Garbure (south-west French cabbage and bean soup)

Name: Garbure (south-west French cabbage and bean soup)
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 300 g dried white beans; 100 g smoked bacon, diced; 1 large onion, diced; 3 cloves of garlic, sliced; 2 carrots, sliced into rounds; 1 parsnip, sliced into rounds; 2 medium potatoes, diced; half a head (about 500 g) of savoy cabbage, cut into strips; 2 duck leg confit (ready-made); 2 bay leaves and 2 sprigs of thyme; salt and freshly ground black pepper

Time: 2 hr (plus overnight soaking)6 servingsapprox. 420 kcal / serving (estimated)approx. 24 g protein / serving

Garbure is the peasant soup of Gascony and Béarn: it holds so many vegetables, beans and so much meat that it is a complete lunch on its own. By tradition it is so thick that a ladle stands up in it.

Garbure (south-west French cabbage and bean soup) (illustration)

Open in Receptnaptár — serving calculator, cook mode, save

📱 Keep the screen awake while cooking

Method

Tap a step once you've finished it.

The evening before, soak the beans in plenty of cold water; drain them the next day.
In a large pot, fry the bacon over a medium heat for 5 minutes until the fat renders, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, then add the garlic for 1 minute.
Add the beans, bay leaves and thyme, pour in 2.5 litres of water, bring to the boil and simmer gently, covered, for 1 hour. Do not add salt at this stage.
Add the carrots, parsnip and potatoes, then the cabbage after 15 minutes, season with salt and cook for a further 25-30 minutes.
Take the duck legs out of their fat, remove the skin, pull the meat into larger pieces and add it to the soup for the last 10 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and thyme stalks, taste, season with pepper and serve hot with toasted country bread.

A Receptnaptár original recipe. Calories and protein are estimated.

Tips

Add the salt only together with the vegetables, because this way the skins of the beans will definitely soften.
If there is any in the confit tin, add half a spoonful of duck fat alongside the bacon: it gives the soup its true south-western flavour.
The soup is even better the next day, but also thicker, so thin it with a little water when reheating.
It can also be made with smoked ham hock instead of duck; put it into the pot together with the beans.

Frequently asked questions

Can it be made with tinned beans?

Yes. In that case use 2 tins of drained white beans and add them to the soup only together with the cabbage. The cooking time is reduced to about 45 minutes, but the broth will be less creamy.

What is duck confit?

Duck legs slowly cooked in their own fat and stored in it. It is available ready-made in jars or tins and only needs warming through.

Can it be frozen?

Yes, it keeps for 3 months in an airtight container, though the potatoes will be a little softer.

Similar recipes

Ribollita (Tuscan bread and bean vegetable soup) · Italian
Minestrone (Italian vegetable soup) · Italian
Feijão tropeiro (Brazilian beans with sausage) · Spanish & Portuguese
Breaded Fried Savoy Cabbage · Hungarian
Cassoulet (Toulouse bean and meat stew) · French
Rillettes de canard (duck rillettes) · French

More french ideas

How to use it · Privacy (in Hungarian) · Legal notice (in Hungarian) · Editorial principles (in Hungarian) · Cookie settings

Language: Magyar · Español · Deutsch