Naples Daily News
As soon as the temperature dropped below 80 degrees, I gathered up the ingredients for my favorite cool-weather dish: cassoulet. This meat and beans dish contains every ingredient forbidden by nutritionists, the Food Patrol and everyone who is concerned about cholesterol, tryglycerides, fat and other foods on the no-no list.
But never mind. I have spent a summer without ice cream, mashed potatoes, pies, cakes, pasta and those other forbidden foods. Time for a trencherman’s feast!
Cassoulet originated in Languedoc, where goose liver, pork and sausages are everyday food served at even the humblest table. Haricot (beans) are also indigenous to the region and it was inevitable that these easy-to-obtain, inexpensive, local ingredients would be combined,and the result wasresulting in cassoulet. The word comes from cassoulet, the name of the glazed earthenware cooking pot traditionally used to prepare the dish.
Beans were unknown in France until the 19th century when they were brought from Spain. Later, local beans were dried and added to the cassoulet.
Cassoulet is divided into three types depending on which meats are used. Prosper Montagne, a famed culinary artist, called these three various cassoulets the “Trinity.” He designated the “Father” as coming from Castelnaudary, the “Son” from Carcassone and the “Holy Ghost” from Toulouse.
The cassoulet from Castelnaudary is the oldest recipe and contains several cuts of pork including the loin, ham, leg, sausages and fresh pork rind. Into this mixture is added a generous portion of preserved goose along with beans, onions, garlic and wine.
In the picturesque and historic village of Carcassone, the dish uses leg of mutton or lamb and during the hunting season quail or partridge is added.
When you order cassoulet in Toulouse the chef adds even more fresh lard, the unique Toulouse sausage, mutton, duck and goose.
These three classic dishes are by no means the only variations on the bean theme. Cassoulet’s popularity has spread throughout France and each region has come up with its own interpretation. There is even a fish cassoulet, made with salt cod, which replaces the duck, goose or mutton.
Cassoulet is considered to be of such importance to French cuisine that the Etats Generaux de la Gastronomie decreed in 1966 that genuine cassoulet must contain at least 30 percent pork, which includes sausage, mutton or preserved goose. The remaining 70 percent must consist of beans, stock, fresh pork rinds, herbs and other flavorings. One can only wonder how this criteria is ascertained and whether cassoulet investigators are constantly policing restaurants and analyzing the contents.
Making cassoulet from scratch is a long, tedious and arduous task even for the most enthusiastic chef, whether he or she is French or not. It took a far-sighted, courageous manufacturer to developed canned cassoulet. This has turned into a big business in France and now 20 percent of all the canned goods sold in the country are cassoulet.
On trips to France, I always included cassoulet in several dinners in an attempt to ferret out the very best. Although the cassoulet served at Honorine and Raffatin, a colorful bistro on the Left Bank in Paris, was truly a marvelous concoction, the blue ribbon went to the hotel dining room at the Palmes and Industry Hotel in Castelnaudary. Served in earthenware casseroles and washed down with strong red wine of the region, it was a memorable mélange of textures and flavors.
This recipe is one I developed becausesince several ingredients in the traditional recipes are unavailable and I refuse to add lard to an already rich dish. A hearty red wine and plenty of hot, flavorful garlic bread, a green salad and a simple, light dessert — and a decision afterward to revert back to a sensible diet — are all you need for a guilt-less evening of blissful indulgence.
CASSOULET
4 cups (2 pounds) small dried pea beans or navy beans
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon salt or to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced, or more if you’re a garlic lover
2 carrots, quartered
2 onions, each studded with 3 whole cloves
1 bouquet garni (parsley, celery, bay leaf and thyme tied up in cheesecloth)
½ cup diced salt pork
3 tablespoons duck drippings or bacon drippings or vegetable oil
1½ pounds lean pork, cubed
1 pound boneless lamb, cubed
2 Bermuda (or sweet) onions chopped
1 cup chopped shallots
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 cup good dry white wine
1 large garlic or Polish sausage
1 roasted duck removed from the bone and cut into bite sized pieces (or canned preserved goose)
Combine the beans, water and salt in a large kettle and let stand overnight or boil 2 minutes and let soak one hour.
Add the garlic, carrots, onion studded with cloves, bouquet garni and salt pork. Bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and cook gently one hour. Skim foam from the surface.
Heat the duck dripping or oil in a skillet. Add the meats and sauté until browned.
Transfer to the bean mixture. Sauté the onions, shallots and celery in the remaining drippings until tender.
Add the tomato sauce and wine and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add to the beans. Add the garlic or Polish sausage, cover and simmer until the meats and beans are tender, about one hour, adding water if necessary to cover the beans. Skim off the excess fat. Discard the bouquet garni.
Transfer the mixture to a large earthenware casserole. Add the pieces of roasted duck or preserved goose. Bake, uncovered, in a preheated moderate (350 degrees) oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Serves 8 to 10.
Doris Reynolds is the author of “When Peaco*cks Were Roasted and Mullet was Fried” and a four-part DVD “A Walk Down Memory Lane with Doris Reynolds.”They are for sale in the lobby of the Naples Daily News. Contact Doris Reynolds at foodlvr25@aol.com.
