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What is mirepoix and what purpose does it serve? Is it a type of cut such as julienne or Macedonia, or is it a type of cuisine?

rfusca
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Salsa
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    Please use Google for this sort of question. It is already very well covered – TFD Oct 12 '11 at 07:16
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    @TFD: How will Google pick Seasoned Advice if it doesn't have this question already? – BaffledCook Oct 12 '11 at 08:19
  • @BaffledCook Why would you want that for? So we get 1000 recipe requests per day? And then have 400,000 unanswered questions like SO! – TFD Oct 12 '11 at 17:33
  • Yes, much better to keep the whole site secret eh? :/ – ElendilTheTall Oct 12 '11 at 23:24
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    @BaffledCook, while I'd normally be on your side, this is clearly a [general reference](http://meta.cooking.stackexchange.com/q/1023/41) question; questions of the form "Define " are best left to the dictionaries and encyclopedias that exist for that express purpose. – Aaronut Oct 13 '11 at 01:28
  • I've voted to reopen this question as I've received a booster badge for linking to it... I can't even remember doing that :-) Apparently this question isn't half bad, or at least people are interested in it. – BaffledCook Jul 28 '12 at 07:47
  • In doing a search on closed questions for another discussio, I found this. It seems to be perfectly on topic: asking for the meaning of a cooking term, and why it is useful or important. How is that off topic? – SAJ14SAJ Mar 21 '13 at 02:08
  • @SAJ14SAJ: Off topic is essentially a catch-all close reason for "general reference" questions which are off-topic by definition because they don't require any culinary knowledge to answer, they are answerable simply by looking it up in a dictionary or encyclopedia. And I don't mean digging around and consolidating lots of information in an encyclopedia, I mean literally opening it up to the "mirepoix" page and reading the first sentence. We never did, and still do not, want that kind of content here; it distracts from more interesting questions and makes us look like a content farm. – Aaronut Mar 22 '13 at 02:21
  • I agree on the simple definition part... but the part about "what purpose does it serve" is quite interesting and not a content farm thing. rfusca's answer illustrates that part quite well. – SAJ14SAJ Mar 22 '13 at 02:34

3 Answers3

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Mirepoix means 1: diced onions, carrots, celery and leek. 2. the type of cut of the mirepoix (see 1).

The dices are roughly cut about 1cm and don't have to be completely regular.

When talking about the cut, it should be about 1cm and regular. So you can cut potatoes in mirepoix, meaning 1cm cubes.

So, a cook can say, 'cut me a mirepoix' to mean roughly diced onions, etc.

And a cook can also say, 'cut me a potatoe in mirepoix' to mean evenly diced potatoes.

So, the answer is both. A cut and a combination.

BaffledCook
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    In my experience online and in the US, it much more commonly means combination of ingredients than it does the cut. Also, I think leeks might be optional or regional? – Cascabel Oct 12 '11 at 15:51
  • In my experience (Spain) it means the cut. I've seen that leek is optional on Wikipedia. – BaffledCook Oct 12 '11 at 21:35
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Mirepoix, in every reference I've seen, refers to the chop of vegetables of onion, carrots, and celery - in the ratio of 2:1:1. You dice up the vegetables - normally small, but there are rarer applications (long stews for example) where a larger dice is acceptable, but certainly not the norm.

Mirepoix alone is not intended to be a dish - its a component that goes well with many, many other things. It has its roots in French cuisine and its generally a 'base' that you build other flavors upon. Think of it as "Here's a well known, good starting point to build complex flavors on". They are normally added to the dish very early on and often cooked at low heat in order to 'sweat', often with butter. In addition to their usage in normal dishes, they're included in stocks for the same reason. They provide good aroma and taste to the stock and sit well with other common meats and herbs.

Other cuisines have adapted a similar trio of veggies to use as a base. Cajun cuisine uses bell pepper in the place of carrots and calls it 'The Holy Trinity". Italian cuisine has the same principle in 'soffritto' - the principle difference being olive oil here, although it often contains garlic as well. In Spain, its sofrito - garlic, onions, and tomatoes - but it can also be more sauce-like.

rfusca
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A quick google revealed that it is neither a type of cut nor a type of cuisine, but rather the combination of onions, carrots, and celery that is used as basic flavoring in stocks and soups.

See Wikipedia

HenningJ
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