Mirepoix, a simple thing to improve cooking

[nancylebov]

For commodorified's Cooking for people who don't blog carnival[1]:

The default mirepoix is 50% onion, 25% carrots, and 25% celery. They're chopped up and cooked at a moderate heat in a pan with some oil or butter. That's it. The result is astonishingly savory, and it can be used to flavor a soup or as part of a non-classic stir fry.

Wikipedia has it that the proportions are by weight, not volume, but I say that mirepoix is pretty forgiving about such things.

And it's pronounced meer pwah. I'd only heard the word, and I never would have guessed there was an x in it.

More about mirepoix-- my next mirepoix may well include mushrooms.

I thank dcseain for introducing me to mirepoix.

[1] The carnival is based on the premise that a lot of people are spending more than they need to on prepared food because they don't know how to get started on cooking, and in many cases don't have the money or other resources to have slack for much in the way of failed experiments.

Comments

[doomspark.livejournal.com]

Sounds good - both the mirepoix and the carnival.

I agree about adding mushrooms, and would probably add bell peppers as well.

[regalpewter.livejournal.com]

I a stir fry the mushrooms would work well, but in dishes that are cooked longer the traditional mirepoix will work much better, such as in roasting, stews, sauces, soups. There you want to use the mushrooms later in your cooking so they do not lose all of their moisture and moisture. Then again, when doing a ragout of vegetables, I do just that then add additional mushrooms at the end.
YIS,
WRI

[sethg]

What I do for mirepoix is take one onion, two regular-size carrots, and four stalks of celery. I think that gets the proportions right without actually having to measure anything.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I judge by eye because onions vary wildly in size.

[sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com]

Lurve Mirepoix. Trader Joe's sells it premade.

[regalpewter.livejournal.com]

Then again, for Carnival you could go with the Cajun variant of mirepoix; usually called 'the holy trinity', in which Bell peppers are swapped in for the carrots. Les bon temps roulez!

YIS,
WRI