The 3-Ingredient Base That Will Improve Your Soups

The word is mirepoix. Say it with us: meer-pwah. If you don't know what it means, it sounds intimidating in the way that French loanwords often do. (If you prefer Italian, you can call it soffritto.) Mirepoix sounds like it could refer to a rare species of mushroom that costs $50 an ounce, or a complicated technique for preserving duck offal that you only learn in culinary school. But really, it's nothing scary: mirepoix just refers to carrots, onions, and celery that are diced into small pieces and cooked low and slow in some kind of fat. 

What is it used for? Is it some kind of vegetable medley or savory snack? Well, we say that it's "cooked low and slow" for a reason. Mirepoix isn't something you saute and spoon into a bowl to serve alongside coq au vin. Instead, mirepoix serves as a flavor base for all kinds of dishes including stews, sauces, and soups.

Mirepoix is named after the chef who popularized the concept — or rather, the very wealthy French aristocrat who employed the chef who popularized the concept. Gaston Pierre de Levis was the lord of Mirepoix, a small French town, and was by all accounts kind of a drip. His status in society came about solely because Louis XV liked his wife so much. But Pierre de Levis did employ a pretty good chef, and this is who we have to thank for mirepoix — our sturdy three-ingredient soup base.

The precise ratio for a mirepoix is two parts onion, one part carrot, and one part celery. You can, of course, adjust as you please, but if you follow the recipe exactly you'll get an outstanding foundation to build a soup from. You can use mirepoix as a base for homemade chicken broth or turkey stock, to start a warming winter soup, or for aromatics in a stew (beef bourguignon, anyone?). These possibilities are only the beginning — not bad for three humble veggies.