What is Mirepoix?

Mirepoix is just a mixture of chopped onions, carrots and celery, slowly sautéed in butter or oil to bring the flavors out (without browning). Generally chopped the same size, mirepoix typically consists of 2 parts onion to 1 part each carrots and celery. This simple mixture is the first step for many recipes, flavoring some of your favorite stews, soups and stock—including our traditional Chicken Stock and Chicken Stew with Classic Dumplings.

Like mirepoix, sofrito is a flavor base. However, instead of the carrot and celery in mirepoix, sofrito is a tomato-based sauce, made with onion, garlic, tomato (or tomato paste) and peppers. A Spanish flavor base, sofrito means “to lightly fry,” and is used in many classic Spanish dishes, like paella, empanadas and stews. Sofrito and its regional variations are popular in many areas of the world, particularly Latin America and the Caribbean, where it's used to flavor soups, beans, rice, and occasionally meat.

Carrot, leek, celeriac (or celery root) and often parsley are the main ingredients in suppengrün, a flavor base from Germany. There's no set ratio of ingredients for suppengrün, and depending on the region, you might also find parsley root, onion, parsnips, rutabaga or thyme in your suppengrün. Meaning “soup greens” in German, suppengrün is, not surprisingly, the base for many soups and stews, like Split Pea Soup and classic German Potato Soup.

This flavor base is made with onion, celery and green bell pepper, and is a staple in Cajun and Louisiana Creole cooking. Garlic, parsley and shallots are common additions as well. The holy trinity is the base for many of the foods we think of when we think of New Orleans: gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and more. If you want to take this flavor base for a tastebud test drive, try our "Big Easy" Gumbo recipe .