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Cassoulet
Slow-Cooked Meat Stew
1 LB dried northern beans
10 TBS duck fat or olive oil
16 cloves garlic, mashed
2 onions, peeled & chopped
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
2 large ham hocks
1 LB pork shoulder, cut into 1"cubes
1⁄2 LB pancetta, cubed
4 sprigs fresh oregano
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 bay leaves
Twine
1 C whole peeled canned tomatoes
1 C white wine
2 C chicken broth
4 Confit de Canard (Confit Duck Legs)
1 LB pork sausage
2 C plain breadcrumbs
Soak beans overnight in a bowl with 7-1/2 cups of water. Heat two tablespoons duck fat or olive oil in a large cooking pot over medium-high heat. Add half the garlic, onions and carrots; cook and stir until lightly browned, about ten minutes. Add ham hocks along with beans and soaking water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer beans until tender, about one hour to ninety minutes. Transfer ham hocks to a plate; allow to cool. Remove ham meat from bone; discard skin, bone and gristle. Chop ham; add to beans. Set aside. Heat two tablespoons duck fat or olive oil in a five-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add cubed pork shoulder; brown for about eight minutes. Add pancetta; cook for five minutes. Add remaining garlic, onions and carrots; cook and stir until lightly browned, about ten minutes. Tie oregano, thyme and bay leaves together with twine; add to a skillet with tomatoes. Cook until liquid thickens, about eight to ten minutes. Add wine; reduce by half. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, uncovered, until liquid thickens, about one hour. Discard herbs; set Dutch oven aside.
In a large skillet, sear four Confit de Canard in two tablespoons duck fat or olive oil over medium-high heat for eight minutes; transfer to a plate. Brown the pork sausage in remaining fat for about eight minutes; cut sausages into 1⁄2" slices. Pull duck meat off bones; discard fat and bones. Stir duck and sausages into pork stew. Heat oven to 300-degrees F. Mix beans and pork stew in a four-quart casserole dish; cover with breadcrumbs and drizzle remaining duck fat on top. Bake, uncovered, for about three hours. Increase oven temperature to 500-degrees F; cook until crust is golden, about five minutes. Serve.
*Cassoulet image (C) Broken Sphere (2005). Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
Related Link:
Food Fare Culinary Collection: French Nourriture
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