Baeckeoffe — Alsace, France

Baeckeoffe is a mixed meat and potato stew sealed inside its own terrine and baked for hours, so that nothing escapes and the dish arrives at the table exactly as it left the oven. It is placed here under Alsace as a whole rather than under one town, since the dish is reported across the region without being tied to a single place. It is remembered as the dish of washing day, a Monday habit in which households would drop the filled terrine off at the baker's in the morning; the baker would slide it into his oven, still warm from the day's bread, and it would be collected around midday. Beef, pork and lamb — sometimes with a pig's trotter added for body — are cut into cubes and left to marinate overnight in Riesling with onions, carrots, garlic and a bouquet garni. The next day, the meats are layered with sliced potatoes, onions and leeks inside an earthenware terrine, traditionally one fired in Soufflenheim, then covered with the strained marinade. The lid is sealed with a rope of flour-and-water paste so no steam can escape during the several hours it spends in the oven. The seal is broken only at the table, releasing the smell of the three meats cooked together in one long, slow process. The proportions of meat, the addition of the trotter, and how far in advance the meats are marinated vary by household, but the sealed terrine and the three-meat mix mark the dish out wherever it is made.