Hochepot Flamand

Ingredients

• 500 g oxtail, cut into sections
• 400 g pork belly, piece
• 400 g lamb shoulder, bone-in
• 2 smoked sausages, andouille or chipolata fumée
• 2 onions, each stuck with 2 cloves
• 1 bouquet garni, bay, thyme, parsley
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 10 g coarse salt, plus extra for the table
• For the vegetables
• 400 g carrots, halved lengthways
• 300 g turnips, quartered
• 4 leeks, trimmed and tied in bundles
• ½ head cabbage, cut into a wedge, blanched separately
• 600 g potatoes, peeled, halved if large
• To serve
• 4 slices country bread, for the broth course
• 100 g cornichons
• 100 g pickled onions
• 1 pot Dijon mustard, served in a proper pot with a small spoon

Method

1. 1
   Place the oxtail, pork belly, and lamb shoulder in a large marmite. Cover generously with cold water. Set over medium heat and bring very slowly to a bare simmer. Skim with a ladle for a full 20 minutes, removing every trace of grey foam as it rises. The surface should be nearly clear and the liquid a pale, faintly golden.
2. 2
   Add the salt, peppercorns, bouquet garni, and the clove-studded onions. Reduce heat to the gentlest possible simmer — the surface should tremble, not boil. Maintain this for 2 hours. A rolling boil will cloud the broth and tighten the meat; the pot must never bubble hard. This is where the dish lives or dies: a true simmer, held without interruption, produces the clear, golden, gelatinous broth that defines hochepot.
3. 3
   While the meats simmer, bring a separate pot of salted water to the boil. Blanch the cabbage wedge for 5 minutes, then drain and refresh under cold water. This step is essential: raw cabbage introduced directly into the broth gives bitter, sulfurous notes.
4. 4
   After 2 hours, add the carrots, turnips, and leek bundles to the marmite. Continue to simmer gently for 30 minutes, until the root vegetables begin to yield at their thickest point when pierced with a skewer.
5. 5
   Add the blanched cabbage wedge, the potatoes, and the smoked sausages. Simmer for a final 45 minutes. The sausages must go in no earlier — prolonged simmering causes them to disintegrate. The potatoes are done when a knife passes through without resistance; the oxtail meat should be pulling cleanly from the bone.
6. 6
   Ladle the broth into bowls over slices of country bread. Taste for salt. The broth should be clear, golden, and richly savoured — this is the first course.
7. 7
   Lift all meats and vegetables from the pot. Slice the pork belly and lamb shoulder; leave oxtail sections whole; cut sausages into rounds. Arrange meats and vegetables on a warmed platter. Serve with Dijon mustard in its pot, coarse salt, cornichons, and pickled onions alongside. The pickled accompaniments are not optional — their sharp acidity is the Flemish signature that cuts the richness of the meats.