Garbure Béarnaise

Ingredients

• 500 g chou vert frisé (curly green cabbage), shredded
• 400 g tarbais or lingot beans, soaked overnight in cold water, drained
• 400 g waxy potatoes, peeled and roughly cut
• 200 g turnips, peeled and roughly cut
• 200 g carrots, peeled and roughly cut
• 200 g leeks, trimmed and sliced
• For the meats
• 2 confit de canard or d'oie legs, added with all their fat, not trimmed
• 300 g jambon de Bayonne, on the bone
• 250 g taloa or ventresca of salted pork, piece
• Midway additions
• 150 g fresh or dried broad beans, shelled if fresh
• 150 g chestnuts, peeled; optional
• To serve
• 4 slices stale pain de campagne, one per bowl
• To finish (faire chabrot)
• 1 glass Madiran wine, red; poured into the last inch of broth in each bowl

Method

1. 1
   Soak the tarbais or lingot beans in cold water overnight. Drain before use. This step cannot be replaced with canned beans: dry beans dissolve partially during the long simmer, thickening the broth from within.
2. 2
   In a large toupin or cast-iron pot, lay the shredded cabbage as the first layer. Add the potatoes, turnips, carrots, and leeks. Scatter the drained beans over the vegetables. Nest the jambon de Bayonne on the bone and the salted pork into the pot. Place the confit legs on top with all their rendered fat — do not trim. Cover entirely with cold water.
3. 3
   Bring the pot to a bare simmer — 85–90°C — and hold it there. The surface should tremble, not boil. This is where the dish lives or dies: too vigorous a heat breaks the beans to mush, thins the broth, and toughens the meats; a sustained gentle simmer allows the beans to dissolve gradually into the liquid, the confit fat to melt through the cabbage, and the pork and duck gelatin to build the broth's body. Maintain this simmer for 3–4 hours.
4. 4
   Midway through cooking — at the 1.5–2 hour mark — add the broad beans and the chestnuts if using. Stir once to submerge. Leave the crust of fat that forms on the surface undisturbed; it acts as a natural seal.
5. 5
   After 3–4 hours, test the garbure by standing a ladle upright in the pot: it must hold without support. The cabbage should be entirely silky, having absorbed the pork and duck fats. The broth should be opaque and rich, not clear. If too thin, continue simmering uncovered until the ladle test is met.
6. 6
   Remove the meats. Carve the jambon and slice the salted pork; the confit legs may be left whole or the meat pulled from the bone. Place a slice of stale pain de campagne in each deep earthenware bowl. Ladle the garbure over the bread and distribute the meats equally among the bowls. Serve directly from the pot.
7. 7
   To close the meal in the Béarnais manner, pour a glass of Madiran into the last inch of broth remaining in each diner's bowl and drink it from the bowl — the ritual of faire chabrot, or godaille.