Garbure bigourdane

Soak the Haricot Tarbais overnight. Cover the 250 g dry Haricot Tarbais with exactly 1500 ml cold water in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 12 hours at 4 °C, then drain and discard every drop of the soak water. The beans are visibly swollen and roughly doubled in weight, giving about 500 g drained soaked beans. Cold soaking hydrates the dry beans evenly before simmering. Use 1500 ml cold water, refrigerate during the soak, then discard all soak water.

Drain the beans and prepare the meats and vegetables. Prepare the 400 g cabbage, 200 g leek, 250 g carrot, 200 g turnip, 500 g potato, 60 g celery, 150 g onion and 15 g garlic in the sizes specified. Keep the 500 g ham heel whole for the first simmer and keep the ready-to-eat confit separate. The soak water is discarded, the vegetables are in large even pieces, and the ham heel is ready to simmer whole. Large cuts survive the long cooking without disappearing into purée. Use clean utensils for ready-to-eat confit.

Bring the beans, ham and aromatics to a full boil. Put the drained soaked beans, ham heel, onion, garlic, celery, thyme and two bay leaves in the heavy pot with the 2000 ml unsalted chicken stock. Bring the whole pot to a full 100 °C boil and hold the boil briefly before lowering the heat. The stock reaches a full boil across the pot before the heat is lowered. A full initial boil gives a clear transition into the long simmer. Skim surface foam as needed and do not taste until the soup has cooked.

Simmer the beans and ham. Lower to a steady low simmer, around 95 °C, cover partly and cook for 75 minutes. Skim if needed and do not add salt. The Haricot Tarbais are nearly tender and the ham has begun to soften, while the liquid remains clearly spoonable. Beans need sustained gentle heat to become creamy without breaking up excessively. Add no salt at this stage because the cured meats supply substantial sodium.

Add the vegetables and continue simmering. Add the cabbage, leek, carrot, turnip and potato. Continue the steady simmer around 95 °C for 45 minutes, stirring carefully enough to keep the beans mostly intact. The beans are completely tender, the potatoes yield easily to a knife, and the cabbage is soft without dissolving. Adding vegetables later prevents them from disintegrating during the full bean cooking time. Maintain enough liquid for a thick yet spoonable soup; do not let the pot dry out.

Debone the ham and add the duck confit. Lift out the ham heel, remove and discard bone, rind and hard waste, and return about 250 g edible ham. Remove bones, excess skin and packing fat from the two confit legs, add about 240 g edible duck plus exactly 20 g retained confit fat, and simmer for 10 minutes until the previously cooked meat reaches 74 °C. The returned ham and duck are distributed through the soup, the final volume is about 3 litres, and the previously cooked confit reaches 74 °C. Adding confit near the end preserves its texture while heating it safely. Discard ham bone, duck bones, excess skin and unmeasured fat; heat all previously cooked meat to 74 °C.