Pot au Feu is essentially a beautiful, tender pot-roast that is served in a clear, beef broth studded with vegetables.
I found this recipe written in pencil on a 3 x 5 card tucked inside my Grandmother Schwyhart's old, worn cookbook. The apples are particularly nice in this dish; they puff up as they cook, and they really soak up the other flavors.
We all need a great beef stew in our cooking back pocket, and this one’s mine. It’s fairly classic in its preparation — the meat is browned, then piled into a sturdy pot and slow-roasted with a lot of red wine, a splash of brandy, and some onions, garlic, carrots, and a little herb bouquet to keep it company. It finishes spoon-tender, sweet and winey through and through, and burnished the color of great-grandma’s armoire.