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Amy Thielen enjoys matching her dinner to her mood and the season. When fall starts settling in, a big pot of broth that fogs up the windows is what the cookbook author and Food Network star wants. 

Most people confine their boiled dinners to St. Patrick's Day, but Thielen reminds us that there's a world of tradition in the simmered supper: French pot-au-feu, Italian bollito misto, Portueguese Cozido. 

Boiled beef with apple horseradish sauce

A boiled dinner is not a soup, Thielen says: They all contain a big joint of meat, or mixture of meats and vegetables, and all have a brothy consistency.

"I think that the boiled dinner has a semantics problem," Thielen said. "'Boiled' doesn't sound very good. It makes us think of socks. So I like to call it a simmered supper." 

It may sound like a peasant dish — and it is — but there's a lot of delicacy in boiled dinners, Thielen said. Chief example: Austrian boiled beef, which is an institution in Vienna. Restaurants there specialize in boiling beef, and patrons can order specific cuts. Thielen learned to make this dish at her first restaurant job in New York. 


The star of the show, she said, is usually the moist, long-simmered chuck roast, but sometimes the dish includes a hunk of beef tenderloin, which is simmered for far less time, just until it reaches medium-rare. 

If you want to get really fancy, Thielen said, you include both cuts, and slice a bit of each on the plate. 

"You need a gutsy condiment," she said. "Dijon mustard is always good, but we served this with apple horseradish."

To make this into a fancy meal, add a pound of beef tenderloin to the pot for the last 20 minutes, poaching it gently until the internal temperature reaches 125 degrees F. 

• Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper for serving


• 4-5 parsnips or small kohlrabi, peeled


For the beef, begin about 4 to 5 hours before serving. 

Bring 12 cups of water to boil in a large stockpot. While it heats, set a cast-iron pan over medium high heat and line it with a square of heavy foil. 

Slice a Vidalia onion crosswise (leaving on the thin peel) and set it cut-side-down onto the foil. 

Cook it like this, without any oil, until it blackens evenly. (This, what is known as a bruleéd onion, adds caramelized color and flavor to the broth.) 

When the water boils, add the beef and the salt.Skim any gray scuff and fat at the surface. 

Add the salt, the bruleéd onion, and the bay leaves. 

Make a sachet from cheesecloth and enclose the garlic, black peppercorns, juniper berries, allspice, and thyme. Throw it into the pot. 

Keep the broth at a steady simmer and cover halfway with an offset lid. 

Skim any collected fat and scum from the surface every hour, checking the meat for tenderness with a skinny fork. 

After 3 1/2 hours, the meat should feel fairly tender. At this point, when it can take another hour of cooking, add the potatoes, carrots, and parsnips or kohlrabi, and simmer until the vegetables and meat both feel tender. 

Taste the broth and add salt if needed; it should be highly seasoned. 

When ready to serve, lift the vegetables from the broth, smashing a potato on every plate. Garnish the potato with butter and season with salt and pepper. 

It's important to salt each component of the boiled dinner on each plate. 

Plate a chunk of beef and some vegetables, seasoning each, and then ladle broth over the meat to soak. 

Serve with a dollop of apple horseradish sauce (and Dijon mustard, if desired).

• 2 rounded tablespoons lightly packed freshly grated horseradish


• 2/3 cup freshly grated apple (2 large)


Simply mix the ingredients together in a small bowl and reserve for serving.

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There's a world of tradition in the simmered supper: French pot-au-feu, Italian bollito misto, Portueguese Cozido.

Appetites: Why you should bring back the boiled dinner

Austrian boiled beef with apple horseradish sauce

Appetites: Why you should bring back the boiled dinner

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