La Garbure

Name: La Garbure (Rich soup with vegetables and preserved meats)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: salt, pepper; bouquet garni; 175 g (6 oz) jambon de campagne; 250 g (½ lb) salt belly of pork; 1.75 litres (3 pt) water; 125 g (4 oz) celery; 125 g (4 oz) white turnips; 1 large onion; 4 cloves garlic, peeled; 2 small leeks; 250 g (½ lb) potatoes; 250 g (½ lb) white haricot beans (previously soaked if dried); 6 small pieces confit d’oie or confit de canard; 1 Savoy cabbage; 12 small slices stale country bread (to line soup bowls)

Rich soup with vegetables and preserved meats

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Goose Fat & Garlic

By Jeanne Strang

Published 1991

About

This is a typical meal-on-its-own from Southern Gascony, where in the pine forests of Les Landes – François Mauriac country – and the foothills of the Pyrenees, a hearty soup is needed to fight the winter fogs and rains. The vegetables will vary from season to season and in the old days the meat would have depended on what was to hand, even if it was only a small piece of salt belly of pork. The Sunday-best version is made with lou trebuc, pieces of