Inspired by a recent recipe in Elle Decor, written by Daniel Boulud, I decided to try my hand at garbure. The original recipe is here.
Garbure is a traditional peasant vegetable and cabbage soup from the Southwest of France (Gascony/Basque/Bearn regions). The ingredients in a recipe vary, as it is a potage or soup made from what is seasonally at hand. Suggestions (found online) to include in such a garbure are: green cabbage, tarbais beans, fresh or dry beans, mange-tout, potatoes, turnips, peas, onions, carrots, kale or lettuce, chestnuts, nettles or borage. A winter soup would likely include root vegetables and a summer one might have tomatoes and fresh beans.
A suggested wine is one of the region: Madiran AOC. Boulud suggests to serve the garbure with garlic bread.
As for the meat component, duck confit thighs are more traditional than legs, but you can also add a piece of ham, pork, sausage, ribs, or even organ meats.
The Chabrot:
Before finishing the soup, it is traditional to make chabrot by diluting the remaining soup by pouring a little red wine into the bowl or onto the plate (about ½ glass). Then you drink it out of the bowl or plate in small mouthfuls. It is likely that the root of the word come from the latin capreolus “to drink like a goat” which is what one would emulate drinking from the plate or bowl.
Despite all my discussions, this is an easy recipe to make. Cooking time is about 45 mins, prep time is probably 30 mins. The measurements in the recipe do not need to be exact. The solid elements should balance the liquid so that there is chabrot that can be made at the end (there needs to be enough broth). The quality of the chicken stock will matter, so use your own housemade if you can.
If you are adapting the recipe to what you have at hand, I would suggest choosing about 4-5 vegetables and 1 or 2 meats to add beyond the duck, cabbage and beans. Since sizes of vegetables vary, you will have to use your best judgement when to stop and how much to use. I suggest that you chop all the vegetables and mix them in a bowl first – it will give you a better idea of ratio. I had a large cabbage and I decided to use about half (the size of a small to medium cabbage) to keep a balance – even then, cabbage was major player in the soup.
