says: “…neither game, mutton, pork or ham should ever be added to the pot-au-feu.”

   Curiously, the legendary James Beard suggests sausage as an addition, and a recipe of his found in Gourmet magazine in 1969 also calls for 1 ½ to 2 lb. salt pork.

   Since we are talking the guru Beard, I should pass along the rest of the recipe: 5 lb. brisket, 4 to 5 lb. chicken, onions, carrots, turnips; separately, to be added upon serving, boil 6 or 8 potatoes, 8 carrots, 8 leeks … the meats and vegetables are removed from the broth and served separately, on a platter with the vegetables surrounding the meat. The James Beard Foundation offers a somewhat modified version, deleting chicken, adding cabbage.

   
                                      A SIMPLE CREOLE RECIPE

   Personally, I would prefer this simple creole style recipe that encourages the addition of a bird of some sort.

   My opinion is that though Pot au Feu may be a main dish, it – at least the broth -- is also a basis. The broth is the foundation of many other dishes, as is evidenced in the old-time Picayune Creole Cookbook. 

   The search for Pot au Feu will take you here and there, no doubt wondering which is the “correct” version. Who can say? Well, I would think it is the average French householder who should have the final word.

   Here then is a summation regarding the weekly serving in the French household, from Dorothy Ivens in her Glorious Stews cookbook issued by Harper and Row in 1969:

“The basic recipe never varies. The beef is cooked in a chunk, then cut up for serving; the pot vegetables are discarded after they have flavored the stock; new vegetables are added and served with the beef.” As has been noted, the broth is served first as a soup. Bon appetit.