French Pork and Cabbage Soup

This soup is one of many examples of what the French call potées—rough-and-tumble affairs in which various combinations of pork, cabbage, beans, duck, beef, sausage, carrots, turnips, onions, and potatoes are simmered slowly until the whole steaming pot is brought to the table and spooned out over slices of stale bread. In traditional potées the cooking broth has all but disappeared into the meat and cabbage; this version, although still a meal in itself, is a bit soupier.