FRENCH GOURMET PORK, SAUSAGE, AND VEGETABLE STEW

French Gourmet Pork, Sausage, and Vegetable Stew image

Provided by Polar Bear

Categories Stew

Time 3h45m

Yield 10 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 14

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2 cups dried white beans (such as cannellini, borlotti, or Great Northern or diced potatoes added 30 minutes before cooking is)
5 -6 lbs trimmed boneless pork shoulder
3 garlic cloves, crushed, peeled
1 medium bouquet garni
5 juniper berries, crushed with the side of a knife, tied up in cheesecloth (or 3 tsps. gin or equal parts crushed bay leaves and caraway seeds)
1 lb thick slab bacon, preferably with rind, left whole
1 large cabbage (preferably Savoy)
1 lb pork or 1 lb garlic sausage
2 large carrots
1 medium turnip
1 medium onion, peeled
2 cloves
salt
10 slices thick toasted French bread

Steps:

Rinse beans and soak beans overnight or at least 4 hours with as much water to cover them entirely as they expand.
To serve this rich stew as a first-course soup, cut cabbages into wedges and as thinly as possible.
All vegetables and meats are cut into cubes or diced and add more liquid.
Use only half of the pork shoulder.
Trim off excess fat from pork shoulder.
Tie the shoulder into an oval and put it in a large pot, ideally just wide enough to hold the shoulder with the shoulder bone if there was one.
Add garlic, bouquet garni, juniper berries.
Pour in enough cold water to cover and bring to a gentle simmer.
Cut the rind off the bacon and add to liquid with pork shoulder.
Simmer very gently uncovered, using ladle to skim off fat and froth.
Cut cabbage into 10 wedges.
Remove strip of core at inner edges.
When the shoulder has cooked for 1 17" hours, add the beans.
Simmer for 30 minutes more and nestle in the cabbage wedges, sausage, and the rest of the vegetables.
Simmer for one hour more.
The pork cooks for a total of 3 hours.
Strain contents of pot and set over a bowl or clean pot.
Discard bouquet garni and shoulder bone.
Skim off a bit of the fat.
Season the broth to taste with salt.
Slice the meats.
Serve broth and vegetables in bowls, each with a slice of toast at the bottom of each bowl and the meats placed on top.