215. French Pot-au-feu

The Modern Housewife · Soyer, Alexis · 1849

Source: The Modern Housewife
Status: success · extracted 12 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (12)

Pot-au-feu

six pounds of beef ↝ Beef, ground, raw [Ground beef]
four quarts of water ↝ Water, tap [Tap water]
a spoonful and a half of salt ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
half a pound of liver ↝ Duck, domesticated, liver, raw [Poultry Products]
two carrots ↝ Carrots, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
four turnips ↝ Turnips, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
eight young or two old leeks ↝ Leeks [Onions]
one head of celery ↝ Celery, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
two onions ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
one burnt, with a clove in each ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
a piece of parsnip ↝ Parsnips, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
slices of bread ↝ Bread, vegetable [Yeast breads]

Instructions (1)

Put in the pot-au-feu six pounds of beef, four quarts of water, set near the fire, skim; when nearly boiling add a spoonful and a half of salt, half a pound of liver, two carrots, four turnips, eight young or two old leeks, one head of celery, two onions and one burnt, with a clove in each, and a piece of parsnip, skim again, and let simmer four or five hours, adding a little cold water now and then; take off part of the fat, put slices of bread into the tureen, lay half the vegetables over, and half the broth, and serve the meat separate with the vegetables around.

Original Text

215. French Pot-au-feu.—Out of this earthen pot comes the favorite soup and bouilli, which has been everlastingly famed as having been the support of many generations of all classes of society in France; from the opulent to the poorest individuals, all pay tribute to its excellence and worth. In fact this soup and bouilli is to the French what the roast beef and plum-pudding is on a Sunday to the English. No dinner in France is served without soup, and no good soup is supposed to be made without the pot-au-feu.

The following is the receipt:—Put in the pot-au-feu six pounds of beef, four quarts of water, set near the fire, skim; when nearly boiling add a spoonful and a half of salt, half a pound of liver, two carrots, four turnips, eight young or two old leeks, one head of celery, two onions and one burnt, with a clove in each, and a piece of parsnip, skim again, and let simmer four or five hours, adding a little cold water now and then; take off part of the fat, put slices of bread into the tureen, lay half the vegetables over, and half the broth, and serve the meat separate with the vegetables around.

Crab Soup.—We add to the list of M. Soyer’s soups, a receipt for a purely American soup, a great favorite at the South, and esteemed a great luxury by those who have eaten of it—Ed.

[Open and cleanse twelve young fat crabs (raw), and cut them into two parts; parboil and extract the meat from the claws, and the fat from the top shell. Scald eighteen ripe tomatos; skin them and squeeze the pulp from the seed, and chop it fine; pour boiling water over the seed and juice, and having strained it from the seed, use it to make the soup. Stew a short time in the soup-pot three large onions, one clove of garlic, in one spoonful of butter, two spoonfuls of lard, and then put in the tomatos, and after stewing a few minutes, add the meat from the crab claws, then the crabs, and last the fat from the back shell of the crab; sift over it grated bread-crumbs or crackers. Season with salt, Cayenne and black pepper, parsley, sweet marjoram, thyme, half teaspoonful lemon juice, and the peel of a lemon; pour in the water with which the seed were scalded, and boil it moderately one hour.

Any firm fish may be substituted for the crab.]

Notes

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