With all this talk of paella, I'd be interested in an excellent recipe for the quintessential French country dish. I've never made it and would love to try. Anybody ever attempt this?
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quote:Originally posted by Board-O:
I've never made it
That surprises me.
I make it every winter, yet still waiting for winter this year. ( 76 today) I bought our first piece of Le Creuset just for this dish.
D is heading out soon for an equestrian event for two weeks in Scottsdale. If I can find my favorite recipe, I will post it. If not, I will email it to you when she returns.
I also look forward to new recipes.
I've always wanted to- have even assembled a collection of 5 or 6 recipes to try, but have never quite gotten around to actually doing it. If I recall correctly, Julia Childs' recipe is something like three days long. That's a lot of time, but I guess if you want it done right....
TJ, I think, had posted his recipe a long while back, and I kept it. I recall it having all the essential elements and seemed much more friendly to ones schedule.
I love my Le Creuset, w+a. We have a 13.5 qt round-the "child cooker"-and it's great. Use for osso bucco, boeuf bourguignon, soups, just about anything really. The nice part is that it is very easy to lean as well. The fonde in the bottom wipes away with very little effort.
TJ, I think, had posted his recipe a long while back, and I kept it. I recall it having all the essential elements and seemed much more friendly to ones schedule.
I love my Le Creuset, w+a. We have a 13.5 qt round-the "child cooker"-and it's great. Use for osso bucco, boeuf bourguignon, soups, just about anything really. The nice part is that it is very easy to lean as well. The fonde in the bottom wipes away with very little effort.
quote:Originally posted by AllRed:
I've always wanted to- have even assembled a collection of 5 or 6 recipes to try, but have never quite gotten around to actually doing it. If I recall correctly, Julia Childs' recipe is something like three days long. That's a lot of time, but I guess if you want it done right....
I love my Le Creuset, w+a. We have a 13.5 qt round-the "child cooker"-and it's great. Use for osso bucco, boeuf bourguignon, soups, just about anything really. The nice part is that it is very easy to lean as well. The fonde in the bottom wipes away with very little effort.
AllRed, the one I cook takes two days.
As for Le Creuset, I completely agree.
quote:Originally posted by AllRed:
I love my Le Creuset, w+a. We have a 13.5 qt round
Very nicequote:Originally posted by wine+art:quote:Originally posted by Board-O:
I've never made it
That surprises me.
I make it every winter, yet still waiting for winter this year. ( 76 today) I bought our first piece of Le Creuset just for this dish.
D is heading out soon for an equestrian event for two weeks in Scottsdale. If I can find my favorite recipe, I will post it. If not, I will email it to you when she returns.
I also look forward to new recipes.
Hey, no reciepe hogging!!
Thanks for the idea. I have now made it my goal to make this soon. Now I need to source some duck fat and some garlic sausage…among a huge list of other ingredients.
I'm excited for this thread, and looking forward to many recipes to try.
I make cassoulet twice a year. The recipe I use is from The Food of France published by Murdoch Books, page 194. It only takes about four hours, or eight hours if I am roasting the duck myself, rather than buying the pre-cooked confit from Whole Foods.
As with paella, improvisation is perfectly fine here. We are talking about peasant food -- a casserole of leftovers, after all. Most recently, I used leftover Thanksgiving turkey dark meat instead of duck, with excellent results.
As with paella, improvisation is perfectly fine here. We are talking about peasant food -- a casserole of leftovers, after all. Most recently, I used leftover Thanksgiving turkey dark meat instead of duck, with excellent results.
I don't see how this would take three days: http://imperfectnest.com/julia...-cassoulet-designtv/
Seems like you could strech it into three days if you'd like but seems like you can do all that in, at the very least, one full day. Am I missing something?
Seems like you could strech it into three days if you'd like but seems like you can do all that in, at the very least, one full day. Am I missing something?
Cassoulet is also on my "to do" list this year along with making the confit for the dish.
Those of you talking about making it in a day or a few hours; are you not making the confit yourself? I am figuring that you are buying the confit or you are omitting it and making a psuedo-cassoulet.
Everything that I have read about properly making confit states that it rests on top of salt, garlic and perhaps rosemary and then has more of the same on top. It rests like this in the fridge for one to two days. Then, it is cooked in the duck fat for about 4 hours at a low temperature. After that step, it rests in the fridge for about one week while fully submerged in duck fat.
Here is the technique that I am planning on using to make the confit.
Those of you talking about making it in a day or a few hours; are you not making the confit yourself? I am figuring that you are buying the confit or you are omitting it and making a psuedo-cassoulet.
