Pot-eu-feu - Sunday Dinner 2/17/13

Today was a cold and dreary February day, a perfect setting for a classic French one-pot meal! Pot-eu-feu is a traditional boiled dinner made with various cuts of meat and vegetables. Put together a basic charcuterie (mixed olives, white wine salami, cornichons with grainy mustard, and French bread with seasoned marrow) for appetizer and a roasted beet and arugula salad to complete the meal.

Pot-eu-feu

3 pounds beef chuck roast
1.5 pounds beef brisket
3 pounds oxtail
1 pound beef neck bones
1 chicken quartered
10 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
10 red potatoes, peeled and quartered
6 large white turnips, peeled and quartered
8 stalks celery, cut in chunks
3 large yellow onions, 1 cut in half with skin still on, 2 peeled and quartered
3 leeks, trimmed and split
1 green cabbage, rinsed and quartered
10 quarts water
12 whole cloves
1 head garlic, cut across
4 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
6 bay leaves

First place the meats in a large stockpot. Bones and oxtail on the bottom, followed by the chuck roast and brisket, then with chicken quarters. Cover with cool water and bring to boil over high heat.  As the water comes to boil, scummy foam will collect at the surface. Use a fine wire strainer to skim the foam off and discard. Lower the heat and continue to boil gently for about 20 minutes. Stud the two onion halves with the cloves and add to pot once water has been skimmed clear.

Cover pot except for about an inch opening, and allow to cook until meats are tender - about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. In the meantime prepare the vegetables.

Once the meats are done remove from the pot and place in a baking dish covered with aluminum foil, or something else to keep warm. I put it in the oven on 160 degrees to keep warm while the veggies were cooking. Next add all of the vegetables to the stockpot and bring back to boil. Reduce heat to cook gently for about 40 minutes.

Once the preparations were finished I served the broth with vegetables as a first course, followed by the meats with grainy mustard and cornichons as a second.