Pot au feu

Ingredients:

1 lb. Tender beef shoulder or brisket

(4 pieces of oxtail, cut 1½ inches thick)

6 beef short ribs

(1 veal shank, on the bone)

2 onions

4 leeks, white part only

2 small celery roots, cut into quarters

4 carrots, cut into 4-inch lengths

4 turnips, cut in half

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in half

Bouquet garni*

Salt and pepper

Lovage for decoration.

Instructions:

In a huge pot, combine the beef, oxtail, short ribs, and veal shank, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Push 2 cloves into each onion and add the onions to the pot and bouquet garni. Bring the pot to a slow simmer, gradually, and let cook over medium-low heat for around 2 hours, or until the meat is tender. Skim the cooking liquid with a ladle periodically to remove scum and foam. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the meat from the broth and discard the trussing strings.

Carefully remove the vegetables from the broth, place them on a large serving platter, and moisten with some broth. Cover and keep warm. Separate the broth in two pots. Return in the biggest one the meal with onions and add the celery roots, carrots and the turnips. Cook for an additional hour. 40 minutes after that add the leeks. In the smaller pot with broth add the potatoes and cook, until soft.

Arrange the oxtails, the meats and the vegetables on the serving platter and spoon some of the cooking liquid over and around it. Serve the rest of the liquid in a soup terrine. You can offer to your friends the meats and vegetables with some homemade mayonnaise and some cornichons. Or, alternatively, you can arrange the meats uncarved, with the vegetables around them, swimming in broth in a big, beautiful pile in a deep serving platter. Decorate with some lovage.

Notes:

A bouquet garni generally consists of 1 spring of celery leaves, 1 sprig of flat parsley, 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, and 1 bay leaf, tied with a string and used for flavoring.