If you have tried making serious broth, or have left-overs from a Pot-au-feu, you will likely find yourself with a cold boiled beef roast.  It really doesn’t sound very appealing, but there many French recipes that incorporate cold boiled beef.  This one could pass for a rich breakfast, a hearty lunch, or a satisfying dinner.

BOEUF BOUILLI AU LARD ET AUX POMMES DE TERRE

Fry 125 grams of salted bacon cut into pieces, wet with water or broth, add a pound of peeled potatoes cut into quarters, salt, pepper, a bouquet garni, cover and let cook.  When your potatoes are cooked, add your boiled beef cut into slices, let it heat up, and serve.

Boiled Beef With Bacon and Potatoes

4.5 ounces bacon, diced

1 pound potatoes, peeled if they are the thick-skinned variety, and cut into quarters.

1/2 cup water or broth

Salt and pepper

A bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, bay leaf)

Boiled beef leftover from broth or Pot-au-feu

1. Fry the bacon in a good-sized frying pan until the fat is released.  Add the broth or water and the quartered potatoes, the bouquet garni, and season with salt and pepper.  Cover with a lid and let it cook until the potatoes are tender.
2. Meanwhile, slice the cold boiled beef.  When the potatoes are done, add the slices of beef and let them cook until they are reheated.

 

{My grandmother, Claudia Meraud, was born in Nice, France.   She immigrated to the US after meeting my grandfather while he was stationed there as a US soldier in WW II.  We spent several summers together, just the two of us, living with her sister in Nice.  She passed along to me an old French cookbook titled  title is La Cuisine:  Guide Practique De La Ménagère by R. Blondeau, Chef de Cuisine.  It originally belonged to my great-grandmother, Lucie Thomas, who was a native of St. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace.

This cookbook was published in the 1930’s, and was written as a practical guide for a household cook before the days of the fridge and the food processor.  The recipes are delicious, practical, and (of course) packed with good traditional nutrition.

I am creating translated versions of these antique recipes, re-written for the modern cook, and tested with home-grown and seasonal food.}