Cassoulet - Three Days in the Making - Finished !

[BuyLowSellHigh]

TR, you make a great straight man.    ;D

Day 3  – the best day, finish and eat!

At the start of today I cooked the Toulouse Sausage (posted previously here), heated the beans to break the gelatinous grip of the stock and drained them in a colander over a large bowl to separate the beans from the stock.  If the beans are the heart of a cassoulet, the sausage is its soul - it should be just cooked and not overdone.  The sausage was given a quick pan browning then finished in a 300 °F oven for about 12 minutes to just finish it to an IT of ~ 160 °F.

The task now becomes to construct the finished Cassoulet  from this pile of readied stuff



The red pot in the background is a 9.5 qt oval enameled cast iron roaster, the largest one Le Crueset makes and it weighs a ton.

The plan is to cut the meat into decent bite-sized pieces, divide them into two equal portions, and then build the cassoulet in the red pot.  The construction is a bottom layer of beans, then two equivalent layers of meats separated by a layer of beans and finished with a top layer of beans.  Five layers in all, three of beans and two of meats.

After the bottom layer of beans and first layer of meats it looks like this



As the build is continued the stock, and the reserved bean cooking liquid as needed, is added to just cover the beans.  When all five layers have been built the final stock addition is just up to the top layer of beans.  Then the whole thing is heated on the largest burner over medium heat to just a simmer.  At that point 12.2 lbs of Cassoulet in a 17 lb pot looks like this .



Now it's time to add the "crust".  About 6 cups of Panko are mixed with ½ cup of finely chopped flat leaf parsley and about 1/3 cup of EVOO, which is then layered over the top.



The uncovered pot then goes into a preheated 375 °F oven. After ~ 10 minutes reduce the heat to 350 and bake for a total of 1 hr 15 min.  The finished cassoulet ...



Let it rest 10-15 min's before digging in, then it's time to eat, our New Year food tradition.



Happy New Year to all of you.

[FLBentRider]

All I can say Eric is Wow.

[DTAggie]

Dang my mouth is watering

[squirtthecat]

Double Wow!    Are you feeding the entire street?

I hope you had help moving that pot...     I've got the smaller brother to that one, and it weighs a ton as well.

[TestRocket]

My goodness, "a very substantial dish" it is! I'm full just looking at it!

Nice job putting this together for your family and us too!  ;)

Happy New Year Eric!  ;D

[jiggerjams]

Heaven that is all I can say.

[3rensho]

That's some gorgeous food BLSH.  Also a rather tasty pinot noir to accompany it.  Great choice.

[SouthernSmoked]

Man Oh Man, that looks awesome!

[ronbeaux]

Beautiful job!

[deb415611]

damn,  now I have to go out and buy a 9.5 qt pot

Beautiful Eric!!

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Thanks, folks - I really appreciate the kind words.  This is great comfort food.  It's a large batch, but it will give us three full great meals and it freezes very well.  Everyone here loves it, even my very picky eater looks forward to it.

What I showed is my version of a very traditional cassoulet. It is very classic provincial French in style, which is very tame by the usual norms of much of what many of us prepare and show in these forums.  Nothing is assertive, but the techniques and method allows the distinct flavor of each meat to clearly stand out in spite of the mix.

If you like bean and meat combinations I would encourage you to try it at least once.  While this version is classic and rustic French country, the idea lends itself extremely well to smoked meats and bold assertive flavors.  We often use this idea with extras from the smoker, including all the usual meats, poultry and smoked sausage.  Use whatever combination of meats and sausages moves you, kick up the seasonings as much as you dare, add tomatoes, peppers or other veggies as you like.  To my thinking cassoulet is a category, a method and a construction, not a recipe.

[NePaSmoKer]

Thats is nice  ;D


Hey pull me finger  :D

[3rensho]

Duck confit is a common addition in these parts.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Duck (or goose) confit is wonderful stuff and is very traditional in cassoulet around Toulouse.  I did it a couple of times years ago and my own opinion was the wondrous qualities of the confit were lost in the cassoulet.  That coupled with the price of the stuff here in the states (~ $15-20 / lb) for decent stuff or about half that to make your own led me to the braised duck.

3rensho -- yeah, that grape juice is a good one.  That one was from the Joy Road vineyard.  I also have the Coastlands in the rack.  The Cobb was my second choice.  My first choice was my favorite CA pinot noir --  Woodenhead, Buena Tierra (2007). Problem was when I cut and opened the capsule I found ... no cork!  Never seen that before, but that bottle missed corking and the capsule held through shipping.  I'll be talking with my wine guy in Monte Rio later today.

[OU812]

Now THATS a GOOOOD lookin pot of grub!!!!!!!!!

Makin me hungry again and I just ate a big ole bowel of Ham N Bean soup not long ago.