BACHEOFE (ALSATIAN MEAT STEW)

SOURCE: ANDRÉ SOLTNER AND SEYMOUR BRITCHKY. THE LUTÈCE COOKBOOK.

Mondays were the official laundry day for the matriarchs of Alsace before the invention of the washing machine. Because the women had their entire morning swamped from soaping, rinsing, and drying the dirty clothes accumulated from the previous week, the town baker offered his assistance to their kitchen chores by cooking the family lunch, provided that each household leave him a ceramic casserole containing an assortment of inexpensive meat cuts in a marinade of white wine and herbs sandwiched between thin slices of potatoes and onions. To ease the busy schedule of their mothers, abled children would carry and drop off the cocotte at the boulangerie on their way to school for the baker to hermetically seal his end of the bargain with some leftover dough and utilize his oven that had still kept its heat after baking the pain du jour. When the contents of the cocotte had finished stewing in the oven by noon, children would return from school to pick up their respective deposit and have their fathers, who also went home from work, break the hard doughy seal on the lid off the pot. Voila! A hearty and flavorful Alsatian lunch fresh from the baker’s oven or the Bacheofe is served.

Ingredients

1 pork trotter, cut to 1-inch/2.5-cm pieces

1/2 pound/227 grams boneless lamb shoulder, cut to 1-inch/2.5-cm pieces

1/2 pound/227 grams boneless pork shoulder OR Boston butt, cut to 1-inch/2.5-cm pieces

1/2 pound/227 grams boneless beef brisket OR beef chuck, cut to 1-inch/2.5-cm pieces

10 sprigs flat leaf parsley, preferably picked fresh on the same day for best results

2 sprigs thyme, preferably picked fresh on the same day for best results

1 bay leaf, preferably Turkish or Greek bay leaf

2 cups/500 mL dry white wine, preferably Riesling OR Pinot Blanc, plus more to cover the potatoes

1 large garlic clove, peeled and sliced in half

2 1/4 cups/280 grams thinly sliced onions

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 1/2 cups/450 grams peeled and thinly sliced potatoes

OPTIONAL: 4 ounces/113 grams bacon slices to cover the potatoes

Finely chopped parsley for garnish

Specific Equipment

Large bowl deep enough to hold all the meat and wine altogether

Kitchen twine

Plastic wrap

Deep-bottomed cocotte OR earthenware pot

Dough ribbon made from flour and water to seal the cocotte or earthenware pot

Sharp knife

Serves 6

Instructions

1. Place the pork trotter, lamb, pork, and beef in a large bowl. Tie the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf altogether with a kitchen twine and place the bouquet garni into the bowl. Pour in the white wine and sprinkle in the garlic and 1/4 cup/70 grams onions. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to marinate the meat for at least 24 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 300°F/150°C.

3. Line the cocotte or earthenware pot with 1 3/4 cups/225 grams potatoes. Transfer the pork trotter, lamb, pork, and beef into the cocotte or earthenware pot, scattering them all over the potatoes. and discard the bouquet garni. Pour over the marinade and sprinkle in 2 cups/210 grams onions. Cover the meat and onions with 1 3/4 cups/225 grams potatoes. Pour over more white wine to completely cover the potatoes and arrange the bacon over the potatoes, if desired, or season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Roll the dough ribbon by hand until it forms a rope long enough to go around the circumference of the cocotte or earthenware pot. Cover the cocotte or earthenware pot with its lid and seal the lid with the dough.

5. Place the cocotte or earthenware pot inside the oven and bake for 2 1/2 hours or until set and the dough seal has completely hardened.

6. Unseal the lid from the cocotte or earthenware pot by running a sharp knife around the hardened dough ribbon. Spoon a serving of potatoes and onions on the center of individual soup plates and distribute each piece of pork trotters, lamb, pork, and beef equally among the soup plates. Spoon the broth over the meats and potatoes and place a slice of bacon on top of each serving. Sprinkle in chopped parsley for garnish.