If you have eaten a meal here at Alto, you know that our kitchen prides itself on delicious, innovative dishes and excellent service.  To accomplish this, Chef Damian and his cook staff make a lot of their dishes and the ingredients they are composed of from scratch.  This includes our stocks, which simmer away for an astonishing 24 hours before making their way onto your plates.  For all his culinary scheming, though, Chef Damian never strays from the traditional technique of beginning his broths with aromatics, or mirepoix.

Mirepoix was invented in the 18th century by the personal chef of the Duc de Lèvis-Mirepoix, whose duchy was located in the Ariège, Occitanie region of France.  The Duc’s chef de cuisine cooked up the culinary idea while Lèvis-Mirepoix was visiting King Louis XV in Versailles; the chef shared his idea with the royal kitchen, and what we know today as mirepoix quickly became a staple of traditional French cooking.

Your traditional French mirepoix is made up of just four simple ingredients: two parts onion, one part carrots, one part celery, and an herb of choice (typically thyme or parsley).  There is also a Creole, or Cajun version, known as the “holy trinity,” which consists of onion, celery, and green bell pepper.  For your Alto dishes, the kitchen utilizes the French mirepoix.

Specifically for broth, you must have some kind of salt in order to open up the flavor, otherwise it is merely a flavorless bone broth.  Mirepoix is a natural answer to do this – slow-simmering the vegetable quartet with the other broth ingredients adds a natural salt and deepens the flavor.  Oftentimes, onion skins will be left on to simmer with the other vegetables, giving a richer color to the broth.

If you’re curious to know into which Alto dishes this tasty staple of cooking finds its way, check with your Alto server or helpful kitchen staff – they will be happy to chat with you!  Bon appétit!