🤔 Today's Trivia Question:

What Goes Into a Standard Mirepoix?

Correct Answer: D) Onion, celery & carrot

♨️Mirepoix: The Quintessential Flavor Base of French Cuisine

A mirepoix, pronounced meer-PWAH, is a classic French culinary mixture consisting of diced vegetables cooked slowly with fat, typically butter, on low heat. This technique aims to sweeten the vegetables without browning them. A staple in French cuisine, mirepoix serves as the flavor base for various dishes such as stocks, soups, stews, and sauces.

The traditional mirepoix usually includes onions, carrots, and celery in a ratio of 2:1:1. When the vegetables are not pre-cooked, they may be cut larger based on the dish’s cooking time. Adding tomato purée to the mirepoix and cooking further results in a browned mixture known as pinçage.

This method has numerous variations globally. Italian cuisine has its soffritto, while Spanish and Portuguese dishes use sofrito or refogado. The German Suppengrün, Polish włoszczyzna, and Russian/Ukrainian smazhennya also employ similar techniques, incorporating different vegetables like leeks, celeriac, and parsley root. The U.S. version, the Cajun/Creole holy trinity, uses onions, celery, and bell peppers.

The term mirepoix dates back to the 18th century, named after Charles-Pierre-Gaston François de Lévis, duc de Lévis-Mirepoix. Despite his reputation, his name became associated with this culinary preparation. The first references to mirepoix in French culinary texts appeared in the 19th century. Initially, it was a meat-based stock with aromatic vegetables and wine, as seen in recipes by Antoine Beauvilliers and Marie-Antoine Carême. By the mid-19th century, Jules Gouffé's cookbooks included mirepoix as an essential flavor base, a practice continued in Joseph Favre's culinary dictionary by the end of the century.

According to the 1938 Larousse Gastronomique, mirepoix can be made with or without meat. Variations of this mixture may include additional ingredients such as ham, leeks, parsnips, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers, chilies, and ginger, depending on regional or recipe-specific requirements.