Alsatian Pot-au-Feu
When I was in Paris, I got in touch with Anita Hausser, Jacqueline’s daughter. We met at a café in Paris to chat. The conversation turned into lunch, then finally extended into a dinner on another occasion in her charming and very French apartment, near the Maison de la Radio in Auteuil. For dinner, the first course was Alsatian goose liver spread on grilled bread, accompanied by champagne. Sometimes, she told me, she slathers the marrow from the cooked bones on the toast instead, sprinkling it with coarse salt. At the dinner we ate as a first course the broth from the pot-au-feu with tiny knepfle (matzo balls), to the delight of her very assimilated French Jewish guests. A century or so ago, in small villages of Alsace, the pot-au-feu cauldron of vegetables and meat would hang on a hook in the chimney to simmer slowly all night. I imagine religious Jews placing it there before the Sabbath began, and going to sleep with the tantalizing aromas of meat and vegetables as the fire slowly turned to embers and died out, leaving the pot still warm. When Anita makes her pot-au-feu, she cooks the meat slowly with the vegetables, which she discards toward the end. She then adds fresh carrots, leeks, and turnips, cut in chunks, for the last 30 minutes of cooking. She always accompanies her pot-au-feu with horseradish, mustard, and gherkins. This slowcooked dish is traditionally made in Jewish homes for Rosh Hashanah and the Sabbath.
Although Anita does not serve potatoes as another garnish with this dish, many people do.
Recipe information
Yield
8 to 10 servings
Ingredients
STEW
VEGETABLE FOR GARNISH
MARROW BONES
Preparation
Step 1
Place the beef and the chicken wings in a large casserole. Cover with about 3 quarts water. Bring to a boil, and skim off the scum that rises to the top. Pierce the onion with the cloves, and add it to the water. Simmer, partially covered, for about an hour.
Step 2
Add to the casserole the leeks, the carrots, the celery stalk, and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Continue simmering, covered, for another 1 1/2 hours, or until the beef is tender.
Step 3
Cool, strain the meat and vegetables, and refrigerate the broth and the meat separately overnight, discarding the chicken wings and the vegetables. The next day, skim the fat that has congealed on top of the bouillon, and discard. Cut the meat against the grain into bite-sized pieces, and return it to the broth. Add the leeks, carrots, turnips, and marrow bones, and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and the marrow pulls away from the bones.
Step 4
To make the marrow toast as an appetizer, cut the baguette diagonally into ten rounds, and grill. Remove the bones from the broth, scoop out the marrow, and spoon onto the grilled bread. Sprinkle the parsley and a little coarse salt on top, and serve.
Step 5
For the first course, ladle the broth from the pot-au-feu into soup bowls with the knepfle (matzo balls). Then serve the meat and vegetables as a main course, accompanied by grated horseradish, mustard, and cornichons.
