Cassoulet

Thanks for the notes, Frank. When I opened the box I thought it looked as if the ingredients were indeed enough to cook two 8qt dutch ovens using half in each. I will divide the ingredients and make another about six months later. I plan to use both a bit of smoky bacon and bread crumbs. I'll let you know how it turns out when I engage.
Jo

Well, if Frank isnt' the only one cooking then I'll share the recipe I use. I own the book but this appears to be the full text: http://www.claycoyoteblog.com/2010/01/paula-wolferts-cassoulet/

I don't do the pork skin part and I don't often have walnut oil but this is it otherwise.

Jeff, in general I like Paula Wolfert, but I think that is an awfully porky recipe. The kits that Jo Ann, Jenise, and I bought lead to a much duckier cassoulet, and that's something I like about it.

I think if I were to start from scratch I'd probably use less expensive beans and a bit more pork, but I don't know if I'd go quite as far as the Wolfert recipe. Then again she's doing a Toulouse version. I'm slightly curious about the versions that use some lamb, I wonder what that would be like? I think I've been conditioned to think that the bird version IS "cassoulet."

It looks like the kit makes a Castelnaudary style dish. And the Toulouse version is often made with no birds whatever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassoulet

Here's my $0.02 worth, if anyone wants to give it a go.

http://punkchef69.blogspot.com/2009/08/recipe.html

rwj

Interesting. Small beans, and total cooking time of what, 10 hours??

I can believe that they might do it that way in Carcassone...

Yup. You get a crust you won't believe.
rwj

I have been giving this some thought. Some years ago I visited some distant cousins in Germany. They had an oven of the sort that goes back to Roman times. The stone wall of the barn was thickened and had a cavity to serve as the oven. You burn a batch of wood in the stone cavity and then scrape out the embers and ashes and put in your loaves to bake bread. Probably not everyone in town had an oven back 1000 years ago -- I am assuming similar cultures in France and Germany then.

So you put your beans and meat in a pot (a Cassole) and take it to the bakery, and the baker finds space for it over at the side of his oven, and it stays there all day. Makes sense to me. And you get a very crusty cassoulet like Robert's.

Absolutely delicious.

Cass1.jpg

Best wine with it, 2003 Vieux Telegraphe CdP

Yup. You get a crust you won't believe.
rwj

Nice-looking recipe. I'm trying to figure out the logistics, though: roast the pork and boil the beans on Day 1, assemble and cook on Day 2, cook again and serve on Day 3. Is that how to do it?

2003 Vieux Telegraphe CdP

How was it?

In theory, 2003 Chateauneuf sounds frightening. I remember tasting a bunch of them on release and being scared. But things don't always turn out as one expects and on average I would guess more people are appreciating the charms of 03 over time as opposed to the opposite.

Really delicious, and so was the wine.

The texture of the duck was unctuous and very tender, and everything was rich from the combination of melted fats.

We started off with a couple of bruschettas -- one with melted mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes, the other with an olive and tuna tapenade -- with Champagne. Then a pair salad with goat cheese and some 1 inch sliced cauliflower roasted in the oven both really nice. Switched over to the wines and had a good Cotes de Rhone, and the Telegraphe with the cassoulet. Desserts were lemon cream stuffed profiteroles and a perfect apple Tarte Tatin made by Louise, with one of my 2001 Sauternes. Forgot which.

Fabulously beautiful, Frank. Even the picture exhudes with wonderful flavors!! Tell me, did you add the breadcrumbs at the top of the cooking or somewhere near the final hour?

Thanks Jo Ann. I added the crumbs after I "deconstructed" the whole pot and reassembled it. So it sat out on the balcony for several hours, and then I decided that since the temperature was below freezing, the flavors would not develop, so instead I brought it in and put it in our stairwell, which is closer to fridge temperature. At any rate the crumbs were on long enough to get pretty soggy. But then on Saturday I heated at 300 for about 40 minutes, covered, and then uncovered and did another 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Didn't get really brown, I suppose I could have used the broiler, but still it tasted very good.

I am so glad I rearranged the layers. I would say the best possible environment for cooking duck meat must be surrounded by beans. The rest of the dish aside, I have never tasted duck that tender and rich, perfectly cooked, as I it always is in cassoulet.

One possible suggestion. When you cut the confit duck legs and fry them -- you get a little lollipop of meat on the drumstick, and a big slab of meat which is the thigh. To help in "serving fairness" it might be good to cut the fried thighs in half. I dunno, not necessary, but I was serving I was conscious that some people got a big bunch of duck meat and others didn't. If you like duck, the drumstick doesn't cut it, and there are only six thighs...

[Jenise]

Yup. You get a crust you won't believe.
rwj

I had a French friend who insisted that you do not get the magical texture until you break the crust seven times--I counted yours, Robert, and that's about what your recipe does. A question: you stop and refrigerate your cassoulet. Do you feel that step creates something special, or is that just a way to spread the cooking over two days for the sake of convenience?

Yup. You get a crust you won't believe.
rwj

Nice-looking recipe. I'm trying to figure out the logistics, though: roast the pork and boil the beans on Day 1, assemble and cook on Day 2, cook again and serve on Day 3. Is that how to do it?

That's it.
rwj

Yup. You get a crust you won't believe.
rwj

I had a French friend who insisted that you do not get the magical texture until you break the crust seven times--I counted yours, Robert, and that's about what your recipe does. A question: you stop and refrigerate your cassoulet. Do you feel that step creates something special, or is that just a way to spread the cooking over two days for the sake of convenience?

It's a little of both. By the time I have done most of that work I don't have it in me to cook the thing for 7 hours (or the time left in the day, for that matter). It just makes for easier planning for me. I also feel that it really helps build the crust, and cassoulet is all about the crust. I see lots of cassoulet recipes that call for bread crumbs to build the crust. This is a big no-no. A cassoulet with a bread crumb crust would never pass the lips of Le Grande Confrérie du Cassoulet de Castelnaudary. It's kind of similar to how you will never get your Chili recipe into the Terlingua Chili Cook-Off if your recipe contains beans.

rwj

I love this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q76-k4wcDcE&

But we bread-crumb guys don't get to play Petanque with Ariane Daguin

Non! No pentanque for you!

rwj

You mean there's a "Rule #7" for cassoulet???!!!

In the pet food isle of a hypermarche in France, they had cassoulet for dogs. I think that feeding a dog a dish consisting principally of beans would contravene international conventions on gas warfare. Someone should haul the French before the international tribunal in the Hague.

-Paul W.

In my experience, dogs are pretty gassy no matter WHAT they eat!!

Maybe what we need is doggy Bean-O

Coming late to the party, I'll add that I prefer to make my own version using a lightly modified recipe from MFK Fisher, as documented in this thread. Frank, for a good source of Tarbais beans, I'd recommend Purcell Mountain Farms in Idaho. You might also try Rancho Gordo to see if they have them. I agree with Punkchef that bread crumbs are an inauthentic touch, but for those of us who don't have the time to devote to the slow cooking of cassoulet, it's a handy convenience.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Mark, did Bartow come back as promised?

Mark, did Bartow come back as promised?

No, and I don't blame him a bit. The clear solution is that we'll have to visit him in France, which is a win-win if there ever was.

Mark Lipton