pot-au-feu

/ˌˈpɔd ˈoʊ ˌfʌ/

If dinner tonight will be beef stew, you can make it sound fancier by calling it pot-au-feu, which means the same thing in French.

This loan from French is almost always a good response to the question "what's for dinner," since its literal meaning is only "pot on the fire." In practice, pot-au-feu designates a stew, and it joins the list of dishes whose names are drawn from their cooking vessels or implements. Hot pot is surely a relative!

Definitions of pot-au-feu

1. noun

   traditional French stew of vegetables and beef
   type of:

   stew

   food prepared by stewing especially meat or fish with vegetables