Chef Juliette
John Dory (St. Pierre)
John Dory has the delicacy of sole and the firmness of turbot. A light flouring, a quick butter sauté, and nut-brown beurre noisette show exactly why looks never mattered.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Émincé de Bœuf en Miroton
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1176, Émincé de Bœuf en Miroton, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Émincé de Bœuf en Miroton turns yesterday’s pot-au-feu beef into tonight’s supper: tender slices under gilded onions, sharpened with vinegar and cornichons, then finished with a crisp breadcrumb gratin.
Main Dishes
French
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
Weeknight
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 10 min cook•1 hr 30 min total
Yield4 servings
Émincé de Bœuf en Miroton (thin-sliced beef with gilded onions) teaches réchauffage, the careful reheating of cooked meat. The one true thing to know before touching the pan is that this is not a beef stew. The onions may boil before the meat arrives, but once the beef enters, the sauce must barely move. Warm it patiently and the slices remain tender; boil them and they tighten.
The source offers two paths for the onion sauce. Its flourless path spends reduced wine and half-glaze, the work of a saucier and a stockpot never off the fire. That is brigade scaffolding, so it can go. For a home stove, use the source’s own flour-thickened path with good prepared beef consommé, then replace a salamander’s fierce top heat with an ordinary broiler. The book’s one-pound quantity already feeds four comfortably, so it stays: one cook, one stove, one evening.
What must stay is the dish itself: onions evenly gilded in real butter, vinegar added at the last moment, minced cornichons, fine bread raspings, and long, quiet warming. Watch the heat when the beef enters. That moment decides the miroton.
Émincé de Bœuf en Miroton belongs to Parisian cuisine bourgeoise, where the bouilli from a pot-au-feu returned to the family table beneath onions instead of being treated as scraps. The vinegar is not a flourish; its sharpness wakes meat that has already surrendered much of its savor to the broth. Household versions vary between a simply sauced dish and this gratinéed form with cornichons and bread raspings, but both are deliberate second service, not beef stew.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
leftover boiled beef from pot-au-feu
Quantity
1 lb (454 g)
thoroughly chilled
medium yellow onions
Quantity
2 (about 2 1/2 cups / 600 ml / 350 g)
sliced somewhat finely
unsalted butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
all-purpose flour
Quantity
1/2 tablespoon (7.5 ml / 4 g)
dry white wine
Quantity
1/2 cup (120 ml / 120 g)
prepared beef consommé
Quantity
1 1/4 cups (300 ml / 300 g)
preferably low-sodium
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/8 teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.3 g)
wine vinegar
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2.5 g)
cornichons
Quantity
1/4 cup (60 ml / 45 g)
minced
fine dry breadcrumbs
Quantity
1/4 cup (60 ml / 20 g), for Gratins (No. 268)
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 4 g)
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| leftover boiled beef from pot-au-feuthoroughly chilled | 1 lb (454 g) |
| medium yellow onionssliced somewhat finely | 2 (about 2 1/2 cups / 600 ml / 350 g) |
| unsalted butter | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
| all-purpose flour | 1/2 tablespoon (7.5 ml / 4 g) |
| dry white wine | 1/2 cup (120 ml / 120 g) |
| prepared beef consommépreferably low-sodium | 1 1/4 cups (300 ml / 300 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/8 teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.3 g) |
| wine vinegar | 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2.5 g) |
| cornichonsminced | 1/4 cup (60 ml / 45 g) |
| fine dry breadcrumbs | 1/4 cup (60 ml / 20 g), for Gratins (No. 268) |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 4 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan or skillet with a lid
- •2-quart (1.9 L) shallow broiler-safe gratin dish
- •Sharp slicing knife
Instructions
- 1
Slice the cold beef
Cut the chilled boiled beef across the grain into slices about 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick. These are somewhat thicker than the very thin slices used for freshly cooked roast beef, because boiled beef must endure a longer warming in the sauce. Keep the slices broad and intact, then prepare the onions, cornichons, and parsley before the pan goes on the heat.
- 2
Gild the onions
Melt the butter in a wide heavy pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and toss them often for 20 to 25 minutes, until soft, evenly golden, and glossy from edge to edge. Gild means giving them that golden sheen through heat, not scorching them brown in patches. If the pan floor darkens while the onions remain pale, lower the heat and loosen the browned film with a spoonful of the measured consommé; keep cooking until the liquid evaporates and the color evens out.
