After the scum ceases to rise, continue to boil gently for 1 ½ hours. Add 3 or A carrots, 1 or 2 small turnips, and 1 small parsnip, all cut into pieces, 2 onions, each studded with a clove, 5 or 6 leeks tied together, 1 clove of garlic, and a fagot made by tying a few sprigs of parsley, a little thyme, and half a bay leaf inside 2 stalks of celery. Cook for 2 ½ hours longer. If a chicken is to be cooked in the pot, add it about 2 hours before the soup is finished. If the chicken is browned first in a hot oven, it will give the broth a richer color. If cabbage or potatoes are desired, cook them in a saucepan in some of the broth. Any leftover broth may be strained and stored in the refrigerator for use in soups and sauces.
A French housewife's trick is to tic 2 or 3 hearts of celery with the leeks. As soon as they are cooked, they are removed, set aside to cool, and served with vinaigrette sauce for hors-d'oeuvre or for salad.
The question that arises next, so frequently asked, is the difference between pot-au-feu and polite marmite. In practice the terms are used interchangeably. Technically, the difference is that in making pctite marmite you begin not with water but with the broth from a pot-au-feu, so the soup of the petite marmite is much stronger and richer. As a rule, a chicken is added to petite marmite. Another difference is that petite marmite is always served as a soup with the pieces of meat and chicken and vegetables cut in small enough pieces to be conveniently eaten. Frequently included are thin cross sections of shin marrow bone, from which one can scoop out the marrow to enjoy with the soup.
Petite Marmtite Henri IV
Parboil 1 pound of lean beef brisket, 1 oxtail, and the legs and neck of a chicken, etch kind of meat cut into 6 or 8 pieces, for 10 minutes, drain, and rinse in cold water. Turn the meat into a marmite, a deep clay casserole, or a soup kettle and add 2 to 3 quarts broth and 1 tablespoon salt. Bring the broth to a boil, skim, and cook gently for 2 hours, skimming as necessary.
Parboil 2 carrots, sliced, 1 turnip, cut in small pieces, and 2 leeks and 2 stalks of celery, both cut in inch pieces. Drown 2 small onions in butter, sprinkling them with a little sugar to give them color. Add the vegetables to the marmite and cook for 2 hours longer, skimming from time to time. Correct the seasoning with salt. Keep the soup hot, but not boiling, and remove all fat from the surface.
It marrow bones are desired, have a shin bone cut in half-inch slices. Put the slices in a pan with enough cold water to cover them and bring the water to a boil. Set the bones aside in the water until ready to serve the soup. Then add them. Serve the soup very hot with small thin slices of crusty rolls and, if desired, with grated Parmesan or Gruyère.
Pot-au-feu doesn't end with the good soup and boiled meat. The piece of meat used should always be large enough to allow leftovers for another meal or two. This is another example of French thrift—to start with a dish inexpensive in itself and not wasteful of fuel and produce from it something extraordinarily flavorful and delectable by adding a spice or herb, some wine, tomatoes, vinegar, or whatever will give the needed lift. So often at the old Ritz, French guests would phone me and ask me to save for their dinner some of the pot-aufeu that was a specialty on our luncheon menu one day each week. Sometimes I would ask if they wouldn't prefer the meat sautéed Lyonnaise style or prepared with mustard, as pot-au-feu beef is often served in France, and I would be overwhelmed by their appreciative thanks for suggesting it. These dishes which follow, familiar enough to every French housewife and to those who have eaten in small French restaurants, especially in rural inns, are seldom seen on American tables. They are well worth trying here in these days of high meat prices when it is as important to be thrifty as it was when I was a youngster in Prance,
Emincé de Bocuf Sauté à la Lyonnaise (Boiled Beef Sauté Lyonnaise)
Cut enough cold boiled beef into thin slices to make about 2 ½ cups. In a frying pan sauté the meat in 2 tablespoons hot butter, a few pieces at a time,until all are lightly brown on both sides. In another pan cook 2 small onions, sliced, in 1 tablespoon butler until they begin to turn golden. Add ¼ cup vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, and a little freshly ground pepper and cook a minute or two longer. Saute I ½ cups sliced potatoes in butter until brown. Combine the meat with the onions and vinegar and add the potatoes. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley. Or put the meat and onion mixture in the center of a serving dish and arrange the potatoes around it.
Fricandelles de Boeuf(Beef Patties)
Chop finely enough leftover beef to make about 2 ½ cups. Wash and bake 4 large potatoes. Remove the pulp, press it through a fine sieve or ricer, and beat with a spoon until very smooth. Cook 2 small onions, chopped, in 1 ½ tablespoons butter until golden and combine with the meat. Add the potato puree, 1 egg, beaten, I tablespoon chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon salt, and a little pepper, and mix well. Divide the mixture into pieces about the size of an egg,roll them in flour, and flatten like hamburger cakes. In a frying pan sauté the cakes in 3 tablespoons hot beef or veal fat or butter until they are brown on both sides. Place the pan in a moderately hot oven (375° F.) for 7 to 8 minutes and serve with any desired sauce and vegetable.
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