Pot-au-feu#Origin and history

The Oxford Companion to Food calls pot-au-feu "a dish symbolic of French cuisine and a meal in itself";Hyman, p. 626 the chef Raymond Blanc has called it "the quintessence of French family cuisine ... the most celebrated dish in France, [which] honours the tables of the rich and poor alike";{{cite news|date=February 2011 |title=Vive La France! |url=http://www.raymondblanc.com/Portals/14/docs/OFM%20Feb%202011.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Observer Food Monthly |publisher=The Observer |page=26|issue=112 |accessdate=31 May 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008053221/http://www.raymondblanc.com/Portals/14/docs/OFM%20Feb%202011.pdf |archivedate=8 October 2011}} and the American National Geographic magazine has termed it the national dish of France.{{Cite web|date=13 September 2011|title=Top 10 National Dishes – National Geographic|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/national-food-dishes/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014060413/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/national-food-dishes/|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 October 2016|access-date=8 August 2020|website=Travel|language=en}}

The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française dates the term pot-au-feu to the 17th century.[https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9P3663 "pot-au-feu"], Dictionnaire de l'Académie française. Retrieved 30 January 2023 In 1600, the king of France, Henry IV, declared, "there shall be no peasant in my kingdom who lacks the means to have a hen in his pot."{{refn|"N'y aura point de Laboureur en mon Royaume, qui n'ait moyen d'avoir une poule dans son pot."Péréfixe, p. 549|group=n}} A one-pot stew was a staple of French cooking, and the traditional recipe for poule-au-pot – also known as pot-au-feu à la béarnaiseMontagné, pp. 904–905 – resembles that for pot-au-feu.[http://ja6.free.fr/fichiers/f1166.htm La poule au pot farcie de "nouste Henric" du Béarn], Cuisine Collection. Retrieved 30 January 2023{{refn|Such one-pot, slow-cooked stews were earlier called a "pot-pourri": the term dates to at least 1564 in Middle French, and indicated a dish of mixed meats.{{cite OED|pot-pourri}} The term, which was taken up in England in the 1600s, is related to the Spanish and Portuguese olla podrida''.|group=n}}

One batch of pot-au-feu was maintained as a perpetual stew in Perpignan from the 15th century until World War II.{{cite web | url= https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/06/garden/from-a-pot-au-feu-many-happy-returns.html | title=From, A pot-au-feu, Many Happy Returns | work=New York Times | date=1981 | author=Prager, Arthur}}

File:pot-au-feu ingrédients.jpg, leek, carrot, celery, turnip and onion]]

The central ingredient in pot-au-feu is meat. Many recipes specify more than one cut of beef to give both the broth and the cooked meat the required flavour and consistency. Elizabeth David writes that shin, because of its gelatinous properties, is good for the bouillon but produces a mediocre bouilli, whereas a cut such as silverside cooks well for the bouilli.David, pp. 138–139 For a large pot-au-feu, it is practicable to use both those cuts or a mixture of others. Paul Bocuse calls for six different cuts: blade, brisket, entrecôte, oxtail, rib, and shin. Some recipes add a marrow bone, to give marrow to spread on the bread served with the broth.David, p. 139; and Escoffier, p. 216 Some recipes add ox liver to improve the clarity of the broth.David, p. 139

The inclusion of cabbage divides opinion; David comments that it is frequently encountered in France, but in her view, it "utterly wrecks" a pot-au-feu; Madame Saint-Ange takes a similar view.{{refn|Saint-Ange and David suggest that if cabbage is to be served with a pot-au-feu it is cooked separately in a little of the bouillon from the main pot.David, p. 139; and Saint-Ange, p. 83|group=n}} Blanc, Édouard de Pomiane, and Auguste Escoffier include it; Bocuse, Alain Ducasse, and Joël Robuchon omit it,De Pomiane, p. 113; Ducasse, p. 305; Escoffier, p. 216; Montagné, pp. 904–905 as do Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, and Julia Child, authors of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. As well as a bouquet garni – traditionally made of parsley, thyme and bay – an onion studded with cloves may be added to the pot.

Regional variations include:

• pot-au-feu à l'albigeoise – with veal knuckle, salted pork knuckle, confit goose and sausage, in addition to beef and chicken.
• pot-au-feu à la béarnaise, also called Poule-au-pot– the basic pot-au-feu with a chicken stuffed with a forcemeat made of fresh pork and chopped ham, onion, garlic, parsley and chicken liver.
• pot-au-feu à la languedocienne – the basic pot-au-feu with the addition of a piece of fat bacon.
• pot-au-feu provençal – lamb or mutton replaces some of the beef.David, p. 142
• pot-au-feu aux pruneaux – the meats are beef and lightly-salted pork knuckle, cooked with the usual vegetables but adding prunes soaked in Armagnac.[https://www.marmiton.org/recettes/recette_pot-au-feu-aux-pruneaux-recette-bretonne_24351.aspx "pot-au-feu aux pruneaux (recette bretonne)"], Marmiton. Retrieved 1 February 2023
• pot-au-feu madrilène – the meats are chicken, beef, veal, ham, bacon, chorizo sausage and boudin noir.[https://www.marmiton.org/recettes/recette_pot-au-feu-madrilene_26098.aspx "pot-au-feu madrilène"], Marmiton. Retrieved 1 February 2023