- 3
Build the onion sauce
Sprinkle the flour evenly over the gilded onions and stir for one minute, just long enough to cook away its raw taste without coloring it. Pour in the white wine a little at a time, stirring against the pan floor, then add the consommé and pepper. Bring the sauce to one full boil before lowering it to a gentle simmer for 7 to 8 minutes. It should lightly coat the onions while remaining fluid enough to surround the beef. If the flour gathers into small lumps, take the pan off the heat and whisk the liquid between the onions until smooth. Ça se rattrape.
- 4
Warm the beef gently
Lay the beef slices in the onion sauce, overlapping them loosely so sauce can pass between each one. Turn them once, cover the pan, and lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. Warm for 35 to 45 minutes; if the boiled beef is firm, give it up to an hour as the source allows. Never let it boil. If bubbling begins and the meat tightens, remove the pan from the heat at once, let the sauce become still, then cover and return it to the lowest setting for another 15 minutes without stirring. Connective cuts from pot-au-feu will often relax again under gentler heat.
- 5
Sharpen and assemble
One minute before the beef leaves the stove, stir the wine vinegar into the onions and sauce. Add the minced cornichons, reserving a spoonful for the surface. Arrange the beef in a shallow broiler-safe gratin dish, cover it completely with the onions and sauce, and scatter over the reserved cornichons followed by an even, light coat of breadcrumbs.
- 6
Form the gratin
Finish with Gratins (No. 268), using a fully preheated broiler as the home equivalent of rapid top heat. Set the dish about 6 inches (15 cm) below the element for 2 to 4 minutes, just until the raspings gild and the sauce bubbles at the rim. Watch without wandering, because breadcrumbs travel from gold to burnt quickly. Sprinkle lightly with parsley, rest for 2 minutes, and serve from the dish. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Use boiled chuck, brisket, shank, or another connective cut from pot-au-feu. Slice it cold and across the grain; warm meat tears, while chilled meat gives clean slices that survive the sauce.
- •Prepared beef consommé is the honest home answer to the stockpot that once stood ready all day. Choose one that tastes clean rather than aggressively salty, because the sauce concentrates as it cooks.
- •The vinegar must arrive at the end. Cook it for half an hour and its lift disappears; omit it and the miroton tastes merely brown. A few drops give the onions their necessary edge without making the sauce sour.
- •Bread raspings are fine dry crumbs grated from stale bread. Keep the layer light so it gilds quickly without drinking the sauce underneath.
- •Serve with plain boiled potatoes or a sharply dressed green salad. The sauce already contains wine, butter, and onions, so the plate needs a quiet companion, not another performance.
Advance Preparation
- •Cook the pot-au-feu beef one to three days ahead, cool it promptly, and refrigerate it whole. It slices most cleanly when thoroughly chilled.
- •The onion sauce can be prepared through its 7 to 8 minute simmer one day ahead. Chill it separately, reheat it gently, then add the beef and continue with the recipe. Keep the vinegar, cornichons, breadcrumbs, and parsley for the final minutes.
- •A finished miroton keeps for two days in the refrigerator. Reheat it covered at gentle heat until the sauce loosens, then refresh the breadcrumb surface briefly under the broiler.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 275g)
Calories
375 calories
Total Fat
20 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
110 mg
Sodium
430 mg
Total Carbohydrates
14 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
35 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Relevés and Entrées - Ox Tails
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Fresh Haddock (Eglefin)
Fresh haddock proves its delicacy in the meunière pan: a fine flour crust, moist pearly flakes, and beurre noisette sharpened with lemon and parsley, ready from one skillet in half an hour.
Chef Juliette
Éperlans à l’Anglaise
Éperlans à l’Anglaise turns small fish into a lesson in disciplined coating: boned smelts under a close, crisp crumb, pan-fried in clarified butter and finished with bright, half-melted maître d’hôtel butter.
Chef Juliette
Éperlans au Gratin
Tiny smelts, shallot, mushrooms, white wine, gratin sauce, and fine bread raspings meet a fierce oven, where the fish must turn tender in the same breath the buttered crust bronzes.