Pot-au-feu

This French dish uses a slow cooking method to extract the complex savoury flavours from the vegetables and meats. Traditionally, the French serve the soup to start, followed by the meat, bones and vegetables, plus lots of bread to spread with the melt-in-your-mouth marrow.

• serves

  6

• prep

  2:30 hours

• cook

  1:40 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 725 g piece beef short ribs (see Note), rolled and tied with kitchen string
• 1.2 kg rolled beef brisket
• 200 g piece gravy beef
• 6 beef marrow bones (see Note)
• 4 bay leaves, bruised
• 20 black peppercorns
• ½ bunch chervil
• ½ bunch thyme
• 1 onion
• 6 cloves
• 4 carrots, peeled, halved
• 3 leeks, trimmed, halved lengthwise
• 3 turnips, peeled, quartered
• 2 stalks celery, halved
• 1 celeriac, peeled, cut into 8 pieces
• cornichons, Dijon and wholegrain mustards, sea salt and crusty bread, to serve

Resting time 10 minutes

Instructions

Place short ribs, brisket, gravy beef, marrow bones, bay leaves, peppercorns, chervil, thyme and 3 litres water in a large saucepan or stockpot and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 2½ hours, skimming any scum from the surface using a large metal spoon.

Remove marrow bones and refrigerate until needed. Stud onion with cloves and add to mixture with vegetables and 500 ml (2 cups) water. Cook for a further hour, then return marrow bones to the pan and cook for a further 20 minutes or until bones are heated through. Carefully remove the meat, bones and vegetables from the soup and set aside, covered, for 10 minutes to rest the meat.

Strain soup through a fine sieve into a bowl and discard the solids. Remove and discard cloves from onion. 

Ladle soup into bowls and serve hot as a starter or side dish.

Serve meat, bones and vegetables with cornichons, mustards, sea salt and bread.

Notes
• Also called asado, beef short ribs are a cut from the meatier part of the rib cage. They are sold as one whole piece about 10 cm wide and 40 cm long.

• Marrow bones are available from butchers and are cut from the part of the bone with the most marrow.

Photography Janyon & Anson Smart.

As seen in Feast magazine, November 2011, Issue 3. For more recipes and articles, pick up a copy of this month's Feast magazine or check out our great subscriptions offers here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.