Petite Marmite
This recipe for classic French soup stock begins with simmering bone-in beef and herbs. This deeply flavorful stock is a labor of love, capturing the essence of traditional French cooking. The addition of toasted bread and vegetables for serving makes this stock appropriate for a full meal. This version comes to us from With a Saucepan Over the Sea, published in 1902. Broadly speaking, a stock is a flavorful base created by simmering bones, herbs, and vegetables in water. As the bones cook, they release collagen and marrow, infusing the liquid with a rich, savory depth and a natural thickening quality.
- 6 pounds bone-in beef
- 1 chicken
- 2 large carrots
- 2 leeks
- 2 turnips
- 3 cloves
- 1 bayleaf
- Parsley
- Thyme
- Sweet marjoram
- 1 gallon water
- 4 slices toasted bread
- 1 cup carrots, turnips, or string beans, cooked and sliced
This is the national soup of France, and just now very fashionable in first-class restaurants. It is always served in the earthen pot in which it is cooked, set on a fancy plate. Each mouthful should convey a distinct taste of a separate vegetable. The “marmites” are sold at the crockery stores in the French quarter, but an ordinary earthen Boston bean pot will answer equally well to serve it in. The stock can be first cooked in a large kettle, used for soups, every day.
Cut up 6 pounds of beef and the shin bone, an old chicken (which can be used for croquettes or salad), 2 large carrots, 2 leeks, and 2 turnips. Add 3 cloves, a bayleaf, some parsley, thyme, and sweet marjoram, 1 gallon of water. Bring it to a boil, skim it, and let it simmer for 8 hours. Take off the fat, clarify it, and use it for frying or braising. Add salt and pepper sparingly, set it away overnight, after straining it. To 1 quart of this, heated in the earthen pot, add 1 cup of sliced carrots, turnips, or string beans, cut thin and cooked. Also 4 slices of toasted bread or rolls. Using this recipe for stock (it is given by a reliable chef at one of the clubs) it will make 3 ½ quarts, sufficient for a week; 1 pint a day, with the addition of milk or vegetables or any other thickening, will do for a small family. Such concentrated stock requires an equal amount of water in cooking a second time. It may also be used in making sauces.