Everything that I have read about properly making confit states that it rests on top of salt, garlic and perhaps rosemary and then has more of the same on top. It rests like this in the fridge for one to two days. Then, it is cooked in the duck fat for about 4 hours at a low temperature. After that step, it rests in the fridge for about one week while fully submerged in duck fat.
Here is the technique that I am planning on using to make the confit.
quote:Originally posted by Altaholic:
Cassoulet is also on my "to do" list this year along with making the confit for the dish.
Those of you talking about making it in a day or a few hours; are you not making the confit yourself? I am figuring that you are buying the confit or you are omitting it and making a psuedo-cassoulet.
Everything that I have read about properly making confit states that it rests on top of salt, garlic and perhaps rosemary and then has more of the same on top. It rests like this in the fridge for one to two days. Then, it is cooked in the duck fat for about 4 hours at a low temperature. After that step, it rests in the fridge for about one week while fully submerged in duck fat.
Here is the technique that I am planning on using to make the confit.
nicki sizemore.
now that, has a good ring to it.
Looks like everything you need can be purchased here: http://www.dartagnan.com/51182...ulet-Recipe-Kit.html. -mJ
Alta, I hope you'll post your experiences with that recipe abd how you feel the final product was. It looks relatively simple.
funny thing. haven't been here in few years. decided to make cassoulet today. checked in and guess what, cassoulet is a hot topic. NICE!
quote:Originally posted by Altaholic:
Here is the technique that I am planning on using to make the confit.
Excellent link, Alta. Much appreciated. I think I'll try this method soon.
Cassoulet is as easy as making a casserole.
Duck Confit
Sausage
Beans
everything else is pretty much left to your own discretion...
it's pork n' beans with some duck confit thrown in, and garnished with some toasted / herbed bread crumbs. That's the basics... if you can make Coq Au Vin, or Boeuf Bourguignon, you can make Cassoulet.
One little tip - use a lot of thyme, and splash it with a little pernod (but I personally love pernod and use it on a lot of french dishes, so to each their own on that one).
Duck Confit
Sausage
Beans
everything else is pretty much left to your own discretion...
it's pork n' beans with some duck confit thrown in, and garnished with some toasted / herbed bread crumbs. That's the basics... if you can make Coq Au Vin, or Boeuf Bourguignon, you can make Cassoulet.
One little tip - use a lot of thyme, and splash it with a little pernod (but I personally love pernod and use it on a lot of french dishes, so to each their own on that one).
quote:Originally posted by Jersey Foodies:
Looks like everything you need can be purchased here: http://www.dartagnan.com/51182...ulet-Recipe-Kit.html. -mJ
In southern France, where the dish originated, cassoulet had its origins as peasant food. The D'Artagnan kit may carry everything you need for preparing the meal but it is a bit pricey, IMHO. I hope, for the $105 they are selling it for, that you can prepare it on multiple occasions. D'Artagnan is a great source of products but even the confit, at $45 for 6 legs, can be prepared for a lot less if you can find quality duck legs and duck fat and have the time to do it. (After typing this I now see that it serves 12).
The kit most likely has top quality products as D'Artagnan sells quality goods but if you are able to source what you need at local stores it can be made for quite a bit less.
The D'Artagnan kit comes with Ventreche (pancetta). Ventreche, or any pancetta, is a component I was not planning to include in my assembly but perhaps I should consider it. When making cassoulet the person preparing it can include whatever meats they would like to suit their preference. I am planning on including duck confit, braised pork shoulder, and chorizo or some sort of a smoked garlic sausage.
Finding duck fat can be a challenge. I was very surprised to find the Whole Foods and The Fresh Market stores that are not far from where I live did not carry duck fat. More surprising to me was the fact that Whole Foods did not have duck legs. Granted, I don’t live in an area known for culinary exploits but I would still think that the stores would have duck legs. Luckily, there is a store that is not a national chain that does carry what I need.
D'Artagnan has a recipe for cassoulet at this link along with some good tips. There is also an article on confit here. If you have time to peruse their web site there is a lot of good articles, videos, cooking tips, etc. They obviously want you to buy their products but there is a lot of good stuff there.
quote:Originally posted by KSC02:
Excellent link, Alta. Much appreciated. I think I'll try this method soon.
Here is another link that might be useful. There are a few different recipes and some discussion of the individual ingredients.
quote:Originally posted by Board-O:
Alta, I hope you'll post your experiences with that recipe abd how you feel the final product was. It looks relatively simple.
I'm hoping to buy the legs and duck fat this upcoming weekend and get started on the confit. By the following weekend, I will hopefully have my final product. Since I am not planning on attending or hosting a Super Bowl party, perhaps a cassoulet will be in the cards for dinner on Super Bowl Sunday if I am also able to braise some pork shoulder that weekend.
quote:Originally posted by DJ Hombre:
Cassoulet is as easy as making a casserole.
