Classic pot-au-feu

 

I take an almost obscene pride in trying to achieve the clearest possible consomme, and although it is time consuming, and somewhat outdated, I believe it to be worthwhile in terms of appearance and taste.

So before we begin our classic pot-au-feu, a few words about the various techniques required to create a clear, grease-free consomme:

• Use the freshest meat possible
• Always cook gently and slowly. Apart from below, never boil, just a shivery simmer
• Always blanch the meat before the long cooking. Put the meat in a large pot of cold water, and boil as quickly as possible for 5 minutes. Use a skimmer to lift the meat out and rinse under the tap. Dispose of the water and wash out the pan with very hot water.
• Do not salt the cooking water until the water begins to bubble.
• Regularly skim impurities off the top by gently moving pan to the side of the burner so that it bubbles on one side only. Lift impurities from the "quiet" side
• Degrease by gently pouring a ladle-ful of cold water all over the surface of the simmering liquid. The fat will come to the surface and can be removed by a spoon. When cooking has finished remove the surface fat, even if you lose a little of the broth - it is worth it. Keep the fatty broth to cook the bone marrow.
• Ideally de-grease when cold the following day, however it is possible to de-grease whilst cool although not perfectly. Pour the broth through the finest strainer into a tall straight sided container. The fat will rise to the surface. Use a ladle to remove the fat, washing the ladle each time. When the fat appears to have gone completely, lay paper towels on the surface to absorb remaining fat. Discard the towels.

Ingredients:

2 kg of fresh beef - ideally shank, rump, brisket, oxtail or chuck

4 medium leeks, white part only

2 medium white onions

3 whole cloves

8 carrots

2 stalks of celery, not too green

1 bouquet garni (2 sprigs thyme, 10 stalks parsley, tied with leek leaves)

2 cloves garlic

coarse salt and black peppercorns

small thumb of fresh peeled ginger

Fleur de sel

4 - 6 marrow bones

1 kg sirloin tip, (tied like a roast - ask your butcher to do this for you)

Begin by removing the fat from the meat if the butcher has not already done so. Place the meat in a large pan and cover with unsalted water. Bring the liquid to the boil as quickly as possible. Meanwhile prepare a skimmer, a large spoon and a bowl half full of hot water.

Once the pot begins to boil, turn off the heat immediately.  Skim the greasy foam off the surface of the liquid, rinsing the skimmer in the bowl after each pass. Clean the skimmer and lift the meat out of the liquid, straight into a colander. Rinse under running water and allow to drain. Now drain the cooking water and thoroughly clean the cooking pot.

Wash and peel the vegetables. I don't use turnips in this recipe as in my opinion, they can sour the broth quite quickly. Parsnips are an alternative. The vegetables can be left whole or cut in chunks.Now place a skillet over a high heat. Cut the onions in half, and place cut side down in the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 4 to 5 minutes without allowing the onions to burn. They should however have a lovely brown, caramelised colour.  Stick three of the onion halves with a clove.

Now place the carrots, leeks, celery, bouquet garni, garlic and meat into the pan. Add 4 litres of cold, un-salted water. Bring gently to the boil, and immediately lower to the barest simmer is maintained. Skim the surface for impurities, rinsing the skimmer before each pass. Once skimmed add 2 tablespoons of coarse salt and 8 black peppercorns. The pot-au-feu will now cook for 3 hours, uncovered, as gently as possible.

Now if you wish to eat the broth vegetables with your pot-au-feu, please remove after 30 to 40 minutes depending upon how tender you prefer the vegetables. Plunge into iced water, drain and if serving the following day place in an air-tight container and refrigerate. Additional vegetables such as potatoes, parsnips etc can be cooked the next day, prior to serving.

Whilst the pot-au-feu is cooking it is essential to de-grease. Every 30 minutes add a small ladle of cold water over the surface of the cooking liquid. This will bring the fat to the surface, where it can be skimmed off with a ladle - ensure the ladle is rinsed each time though!

If you are using the optional ginger, cut into thin strips and add to the broth 30 minutes before the end of cooking.

After 3 hours, remove the pot from the heat carefully, and place on a sturdy wire rack to aid the cooling process. Taste and add a little salt if necessary. Remove the meat and set aside.

When the broth is at room temperature, follow the directions at the top, strain through the finest strainer available. Place the meat and the broth  into an air-tight container and refrigerate if serving the following day. It will be very easy to remove the  solid yellow fat the following day.

When ready to serve, place the broth and the meat back into a pot and bring up to the boil carefully. Lower the heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Carefully add the cooked vegetables and very gently simmer for another 5 minutes.

The pot-au-feu can be served with the meat already sliced on a platter, and the broth and vegetables in a tureen, or with the meat whole and brought to the table to be carved there.

Serve with fleur de sel and condiments such as mustard, horseradish, cornichons or pickled onions.

In addition, I like to serve the pot-au-feu with bone marrow and a beef roast for contrast.

The night before serving place the marrow bone and cover with a litre of cold water. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and refrigerate overnight.  

Just before the pot-au-feu re-heats the following day, put the bone marrow into a small saucepan and pour over the fatty broth from de-greasing (see hints at the top of this recipe) until the bones are covered. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve the marrow bones very hot, sprinkled with fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper. Toast some bread, and serve alongside.

The sirloin tips, tied to resemble a roast, make an excellent contrast to the meal by adding some rare meat. Whilst the pot-au-feu is warming through, just before it reaches a bubble, add the roast to the liquid and cook for the rest of the cooking time as above. Remove, slice and serve with the pot-au-feu.

This is a truly excellent dish, perfect for cold winter evenings, and demonstrates to guests a degree of care in preparation not usually experienced outside of good restaurants. Amongst friends it is a delightful experience.

 Enjoy!

Comments

[scandilicious]

Another top recipe Paul - and I can totally identify with the obscene pride in achieving the clearest possible consomme, 'tis a thing of beauty ;-) Like the clear structure of this recipe, can imagine how good the end result tasted...

[Paul]

Thanks Sig, it tasted amazing!

[goodshoeday]

Interesting contrast with your method from a bit I've just been reading in Herve This who says that over a long period of cooking it doesn't matter how you cook a broth or stock in terms of boiling, simmering, heating from cold etc it will have the same flavour and in fact by doing a fast boil then tipping the liquid away according to his experiments you would have just tipped a large part of the meat juices down the sink :0
But the recipe sounds yum anyway though I don't think I could ever be bothered with the clarification steps.
What do you do with the fat you remove - keep it and use for other purposes?

[Paul]

I can't really argue with Herve ! however my experience leads me to believe this is the best way. Incidentally the Koreans (who are possibly the best stock makers in the world) throw the boiling water away upto 3 times ! I always use the fat to roast potatoes or other veg!