Farmhouse-Style Poached Beef and Vegetables

• How to poach beef, poultry, and vegetables
• Some principles behind cooking meat
• Great dishes with pork and cabbage
• How to improvise your own poached meat and poultry variations
• One way to cook short ribs

A pot-au-feu, a pot of simmered beef and vegetables, is to the French what apple pie is to Americans. Its mention evokes hearty, convivial meals and long weekend afternoons sitting at the family table. It’s a grandmother’s dish, not made much anymore in French households because it takes time to cook and eat, but it has a deep appeal in the French heart and brings up memories of home and hearth, and traditions lost. Now that old-fashioned French cooking has become stylish in Paris, it is more likely to be served in a restaurant so that we foreigners can sample it, but it’s best eaten when there’s a large group and a free afternoon. It’s a copious dish and needs lots of red wine to keep everyone’s appetite up.