Boiled Dinners

Most of the regions of central and northern France claim their own potées, but they are all pretty much alike and a Bourguignon being served a potée in Auvergne, Lorraine, or Savoie might well mistake it for his very own. In addition to the usual pot-au-feu vegetables, white beans and cabbage often find their place in a potée, and the meats are usually chosen from a variety of pork products—sausages, salt or smoked slab bacon, ham, ears, heads, tails, feet . . . Cabbage should, for the sake of digestion, be first parboiled and drained and, to get rid of excessive salt, it is best to first soak salt pork and then parboil it and drain it. Otherwise, it is essentially a question of throwing everything together and cooking until done.