Pot au Feu
I’ve been very curious about Pot au Feu for some time now. I just couldn’t understand the brouhaha for what, essentially, was a bunch of boiled meats. I kept wondering if some mysterious alchemy turned the pot of assorted odds and ends into something more magical than I could imagine.
So since we were having M&M over for dinner and since I wanted to make something out of Tony Bourdain’s new Les Halles Cookbook they got me for Xmas, I decided to finally bite the bullet and try his Pot au Feu.
Well, it turns out there is no magical alchemy and it still is really boiled foods. It’s tasty in it’s own way, but still pretty boring. I served it with a variety of mustards which was kind of exciting for me as D always has at least a half dozen varieties in the fridge and another half dozen or so as back up in the pantry. Use up the mustard with wild abandon, yay!!
I have to say making the pot au feu was tremendously easy, just throw everything in a pot and let it simmer slowly for a few hours. I basically followed Bourdain’s recipe verbatim except I added more herbs to his wimpy bouquet garni. I mean, 1 parsley leaf?? Come on. So I upped the herb quotient with a handful of parlsey, 2 bay leaves and several sprigs of thyme.
The house smelled delicious from the stock which simmered for hours. I think maybe this dish is a type of comfort food for people who have grown up with things like this. I have my own, rather bland set of comfort foods that satisfy my palate (mmm, hot white rice with avocado & soy sauce! Macaroni & cheese with hot dog slices!) but boiled meats & veggies isn’t one of them.
I’m not saying this dish was terrible. On the contrary it was satisfying in it’s own way: a simple, hot fragrant broth full of tender, tasty meats and soft veggies. It’s just not worth it for me to make on purpose again.
ON THE MENU
Munchies
- Pate de Campagne
- Brie
- Manchego (a hard white spanish sheep’s cheese)
- Sesame & Water Crackers
Main Course
- Pot Au Feu
- Bread: I was kind of at a loss trying to come up with a starch for this dish, but it doesn’t really need one beyond the small potatoes I added to the stock pot and veggies. I did bake my foccacia and some of us sopped up the soup with that.
- Cornichons: Bought these at Trader Joes and they were horrible. I don’t know what I was expecting but I couldn’t eat these. D said they were sort of like sweet gherkins but I thought the ones at Bouchon were more sour. I didn’t really eat much of those, either.
- Sea Salt
- Mustards: Dijon, Horseradish & Stout
- Celeri-rave Remoulade: also from Bourdain’s book. I had never tried cooking with celeriac before today and was surprised to find how easy that ugly root was to deal with. Just a quick peel, julienne with my cheap Japanese mandoline and I was set. This dish was fast to make and Mr M and I found it tasty. D thought it was a little bland. He called it my french cole slaw.
Dessert
Chocolate Pot de Creme: Basically creme brulee with Sharffenberger chocolate instead of vanilla bean. M loved it but I found it lacking in depth of flavor. Next time I make this I’d add the vanilla bean for added depth. But the texture was thick, rich and smooth.
