Piece of life
Ah, the “potée Lorraine,” if you knew all the memories it revives! This stew is, for me, synonymous with my grandmother. It’s the dish I systematically ask her for, over and over [well, and the Mirabelle pie]. I guess you have already realized it, but I’m from Lorraine [a part, to tell you the truth]. I was born in Nancy from a Lorraine/Alsacian family [and Corsican from my father’s side, what a mix ? ]. So, stews, quiches, small pies, sauerkraut and Mirabelle pie are all recipes from my family’s culinary repertoire.
This stew is a dish that I have always loved. Unfortunately, my grandma can’t cook it as much as she was used to, but I’ve prepared this dish with her thousands of times. So, now it’s up to me to keep on the tradition. This recipe is on our regular menu for the fall and winter; a comforting dish we used to love, perfect to warm up and fill up our energy on cold days.
About my “Potée Lorraine”
This recipe is rough, I used to prepare it by eye, but now I spend some time weighing my ingredients to share it with you. The vegetable quantities are not set in stone, and we are clearly against just a few carrots ?
For the meats, I needed to adapt them to what can be found in Quebec; some cuts are not available here. On the other hand, as we have reduced our meat consumption, I don’t overload it. But I usually put at least one piece of smoked bacon and one sausage. If I want it to be more complete, I add a little pork loin.
And if you had eaten it at my grandma’s house, you would also have found some semi-salted pallets and some salted pork. Feel free to add any other type of meat you want.
I use the pressure pot for this recipe because it gives me faster cooking, but you could easily use a conventional pan. In this case, consider 1-hour of cooking [or more] to let the dish simmer well.
Tips
Keep the cooking broth from the stew; this recipe gives you two dishes in 1, yeah! Not only will you save time, but you will also avoid waste. The broth is delicious, and would be a shame to waste it. You can conserve it for a few days in the refrigerator [or many months in the freezer] and use it to make a broth soup with small pasta. During our childhood, we used the famous alphabet pasta, I still find it and use it regularly, but any other small pasta will serve as well [e.g. ditali]. I like to keep some vegetables and beans in the broth, but you can strain it if you want it clear.
My “Potée Lorraine”
Ingredients
- 500 g dry beans (white or roman)
- 1 onion
- 2 gloves garlic
- 1 green cabbage (about 1 kg)
- 1 kg carrots
- 1 leek
- 1 turnip
- 200 g smoked bacon
- 1 smoked sausage
- (other meats : loin, salted pork, semi-salted pallet…) optional
- 2 to 3 leaves bay
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
The day before
- Soak the beans in a large amount of water. Keep in the refrigerator overnight.
The day itself
- Drain the beans out.
- Chop your vegetables: slice the onion and leek, mince the garlic, slice the turnip and carrots and cut the cabbage into quarters.
- Heat a saucepan (without adding any fat). Add the smoked bacon and let it brown.
- As the bacon starts to brown, add the onion and the garlic. Let it brown for more than 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add all the vegetables and the sausage (and meat). Cover with water.
- Add the bay leaves, salt and pepper.
- Cover your pan. Cook it for 30 min (if you are using a pressure pot), or simmer it under low heat for at least 1 hour (if using a conventional pan).
