Mirpua

In European cuisine, the use of a variety of soup greens is widespread, which is essentially a mixture of numerous root crops. In particular, the most common ingredients in the so-called soup greens are carrots, celery root, rutabaga, parsley root, leek, onions, as well as parsley, thyme, celery leaves and the like.

Basically, the use of such greens involves adding it to the broths in order to give them a greater aroma. It is noteworthy that vegetable crops in different combinations, depending on the recipes of national cuisines, can be added to the broth both entirely (for example, in German cuisine) and finely cut (French cuisine).

Regarding the latter option, it must be said that in the culinary tradition of France, a vegetable mixture of mirpua has long been popular, along with almost the same one called matignon. Basically, mirpua includes only three ingredients - fresh carrots, celery and onions. All these vegetables are peeled and cut into a cube of certain sizes, after which they are subjected to culinary processing.

Interestingly, similar combinations of vegetables are found in other world cuisines. For example, Spain has a mixture of sofrito, which sounds like olores in Costa Rican, but is essentially a mixture of onion, celery, garlic and sweet pepper. The same components, with the exception of paprika, are characteristic of the Italian soffritto mixture, and in Portugal, a mirpua-like mixture is called refogado and includes stewed onions, tomatoes and garlic.

It is worth saying that the technique of preparing mirpua is much more ancient compared to the culinary term itself, the first mention of which dates back to the 18th century. The mirpua mixture was named after the aristocrat Charles-Pierre-Gaston François de Lévy Mirpois, who was also known as a French field marshal, ambassador and member of the noble Lévy family.

So, according to the book Larousse Gastronomique, published in 1938, a mixture of mirpua can be prepared in two ways: with meat (like matignon) and lean, that is, using exclusively vegetables. By the way, in Kazhun and Creole kitchens, mirpua or as the "holy trinity" is jokingly called this mixture is a combination of onion, celery and bell pepper.

However, traditionally, the ratio of certain proportions is always observed in the composition of mirpua. In particular, onions, celery and carrots must correspond to proportions of 2: 1:
1. In addition, if you cook a white mirpua, instead of carrots, put parsnips, which will give the mixture a characteristic pale color.