Porc au Pot Béarnais

Ingredients

• 800 g petit salé (salted pork belly), soaked in cold water 12 hours, drained
• 700 g pork blade (palette), fresh, bone-in
• 1 pig's trotter, split in half
• 3 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise
• 2 turnips, peeled, quartered
• 4 potatoes, peeled, left whole if small
• 3 leeks, trimmed, white and pale green parts only
• For the farcidure
• 200 g stale bread, crusts removed, torn
• 150 g pork liver, finely chopped
• 80 g cooked ham, finely chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 20 g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
• To serve
• 6 slices of bread, for the soup course
• 1 jar Dijon mustard
• 1 jar cornichons

Method

1. 1
   Twelve hours before cooking, submerge the petit salé in a large bowl of cold water. Change the water once during this period. Drain and rinse before use. This step is not optional: un-soaked salt pork will render the broth inedibly salty.
2. 2
   Place the drained petit salé, the pork blade, and the split trotter in a large pot. Cover with cold water by at least 5 cm. Bring slowly to a bare simmer over medium heat, skimming the grey foam continuously as it rises. The surface should be clear and the liquid barely trembling — a full boil will cloud the broth and toughen the meat.
3. 3
   Once the broth runs clear, add no further aromatics. Maintain a gentle simmer — a few lazy bubbles at the surface — for 1 hour. The smell should be clean and porky, not sharp or acrid.
4. 4
   While the meats simmer, prepare the farcidure. Soak the stale bread in a ladleful of the hot broth until fully saturated, then squeeze firmly with both hands until as dry as possible — the mixture must be firm enough to hold a slice, not a porridge. Combine the squeezed bread with the chopped pork liver, ham, garlic, parsley, and beaten eggs. Season. The mixture should hold its shape when pressed into a ball.
5. 5
   Flour the interior of a thick cotton cloth generously. Place the farcidure mixture at the centre, form it into a compact round, and tie the cloth loosely above it — leave room for the dumpling to expand during poaching. The knot must be secure but the cloth not drum-tight.
6. 6
   After the meats have simmered 1 hour, add the carrots, turnips, potatoes, and leeks to the pot. Lower the cloth-wrapped farcidure in on top, fully submerged. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: if the farcidure goes in too wet it will dissolve into the broth; if it goes in too early the vegetables will be lost to mush before the dumpling is cooked. From this point, maintain a steady, gentle simmer for a further 1 hour 30 minutes, turning the farcidure once at the halfway point.
7. 7
   At the end of cooking, lift the farcidure from the pot and unwrap it on a board. It should be firm, cohesive, and hold a clean edge when pressed with a finger. A skewer inserted at the centre should meet no raw resistance. The meats are done when a fork slides in and out without effort.
8. 8
   Ladle the clear, golden broth over bread slices in warmed soup bowls and serve as the first course. Then arrange the meats, vegetables, and thick slices of farcidure on a warmed platter and bring to the table with Dijon mustard and cornichons.