Word of Mouth: Mirepoix

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSVP of Content
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and former Editor-in-Chief of The Kitchn. She is the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
Follow
published Feb 26, 2008
pinterest
comments
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Mirepoix (mirh-pwah) noun. In French cooking, a mix of carrots, onions, and celery, usually finely diced, and used as the seasoning base for a meat dish or sauce.

A mirepoix is often the only seasoning we use for a good pot of beans, like the one we posted yesterday. But when we looked for a post mentioning mirepoix to link back to – nada! Oops. Mirepoix is one of the foundations of the classical Western kitchen, and we rely on it heavily in our soups and stews.

You probably do too – you may just not have known that it had this pretty French name. Mirepoix was actually named after a duke…

…Charles Pierre Gaston François de Lévis, Duc de Mirepoix (1699-1757), a French general and diplomat. Apparently his chef de cuisine named this standard cooking basic after his patron. It must have been in use before then, of course, but whether it was because of the chef’s popularity or his personality, the name stuck.

Today, mirepoix is the holy trinity of French cooking. The traditional ratio of onions to celery and carrots is 2:1:1. These are usually finely diced and sautéed or simmered with the ingredients to let the aromatics flavor the whole dish.

A mirepoix au gras has a little meat added to the flavoring stage – perhaps some bacon cooked in oil with the aromatics, or a little ham.

(Image credit: Chef’s Pencil – a great site with plenty of other good tips and recipes.)

Filed in:
french
history
Ingredient
Tips & Techniques
Word of Mouth