Generally, the broth (bouillon) is served first. It is often enriched with rice or pasta, and croutons and grated cheese may be added, before it is served with French bread. The meat (bouilli) and the vegetables are served next. Condiments may include, among other options, coarse salt, mustard, capers, pickled gherkins, pickled samphire and horseradish – grated or in a sauce.Montagné, p. 904; and [https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pot-au-feu-367768 pot-au-feu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202111402/https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/ |date=2 February 2023 }}, Bon Appetit Test Kitchen, epicutious.com. Retrieved 28 September 2021

Sauces served with the bouilli may include tomato sauce, Sauce gribiche, an Alsacienne sauce (hard-boiled egg mayonnaise with herbs, capers and some of the bouillon), sauce Nénettesee: Mastering the Art of French Cooking (cream reduced by simmering and flavoured with mustard and tomato), or sauce Suprême{{cite web |title=Chef Thomas Keller's Sauce Suprême Recipe |url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/chef-thomas-kellers-sauce-supreme-recipe |website=MasterClass |access-date=13 September 2024 |date=2024}} (a velouté made with some of the bouillon and enriched with cream).

Pot-au-feu broth may also be used for cooking vegetables or pasta. Ready-to-use concentrated cubes are also available.{{cite web|url=https://www.intermarche.com/recherche/knorr%20pot-au-feu |title=InterMarche Express – Paris |access-date=28 September 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.carrefour.fr/p/bouillon-kub-pot-au-feu-maggi-7613033687914 |title=Carrefour online |access-date=28 September 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://www.epicerie-botanique.fr/produit/bouillon-legume-cube-pot-au-feu/ |title=ePURE, Épicerie Botanique |access-date=28 September 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Other countries have similar dishes with local ingredients. The Vietnamese dish pho has been said to be inspired by French cuisine in former French Indochina, with a possible etymology for the name being a phonetic respelling of the French feu.{{cite OED|pho}}

{{Portal|France|Food}}

{{div col|colwidth=15em}}

• Bigos
• Bollito misto
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• Cholent
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• Jjigae
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• Lancashire hotpot
• List of stews
• New England boiled dinner
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• Perpetual stew
• Pho
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{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|group=n}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | last = Beck | first = Simone |authorlink=Simone Beck| author2 = Louisette Bertholle | author3 = Julia Child | title = Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One | date = 2012 | orig-date = 1961 | location = London | publisher = Particular | isbn = 978-0-241-95339-6 }}
• {{cite book | last = David | first = Elizabeth | authorlink=Elizabeth David| title = French Provincial Cooking | date = 2008 | orig-date = 1960 | location = London | publisher = Folio Society | oclc = 809349711}}
• {{cite book | last = De Pomiane | first= Édouard |authorlink=Édouard de Pomiane| title =365 menus, 365 recettes | publisher = A. Michel| date =1938 | location =Paris|url= https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-rbsc_365-menus-365-recettes_TX728P651938-17651/page/n111/mode/2up?q=%22'pot-au-feu%22| oclc = 9560311851 }}
• {{cite book | last = Ducasse | first = Alain|authorlink=Alain Ducasse | title = Ducasse Nature | publisher = Hardie Grant | date = 2011| location = London | url= https://archive.org/details/ducassenature0000duca/page/304/mode/2up |isbn =978-1-74270-050-2 }}
• {{cite book | last = Escoffier | first = Auguste| authorlink=Auguste Escoffier| title = The Escoffier Cook Book: A Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery| publisher = | date =1941 | location = |url=https://archive.org/details/escoffiercookboo0000aesc/page/n9/mode/2up?q=%22pot-au-feu%22| oclc = 53543887 }}
• {{cite book | last=Hyman | first= Philip| author2 = Mary Hyman| chapter =Pot-au-feu | editor=Alan Davidson| title=The Oxford Companion to Food | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-19-211579-9 }}
• {{cite book | last = Montagné | first = Prosper |authorlink=Prosper Montagné | title = Larousse Gastronomique | date = 1976 | location = London | publisher = Hamlyn | isbn = 978-0-600-02352-4 | url=https://archive.org/details/laroussegastrono0000mont_w7s3/page/904/mode/2up?q=%22provides+two+dishes%22| oclc = 1285641881 }}
• {{cite book | last = Péréfixe | first = Hardouin de Beaumontide |authorlink=Hardouin de Péréfixe de Beaumont | title = Histoire du Roy Henry le Grand | publisher = E. Martin | date =1661 | location =Paris | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xw9qpfgFISYC/page/549/mode/2up | oclc = 230717271 }}
• {{cite book | last = Saint-Ange | first = E.|authorlink=La bonne cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange | title = La bonne cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange | date = 2005 | location = Berkeley | publisher = Ten Speed Press | isbn = 978-1-58008-605-9| url = https://archive.org/details/labonnecuisinede0000unse_g4t0/page/82/mode/2up | oclc = 1285661274 }}

Category:French meat dishes

Category:National dishes

Category:French beef dishes