Friday, January 1, 2010

Cassoulet, the finish











So last night for Kent's Birthday and our New Years Eve Celebration we put all of the remainder of ingredients into the cassoulet and finished it off in the oven. So what exactly did I do.

Starting on Wednesday evening, I soaked my white beans over night, then drained them in the morning. I set them aside until the afternoon, when I covered them in water and added 3 ham hocks from the Swinery and simmered for a couple hours. I then strained off the cooking liquid and set it aside for finishing the dish. Thursday morning I seared off the duck legs and then confited them for about 6 hours in a 275 degree oven. Removed them and set them aside. I had already braised a pork belly on Sunday and had that set aside for this dish as well. We had picked up some Parsley/Garlic sausage from the Swinery as well. So at this point we are ready to combine everything and get it all reheated. In a large sautoir I added the beans, and the cooking liquids( one from the lamb shoulder and the bean liquid). Then in went the ham hocks, the shredded lamb shoulder, the cubed pork belly, the confited duck legs and the sausage. I seasoned everything up with salt and pepper at this point. I brought this to a simmer on top of the stove. I then took my bread crumbs and tossed them in a little melted duck fat and covered the top of the dish and placed in a 325 degree oven for about 1 and 1/2 hours or until the cassoulet was bubbling through the top. We then all sat down to a beautiful table for a great pot of cassoulet! Washed it all down with a Magnum of 1990 Ch. Beaucastel amongst other great wines.

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