Cassoulet and December Parties

January 12, 2017January 12, 2017 by M+N In Food, Other, State of Mind 5 Comments

Cassoulet: discovered  in Paris  on Bloomingdale’s buying trips,  revisited at Cafe Loup in NYC.  Cassoulet, a cook’s challenge, perfect to christen our new kitchen at 8 Devon.  It was the early 90’s, importing city friends for dinner parties that ended dancing to DJ Mike in our furniture-empty living room, police stopping by at 2 am to politely shut us down. (Now, the thought of being up at 2 am is alien and police coming by horrifying as it probably wouldn’t be for the tax paying adults in the house.)

Another cassoulet dinner party sometime in the early 2000’s amid the chaos of five young children and then again in October 2011 to celebrate our dear friend Jeff’s 50th birthday. That late October Saturday we awoke to a grey cold and soon heavy snow.  Diana, in Ithaca, laughed when entreated to hurry before the snow made them late for the party.  Moot point as the historic Halloween nor’easter  Snowtober, brought power outages and NJ state of emergency closed the roads. SNAP, SNAP, CRASH as heavy, wet snow accumulations uprooted huge trees and severed big branches. Devon Road went dark when the next door  neighbors huge oak branch fell across the road, bringing the electric pole and wires down with it. Party delayed.

Cassoulet is better when made ahead.  The next day, our  Big Green Egg rewarmed the huge pot of cassoulet, adding wood smoke to its complexity.  The party gathered in our cold, candlelit house around the living room fireplace.   We were nine adults, including Diana’s mother Ella (then 86 years old) and five non college age children, trying not to freeze.

A lovely party made special by the wonder and grace of tragedy averted, the thrill of the unexpected and what we didn’t know (that power would be out for 12 days, school closed for a week,  Halloween cancelled and that  almost a year later Hurricane Sandy would replicate all this…except cassoulet).

Mike’s birthday in December has provided ample opportunity for holiday parties: surprise large dinners for age benchmarks of 35, 40, 45, 55  and several others in between. This December, at the last possible moment, duck legs from  Vacchiano Farms in the freezer suggested duck confit and cassoulet and one more  birthday soiree for Mike at 8 Devon.

And so to the end of the year, time allowing for an abundance of lasts, too many really.  The final work on our current house:  attic guard rail added,  sump pump redirected,  sidewalks redone. CO obtained. Leaves raked. The page rustles, and turns.

                                                                                           

CASSOULET RECIPE

CASSOULET ORIGIN:  A French peasant dish originally from the Dordogne region of France. A way to use up the ‘bits’ of meat left from other big meals and to include the abundant duck confit.  Originally made in a “cassole”, its wide top and conical shape maximizing the crust of breadcrumbs.

 

CASSOULET  DECONSTRUCTED:  Layers of Tarbais beans alternate with duck confit, fresh pork garlic sausages, pork belly, unsmoked ham, pork and lamb, topped with a bread crumbs crust.

CASSOULET CHALLENGE:  Requires advance reconnaissance and several days prep. Procuring the beans and different meats, preparing the duck confit, soaking beans…

Following is a simple, general guide to making cassoulet.  By no means, should this be your only recipe.  Consult cookbooks and Internet for the countless versions/methods.

THREE DAYS OUT 

•  Tarbais beans.  Rinse and place 1# beans  in a large bowl.  Cover with cold water. Soak overnight. (Other good quality dried beans, like cranberry or navy, can be substituted).
•  Meats. Gather some or all of the following. (Union Pork Store is a great local treasure for all things pork.  Our farm to table source, Vacchiano Farms  has duck,  pork and lamb shoulder.)
  • Duck legs 4-6
  • 4-6 fresh pork garlic sausages
  • Pork Belly  about 1 1/2#
  • Slab Bacon 1#, unsliced
  • 2-3 Unsmoked ham hocks
  • 2-3 Pigs ears (optional)
  • Lamb shoulder on bone in large chunks about 2# or 1.5# Pork shoulder
• Prep Meats

Place the bacon, sliced pork belly, and the pig ears into a stockpot, cover with several inches of water, bring to a boil over high heat. Blanch for 5 to 6 minutes, then remove from the water and allow to cool. Put the slices of pork belly on a plate, then dice the pork skin, cube the bacon and, if using, julienne the pig ears, and add these to the plate. Cover, and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Season duck legs with this spice mixture:  2 tablespoons kosher salt, 1 tablespoon ground white pepper, and a healthy pinch each of ground cardamon, coriander, nutmeg, sweet paprika, cayenne pepper.  Place on a platter, covered, in the refrigerator at least overnight. 

