Warm Up with Chicken Pot-Au-Feu, French-Style Soup with Winter Vegetables

Chicken pot-au-feu
15:00 JST, February 2, 2025
As it grows colder, you may find yourself looking to eat hot meals.
French chef Noboru Tani has shared a recipe for chicken pot-au-feu, a dish made by slowly simmering chicken and winter vegetables that is rich in flavor.
“Pot-au-feu,” meaning “pot on the fire” in French, is a simple French homestyle dish in which meat and vegetables are slowly stewed. “With pot-au-feu, you can enjoy meat, vegetables and soup all together. It will make a full meal if you eat it with some bread,” Tani said.
Salt is used for the seasoning. According to Tani, the key is to thoroughly sprinkle salt all over the chicken and rub it into the meat.
The salt should be sprinkled at least 30 minutes before cooking, or preferably the day before. Then the chicken should be left in the refrigerator. Tani said this should draw excess water out of the chicken, which will cause a foam to rise thoroughly when boiling.
Put the chicken in a pot of cold water and then bring the water to a boil to make the soup stock rich in flavor. The foam can be removed easily by scooping it after it becomes a mass of small bubbles.
Cut the onions and other vegetables into large pieces so they keep their shape and are visually pleasing even after being cooked.
Cook the potatoes alone in a separate pot to avoid them softening, breaking down and making the soup cloudy.
Cook the turnips with their skins on to retain their texture. “It will not be satisfying to eat if the vegetables are all soft,” Tani said.
Taste the soup a few times during cooking. You will find the flavor changes when you cook the chicken first, and then add the vegetables, for instance. “You will get some ideas while doing so, such as adding herbs or white wine. That’s what makes cooking interesting,” Tani said.
I sampled the hot pot-au-feu. I enjoyed the flavor of both chicken and chunky vegetables. Mustard is also a good complement to these tastes.
The lightly salty soup was rich in the flavor of the ingredients and somehow made me relaxed. I want to cook the dish when I want to warm up.
***
Turnip as a side

Roasted turnips
According to Tani, Japanese turnips are more succulent than French ones. “I like roasting them to enjoy their taste,” he said.
Remove the ends of the turnips, sprinkle lightly with salt and roast in a frying pan until its skin is browned. Then cook them in the oven to your preferred degree to enjoy their concentrated flavor.
You can make a large amount of the dish to enjoy it many times. Tani serves the roasted turnips as a side at his restaurant.
***
Chicken pot-au-feu
Ingredients:
- 4 boned chicken thighs (200 grams each)
- 1 large onion
- 1 large carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 leek (or 1 negi green onion)
- 8 small turnips
- 1 garlic clove
- 5 small potatoes
- Bay leaves and black pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Slice each chicken thigh into thick thigh and shank segments.

Make a cut in the chicken.
2. Make cuts in the shank segments and remove the skin around the bone so it looks appealing. Sprinkle the meat with a generous amount of salt, rub it into the meat and leave it for at least 30 minutes.
3. Cut the onion and carrot into fours and cut the celery in half. Cut the leek in half lengthwise and tie it with a string. Remove each end of the turnips but leave the skin on. Peel the garlic.
4. Put the chicken in a large pot with plenty of cold water and heat the pot. Remove the foam and simmer for about 10 minutes.
5. Add the onion, carrot, celery stalk, leek and garlic, and simmer for about 30 minutes.
6. Boil the potatoes in a separate pot, remove them when they become soft and peel.
7. Add the celery leaves to the pot of the vegetables and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add bay leaves or black pepper to taste. Add the turnips and simmer for about 10 minutes.
8. Pour an appropriate amount of the soup of the cooked vegetables into another pot. Add the potatoes and simmer to warm them.
9. Serve the cooked vegetables and soup with the potatoes in bowls.
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