Recipes: These slow-simmered stews are rich concoctions for fall

For me, a slow-simmered stew stirs up delicious childhood memories. The scent of rough-cut vegetables, meat and broth set at a gentle, slow-tempo bubble is alluring as well as a lesson in patience. A rich, cold weather stewed concoction remains a favorite.

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Later, my culinary training would teach me new names for stews. Fricassees, stews bound with creamy sauces. Blanquettes, white stews enriched with cream or egg yolks. Etouffees, stewy mixtures served over rice whose name is derived from the French word for smothered.

They’re fancy names for comfort food that uses common slow-cooking processes producing scrumptious tidbits surrounded with sauce. The sauce, a velvety broth, is a mixture of natural juices and stewing ingredients, sometimes thickened with flour. It bathes