TWO DAYS BEFORE

Duck Confit. Melt 1 quart duck fat (D’Artagnan or ShopRite and Kings) in a heavy, oven-safe pot deep enough to hold the duck legs, and three whole heads of garlic.  Add the duck legs and the garlic to the fat, along with the 2 bay leaves, sprigs of thyme and rosemary and 4 star anise. Cover and simmer in a 325 oven for several hours, until the duck is tender and soft and the heads of garlic have almost collapsed. Remove the legs and the garlic from the fat, and allow to cool. (Strain and reserve the perfumed duck fat. It will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for quite some time).

Beans. Put around 5 quarts of water in a large, heavy-bottomed pot  (Le Creuset dutch ovens are perfect), then add drained beans and bouquet garni 2 bay leaf, 1 celery rib, 1/2 peeled carrot, 1/2 medium-size peeled onion, 1/2 head garlic, 6-8 sprigs of parsley, wrapped together in a cheesecloth sachet), the unsmoked ham hocks,  and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat to a simmer, and cook until the beans are softening but not quite cooked through, 30-90 minutes, depending on freshness of beans. Add salt to taste at end.  Reserve the beans and cooking liquid separately. Cool the ham hocks and dice the meat. Discard bouquet garni.

Prepare Meats

Lamb/Pork Shoulder. Return same dutch oven to medium heat, and add to it 2 tablespoons of the reserved duck fat. When it shimmers, add the lamb (make sure it’s dry) and brown each piece, same with pork if using.  Add a sliced onion and brown, and then chopped garlic. Deglaze the pan with a cup or so of white wine. Remove to a casserole, add 2T tomato paste, rosemary or thyme, and enough stock just to cover lamb/pork. Salt lightly, cover and simmer slowly until meat is tender, about 1 & 1/2 hours. Correct seasoning. When cool, remove and discard bones from lamb.   Retain the broth for the cassoulet as needed.

Sausages.  Add the garlic sausages to the pot, and sauté until lightly browned, approximately 5 minutes per side, then remove, when cool, slice 1″.

Cook vegetables. In Le Creuset pot add more duck fat and:

• small carrots, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups
• 2 ribs celery, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups
• 1 medium-size turnip, trimmed, peeled and diced, 1-2 cups
• 1 small rutabaga, trimmed, peeled and diced, 1- 2 cups

Sweat vegetables slowly in the fat, stirring often, until they begin to soften, 10-15 minutes. Take pot off heat and combine vegetables with the reserved partially cooked beans. Squeeze the heads of garlic to release the garlic confit and stir in to beans along with 2T tomato paste.

Assemble the cassoulet. Place about a third of the beans/vegetable mixture  in the Le Creuset. Layer half of the cooked duck and meats on top of beans. Repeat beans and rest of the meats/duck.  End with last third of beans. Add enough of the reserved bean-cooking water to just cover the beans.

Bread crumbs.  Brown 2 cups or so freshly made bread crumbs in a few tablespoons duck fat. Mix in  1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley.  Spread over top of cassoulet.

Simmer for about an hour at 325, or until the beans are cooked through and the crust is browned. (alternatively follow directions below to serve at once).  Cool overnight and cook as below.

TO SERVE

Reheating. If you have assembled and refrigerated the cassoulet in advance, bring to room temp before placing the covered casserole in a 325-degree oven for an hour or more until its contents are bubbling and the center of the cassoulet reaches 212 degrees.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Remove cover. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until breadcrumb topping has crusted and browned lightly.  Break the crust into the beans with the back of a spoon and return casserole to the oven.

Lower temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking 15 minutes or more until a second crust has formed. (traditionally cassoulet crust was broken 7 times!). Break crust into the beans, and if the cooking liquid seems too thick or the beans dry, add a spoonful or so of the bean-cooking liquid or stock from lamb. When the crust forms again, the cassoulet is ready to serve.