Pot-au-feu (Boiled Meat and Vegetables)

Name: Pot-au-feu (Boiled Meat and Vegetables)
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 ea. (~380 g) onions; 4 ea. (~500 g) carrots; 2 ea. (~600 g) turnips (each is one handful); ½ ea. (~400 g) celery root OR 3–4 celery stalks; 2 ea. (~450 g) leeks; ¼ ea. white cabbage; A bouquet garni made of thyme, bay leaf, and parsley; Salt; Ground pepper; 4–6 cloves; Nutmeg (if you plan to serve the broth as the first course, i.e. the traditional way); 1 kg low-cost, tougher beef meat (e.g. beef chuck); Oxtail or marrowbone (optional)

Pot-au-feu is a typical and rustic French dish made of low-cost beef pieces and vegetables. There are many variants in France and other countries.

serves 4

Ingredients

2 ea. (~380 g) onions
4 ea. (~500 g) carrots
2 ea. (~600 g) turnips (each is one handful)
½ ea. (~400 g) celery root OR 3–4 celery stalks
2 ea. (~450 g) leeks
¼ ea. white cabbage
A bouquet garni made of thyme, bay leaf, and parsley
Salt
Ground pepper
4–6 cloves
Nutmeg (if you plan to serve the broth as the first course, i.e. the traditional way)
1 kg low-cost, tougher beef meat (e.g. beef chuck)
Oxtail or marrowbone (optional)

Steps

Drive the cloves into the onions, so it will be easier to take them off after cooking.
Peel the onions. Cut them in half and burn the cut surface in a frying pan protected with aluminum foil. The cut surface must become completely black. It will bring a slightly "smoked" taste and the typical golden brown color to the broth.
While burning the onions, peel and cut the turnips, carrots, celery into large pieces.
For the leeks, cut the root, wash well the green part and cut them in 2–3 pieces. Even the green, more fibrous part is used.
For the white cabbage, if you took a quarter of a white cabbage, let it in one piece.
In a pressure cooker, put all the vegetables, ground pepper and the bouquet garni. Try to arrange them so that they take a minimum space. Add enough water to cover the vegetables (warning: a pressure cooker should not be filled more than ⅔ to ¾ of its capacity; check on the user's guide of your pressure cooker). If you cannot cover the vegetables with water, just add as much water as you can.
Add salt and cook the vegetables under pressure for 20 minutes.
Put the pressure cooker under cold water so you can open it, and reserve the vegetables. Throw away the onions and the bouquet garni.
Now you should have a golden brown broth. Taste it and add more salt or pepper if necessary. Note that it does not have its final taste since you have not cooked the meat inside it yet.
Put the meat inside the broth. Cook for 60–75 minutes under pressure.
If you use marrowbones, cook them apart or cook them under pressure for 5 minutes with the meat.
Put the pressure cooker under cold water so you can open it. Take the meat off and put the vegetables back into the broth. Allow the broth to boil to warm them up while you are slicing the meat.

More recipes with onion, carrots, turnip, celery, leek, cabbage, bouquet garni, thyme, bay leaves, parsley, cloves or beef

Adapted from “Pot-au-feu (Boiled Meat and Vegetables)” in the Wikibooks Cookbook by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Reformatted for this site; this page's recipe text is shared under the same license.

Ingredients

2 ea. (~380 g) onions

4 ea. (~500 g) carrots

2 ea. (~600 g) turnips (each is one handful)

½ ea. (~400 g) celery root OR 3–4 celery stalks

2 ea. (~450 g) leeks

¼ ea. white cabbage

A bouquet garni made of thyme, bay leaf, and parsley

Salt

Ground pepper

4–6 cloves

Nutmeg (if you plan to serve the broth as the first course, i.e. the traditional way)

1 kg low-cost, tougher beef meat (e.g. beef chuck)

Oxtail or marrowbone (optional)

Steps

Drive the cloves into the onions, so it will be easier to take them off after cooking.

Peel the onions. Cut them in half and burn the cut surface in a frying pan protected with aluminum foil. The cut surface must become completely black. It will bring a slightly "smoked" taste and the typical golden brown color to the broth.

While burning the onions, peel and cut the turnips, carrots, celery into large pieces.

For the leeks, cut the root, wash well the green part and cut them in 2–3 pieces. Even the green, more fibrous part is used.

For the white cabbage, if you took a quarter of a white cabbage, let it in one piece.

In a pressure cooker, put all the vegetables, ground pepper and the bouquet garni. Try to arrange them so that they take a minimum space. Add enough water to cover the vegetables (warning: a pressure cooker should not be filled more than ⅔ to ¾ of its capacity; check on the user's guide of your pressure cooker). If you cannot cover the vegetables with water, just add as much water as you can.

Add salt and cook the vegetables under pressure for 20 minutes.

Put the pressure cooker under cold water so you can open it, and reserve the vegetables. Throw away the onions and the bouquet garni.

Now you should have a golden brown broth. Taste it and add more salt or pepper if necessary. Note that it does not have its final taste since you have not cooked the meat inside it yet.

Put the meat inside the broth. Cook for 60–75 minutes under pressure.

If you use marrowbones, cook them apart or cook them under pressure for 5 minutes with the meat.

Put the pressure cooker under cold water so you can open it. Take the meat off and put the vegetables back into the broth. Allow the broth to boil to warm them up while you are slicing the meat.