Yes, cassoulet is easy once all of the components are prepared. It is the individual steps that make it a bit laborious but the assembling of the final product is not difficult.
Writing this has really made me hungry and I am not close to being able to eat lunch.
I use D'artagnan ingredients and their recipe smooshed together with Julia Child.
Great thread.
As for wine pairings, I'm guessing Burgundy?
As for wine pairings, I'm guessing Burgundy?
quote:Originally posted by gigabit:
Great thread.
As for wine pairings, I'm guessing Burgundy?
+ Rhone.
quote:Originally posted by wine+art:quote:Originally posted by gigabit:
Great thread.
As for wine pairings, I'm guessing Burgundy?
+ Rhone.
Thank you.
Or branch out a little and try some of the interesting wines coming out of Languedoc-Roussillon and parts of Provence...
A lot of wines will pair well, but the classical pairing, imo, is CdP.
going to try making an oxtail cassoulet
I cheated with my cassoulet construction. Who has 3 days to make one? Precooked beans, duck legs and toulouse sausage from the Fatted Calf guys in San Fran, and few hours later it was done. Not as great but certainly enjoyable. Had pinot noir from New Zealand with it.
A very good CdR works as well as a CdP or Gigondas. Cassoulet is peasant food yes, more a hodge podge of things you might have as leftovers. In South of France (I was there in October on a cooking course) you might have some leftover lamb stew in the fridge, some duck condit and of course you can buy great sausages anywhere. After that it is cooking the beans and combining everything.
If you can't find duck fat buy a duck and after deboning just render the fat yourself. In fact buy three, take off the wings and legs for confit, save the breast meat for roasting and render the rest of the carcases down. You can get a lot of meals out of three ducks.
You can skimp on time and make a reasonable facsimile (i.e. bean casserole), but the beauty of cassoulet is the duck fat dripping down through the beans for a few hours in the oven, and the sausages rendering, and the addition of lamb stew. A great cassoulet is even better after a day in the fridge. If you do make it, make a lot.
If you can't find duck fat buy a duck and after deboning just render the fat yourself. In fact buy three, take off the wings and legs for confit, save the breast meat for roasting and render the rest of the carcases down. You can get a lot of meals out of three ducks.
You can skimp on time and make a reasonable facsimile (i.e. bean casserole), but the beauty of cassoulet is the duck fat dripping down through the beans for a few hours in the oven, and the sausages rendering, and the addition of lamb stew. A great cassoulet is even better after a day in the fridge. If you do make it, make a lot.
quote:Originally posted by PurpleHaze:
Lately, when I've gotten the urge for cassoulet, this is what I make
PH
I always look forward to making one each winter, and still waiting on winter.
quote:Originally posted by wine+art:
[I always look forward to making one each winter, and still waiting on winter.
Same here. Almost 60 yesterday. 50s today. Gonna grill a steak tonight!
PH
i began the long process of making some pork belly, ox tail cassoulet
(and i have 2 duck legs for good measure)
been rendering the pork belly down for the past 4 hrs in the le creuset to make some confit for tomorrow's cassoulet assembly
(and i have 2 duck legs for good measure)
been rendering the pork belly down for the past 4 hrs in the le creuset to make some confit for tomorrow's cassoulet assembly
quote:Originally posted by Board-O:
Alta, I hope you'll post your experiences with that recipe abd how you feel the final product was. It looks relatively simple.
The confit was in the fridge for the past 2 weeks and I would have left it in a bit longer but I ended up making a cassoulet this past weekend because I felt the fridge was getting tight on space. As an aside, my fridge is my least favorite appliance and hopefully it will soon be replaced. It is a side-by-side and even though it has a fair amount of space, the space is not efficient. I hate it.
Yes, the recipe for the confit was very simple and I will use the technique again. I felt like I "hurried" my cassoulet a bit but it was still very good. For the meats I used the duck confit, pancetta, and a sweet Italian sausage. The next time I make it I will probably include braised pork shoulder and spend a bit more time trying to source different sausage (or make it myself). I used a combination of different recipes and did some improvision but I was happy with the final product. While looking for different cassoulet recipes, it seemed like everybody has their own version - there are hundreds of variations. One article I found had quoted an elderly French woman and she said that every time she made cassoulet it was different depending on what was on hand. It is definitely worth the effort.
Sounds good, Alta. I'll have to get up the courage to try it.
I made cassoulet too this past weekend. I took the easy way out by buying the confit duck legs in advance, but made the rest. It really wasn't that difficult or time consuming. Definitely will do it again and this time I'll confit the legs myself.
almost time for cassoulet again.
lining up the farm for some goose!
lining up the farm for some goose!
Cassoulet. YUM