Petite Marmite
For two quarts of soup allow four pounds of beef from the round, a fowl weighing about three pounds, and about eight inches of marrow bone (beef) sawed into inch lengths. Put the beef over the fire to cook in three quarts of cold water, and heat water quickly to the boiling point; let boil three minutes, then skim and remove to a cooler part of the range and keep at the simmering point. Roast the fowl fifteen minutes, then when well browned, put it into the soup kettle, adding also the giblets. Take out the chicken and beef as soon as they are tender. Remove and keep hot a part of the breast of the chicken and a part of the beef, to serve in the soup, and set the rest aside for other use. To the soup add an onion, two cloves, two small carrots, one turnip, and three stalks of celery; remove these as soon as tender and keep them hot. Remove the fat from the broth and strain the broth through cheesecloth; add two teaspoons of salt and reheat.
A long-simmered clear beef and chicken broth, served with the meat and vegetables cut into it. Nothing here is difficult, but the whole point is clarity, and that depends entirely on temperature control.
- Never let it boil after the first three minutesThe initial hard boil is only to bring the scum to the surface for skimming. After that the pot must sit at a bare shiver, around 180-185F, with the surface trembling rather than bubbling. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and breaks up protein, and the broth turns permanently cloudy.
- "A cooler part of the range"On a coal range you moved the pot away from the firebox. On a modern hob, use the smallest burner at its lowest setting; alternatively a covered pot set in a low oven, around 275-300F, will often hold a steadier simmer than a burner.
- "A fowl"A mature laying hen, tougher and far more flavourful than a supermarket bird, and rarely sold now outside ethnic butchers. A 3 lb stewing hen is ideal; a 3-4 lb roasting chicken will do but will be tender in about an hour rather than two.
- Timings the recipe leaves outFour pounds of beef round needs roughly 3 hours at a simmer; a stewing hen 2 to 2.5 hours; a young chicken about 1 hour. Pull each as it becomes tender rather than cooking to a clock. The vegetables want 25-35 minutes and should go in near the end, not at the start.
- Roasting the fowlFifteen minutes, with no temperature given; a hot oven is implied, since the recipe wants the bird 'well browned'. This is for flavour and colour in the broth, not to cook it through.
- Marrow bonesAsk the butcher to saw them into 1-inch lengths; a home saw will not do it cleanly. The marrow will slip out during cooking and enrich the broth. Some cooks tie the bones in cheesecloth so the marrow can be recovered whole and spread on toast alongside.
- DegreasingSkimming hot fat off 2 quarts of broth is imprecise. Chill the strained broth overnight and lift the solid cap off; this also gives you a chance to see whether the broth has set to a light jelly, which is the sign of a well-made one.
- Yield and serviceTwo quarts, serving six to eight as a first course. Cut the reserved breast, beef and vegetables into neat small dice and divide them among the bowls before pouring the hot broth over. Toasted rounds of bread and grated Gruyere are the traditional accompaniment.
- SaltTwo teaspoons for 2 quarts is modest by modern taste, but salt after straining and reducing, never before, since the volume drops considerably over three hours of simmering.
Petite marmite means "little pot" -- the marmite is the squat earthenware or copper stockpot of the French kitchen, and the dish takes its name from the vessel it was traditionally cooked and served in, one small glazed pot set before each diner. It belongs to the same family as pot-au-feu, and what separates it from a plain consomme is that the garnish stays: the beef, the chicken breast and the vegetables are returned to the clear broth rather than discarded once they have given up their flavour. The style is often traced to the grand restaurant kitchens of Paris, and from there it is said to have travelled to American hotel dining rooms. The recipe's assumption that four pounds of beef and a whole fowl will be simmered chiefly to flavour water -- with the meat "set aside for other use" -- says a good deal about a kitchen that expected to serve several courses and waste nothing.