What to drink with a pot au feu

Cold winter days make us want to warm up with a good meal. Pot-au-feu, a hearty dish of broth, meat and vegetables cooked together for a long time, is the most popular traditional winter dish in France.

Originally a pot..

The pot is the oldest culinary vessel used by human civilizations, used to cook soups, broths and porridges, and sometimes to add meat and vegetables. As early as the end of the 13th century, the term "potted meat" was used to designate boiled meat, as opposed to roasted meat. Here again, the term pot-au-feu refers to the container. With its broth, meat and vegetables, this popular dish, which constituted an entire meal, came to symbolize the poor man's only meal.

It wasn't until the 18th century that it became a major dish in bourgeois cuisine.

Our grandmothers' ingenuity in preparing pot-au-feu

The recipe for pot-au-feu is certainly one of the least expensive of traditional winter recipes. It embodies theculinary ingenuity of our grandmothers, who knew how to use small pieces of meat and vegetables with somewhat bland flavors to make a delicious dish.

The secret lies in the preparation of the broth, which enhances the taste of the boiled meat and vegetables. It can also be served as a starter to whet the appetite.

Today, this dish is available in several variations, depending on the meat used. For example, you can prepare a pot-au-feu with rabbit, pig or fish, or even a vegetarian pot-au-feu!

And the wine? Which wine to pair with pot-au-feu?

Before choosing the right wine, there are several aspects of this dish to consider:

• the different cuts of meat, which vary in texture from fibrous to gelatinous, lean to fatty, not forgetting the marrow bone,
• the acidity and mellowness of the vegetables,
• condiments (coarse salt, mustard, gherkins, horseradish, etc.),
• herbs and spices.

This rich, flavorful and fragrant dish calls for three types of wine.

• Either you opt for full-bodied, powerful wines to match the strength of the dish, at the risk of overpowering the subtlety of the flavors. In this case, a Cahors or Madiran.
• Or choose fresh, fruity wines to liven things up. Give pride of place to Gamay with a Brouilly or a Côtes d'Auvergne.
• A third option - in the middle - is to opt for full-bodied, fruity wines from the northern hemisphere. Open a fine bottle of Côte-Rôtie or a Crozes-Hermitage.