HungryForever

SOUPE AUX CHOUX — GARBURE [Main-course Cabbage Soup]

This fine and uncomplicated peasant soup is a comforting dish for a cold winter day. In the Basque country, a good cabbage soup must always include a chunk of lard rance, their slightly rancid and much appreciated salt pork; otherwise, the dish is considered to lack distinction. In neighboring Béarn, confit d’oie—preserved goose—is added to the pot to warm up in the soup at the end of its cooking.

Ingredients

3quarts ½Water
3cups to 4peeledquartered “boiling” potatoes
A 1½-pound chunk of lean salt porklean bacon, or smoked, unprocessed ham
2pounds or 3 quarts of roughly sliced cabbage
8pinch crushed peppercorns or a bigof ground chili peppers
Salt as necessaryadded near the end
6 parsley sprigs tied with 1 bay leaf
tsp ½marjoram
tsp ½thyme
4cloves mashed garlic
2 medium onions studded with 2 cloves

2 peeled, quartered carrots Optional additions

2 to 4 peeledquartered turnips
2cups to 3 sliced celery stalks 1 to 2fresh white beansor half-cooked navy beans, or add canned white or red beans to soup 10 to 15 minutes before end of simmering

Instructions

Place the water, potatoes, and meat in the kettle and bring it to the boil.
Add the cabbage and all the other ingredients. Simmer partially covered for 1½ to 2 hours or until the meat is tender. Discard parsley bundle. Remove the meat, slice it into serving pieces, and return it to the kettle. Correct seasoning. Skim off accumulated fat. (*) If not to be served immediately, set aside uncovered. Reheat to simmer before serving.