Book of Days Tales

On this date in 1859 French acrobat Charles Blondin (born Jean François Gravelet) made multiple trips over Niagara Gorge on a tightrope to enormous international acclaim. He even carried his manager on his back on one trip across, pushed a wheelbarrow across on another trip, and on yet another carried a stove out to the middle and cooked an omelet. If you go to Niagara Falls you will still see reminders of Blondin around the town, including a wire stretched across the street with a doll of Blondin on it, plus a museum that houses his wheelbarrow (along with the barrels people have gone over the falls in). 

In Blondin’s honor you could cook an omelet, but we had scrambled eggs yesterday, so let’s be more imaginative.  Blondin came from Hesdin in the department of Pas-de-Calais, in the far north of France on the border with Flemish Belgium. Pas-de-Calais is not fully French nor fully Flemish – somewhere in between. The cuisines in the region are a mix as well.  A dish that is popular is known as hochepot in French and hutspot in Flemish (giving us hotchpotch or hodgepodge in English).  Some versions of the dish are all vegetables whereas others are rich in various meats.  Here’s the latter.

Hochepot/Hutspot

Ingredients

1 ½  lbs mixed cuts of beef, including, ribs, osso bucco, and oxtail.

1 ½  lbs shoulder or breast of mutton.

1 lb shoulder of veal.

1 lb pigs’ feet.

¾  lb pig’s ears.

½  lb pig’s tails.

bouquet garni of 12 sprigs of parsley, 2 sprigs of thyme, and 2 bay leaves

12 whole peppercorns.

salt to taste.

3 carrots, cut in quarters.

4 leeks, washed carefully and cut in half.

2 small white turnips, peeled and quartered.

3 stalks of celery.

1 small head of cabbage, washed and quartered.

12 small sausages

12 small onions, peeled but left whole.

Instructions

Place all the meats in a large stock pot and cover with cold water.  Add the bouquet garni.  Bring the water slowly to a boil over medium to low heat.  Skim the scum from the surface as it rises.  When the scum ceases, cover and simmer gently for one hour. After one hour add the remaining ingredients and continue to simmer gently for 3 hours.  Check the liquid level periodically and add more water as needed.

Using a slotted spoon, take up all the meats and place them in a pile in the center of a large heated platter and arrange the vegetables around the meats.  Pour a small amount of stock over the platter. Strain the remaining stock into a tureen and serve everything together

Serves 12 generously.