Potée Bourguignonne

Ingredients

• 600 g petit salé (salt-cured pork belly), soaked 12 hours in cold water to desalinate, water changed once
• 800 g palette de porc (blade shoulder, fresh)
• 400 g saucisses de campagne or Jésus de Morteau, whole
• 1 pig's trotter, split lengthways
• Aromatics
• 1 onion piqué, peeled, studded with 2 cloves
• 1 bouquet garni, bay, thyme, parsley stems
• 1 tsp black peppercorns, whole
• Vegetables
• 600 g carrots, peeled, halved lengthways
• 400 g turnips, peeled, quartered
• 600 g potatoes, peeled, left whole if small
• 4 leeks, trimmed, white and pale green only, tied in a bundle
• 1 savoy cabbage, quartered, core partially trimmed
• To serve
• 6 slices stale country bread, one slice per bowl for the soupe course
• 1 Dijon mustard
• 100 g cornichons
• 1 coarse sea salt, for the table

Method

1. 1
   Drain the soaked petit salé and rinse it under cold running water. Place it in the pot with the palette de porc and the split pig's trotter. Cover with cold water by at least 5 cm. Set over a moderate flame and bring very slowly to a bare simmer — 85–90 °C, a trembling surface with the occasional bubble breaking through. This ascent should take 20–25 minutes. As the liquid heats, grey foam will rise; skim it away continuously. Add the onion piqué, bouquet garni, and peppercorns. The broth is ready to proceed when it runs clear and steady at the trembling simmer.
2. 2
   Maintain the trembling simmer without interruption for 1 hour 30 minutes, skimming as needed in the first 30 minutes — after that, impurities diminish. The meats should yield slightly when pressed but hold their shape. This is where the dish lives or dies: a rolling boil at any point will render the meats stringy and the broth permanently cloudy; patience and restraint at the flame are the only instruments. The broth should be golden and smell deeply of pork.
3. 3
   While the meats simmer, bring a separate pan of unsalted water to a full boil. Plunge the quartered savoy cabbage in and blanch for 5 minutes to expel bitterness and sulfur. Drain and refresh under cold water. Set aside. The cabbage is ready when the leaves have softened and the water shows no green tinge from released compounds.
4. 4
   At the 1 hour 30 minute mark, add the carrots, turnips, potatoes, and leek bundle to the pot. Return to the trembling simmer — do not allow the addition of cold vegetables to provoke a boil. Continue at 85–90 °C for a further 30 minutes. The root vegetables are ready when a knife meets moderate resistance at their centres.
5. 5
   Add the blanched cabbage quarters to the pot. Nestle the sausage in among the other meats and vegetables. Simmer for a final 20 minutes. The sausage is done when it feels firm throughout and shows no pink at the centre when probed; the cabbage should be tender but not collapsed.
6. 6
   To serve: ladle the clear, golden broth into deep bowls, each holding one slice of stale country bread — the bread is the soupe, not a garnish. Serve this first course at the table. Then lift the meats and vegetables from the pot, slice the pork cuts thickly, and arrange everything on a large warmed platter. Present with Dijon mustard, cornichons, and coarse salt alongside. The broth should be clear, deeply porky, and lip-coating; cloudiness or pallor signals that the simmer was not held.