Post by gracoman on Jan 28, 2017 19:59:15 GMT -5
Cassoulet takes a bit of doing but it's worth every minute. There is a reason this extraordinary French dish is world famous. It was originally a dish made by, and for, the commoners. A poor man's dish that made use of what was available and even cooked in a Tian which was the French country farmhouse multipurpose bowl used for washing dishes, washing out smaller articles of clothing, prepping vegetables, and even proofing bread dough. The Tian was manufactured in the same area as the Tarbais bean were grown so everybody owned one. The small base opens into a much wider mouth that allows for a larger crust to form which is an important element in this wonderful dish.
Over the years Cassoulet has acquired gourmet status as have many peasant foods of the past. There are two distinct methods and two different cooking vessels used for Cassoulet but the beans are the same.
Traditional meats used in this amazing dish are duck confit (duck legs poached in its own fat), French garlic sausages, and some sort of smoked pork. Duck confit was common in those days. Much more common than chickens. But these days you need to take out a bank loan to buy duck confit or duck legs to make your own confit. I used chicken legs fried in duck fat. I also was lucky enough to find garlic sausages. Smoked pork is something I always have in my freezer so I used that.
One is supposed to break the crust a minimum of five times during the cook to submerge it in the flavorful fatty broth making it more crispy with each break. I had to be out of the house for most of that time for this and just plain forgot about doing it. No matter. There were no complaints.
Cassoulet just out of the oven
From the top
Plated
Words cannot describe how awesome this dish it. If it weren't so time consuming to make I'd have it more often.
I kind of make this up as I go along but a good method to break into this without any special equipment can be found here. I highly recommend giving it a try.
Over the years Cassoulet has acquired gourmet status as have many peasant foods of the past. There are two distinct methods and two different cooking vessels used for Cassoulet but the beans are the same.
Traditional meats used in this amazing dish are duck confit (duck legs poached in its own fat), French garlic sausages, and some sort of smoked pork. Duck confit was common in those days. Much more common than chickens. But these days you need to take out a bank loan to buy duck confit or duck legs to make your own confit. I used chicken legs fried in duck fat. I also was lucky enough to find garlic sausages. Smoked pork is something I always have in my freezer so I used that.
One is supposed to break the crust a minimum of five times during the cook to submerge it in the flavorful fatty broth making it more crispy with each break. I had to be out of the house for most of that time for this and just plain forgot about doing it. No matter. There were no complaints.
Cassoulet just out of the oven
From the top
Plated
Words cannot describe how awesome this dish it. If it weren't so time consuming to make I'd have it more often.
I kind of make this up as I go along but a good method to break into this without any special equipment can be found here. I highly recommend giving it a try.