Stage 7: Millau to Lavaur.
Today, the riders swept through the Languedoc on their way to the southwest of France. As I was researching what to make, I started running into problems: where ARE they?! Think of it as traveling across Texas - from Aspermont to Kermit. Never heard of those places?! No one has. Luckily, I had recently purchased a wonderful book that is much more about French culinary history and geographical-specific cuisine than recipes alone, which enlightened me of the fact they were merely slipping into "Cassoulet Country"...which made me very happy. I started soaking my dried cannelini beans last night and after 4 hours of cooking a trio of pork products today, ended up in pure culinary heaven.
Beans: a simple yet majestic foodstuff. Sure, you can open a can, drain them of that funky, murky, pungent, thick water and toss them into a dish when you’re in a rush. But, I’m somewhat of a devotee to traditional, slow-cooking methods. Buying a bag of dry beans and soaking it in salt water overnight, followed by cooking them yourself in a bath of aromatics, turns a simple bean into a luxurious and creamy food item which helps add layers of depth to your final dish.
This dish is also, clearly, a celebration of pork. While the best sausage you can find would be the regional-specific, garlic-kissed, Toulouse Sausage, you can also sub in your favorite summer sausage or even kielbasa for its lovely smokiness, which I used in this recipe below. While the recipe calls for a small amount of pork shoulder, you’ll probably notice that while cheap - pork shoulders come in large quantities at the supermarket. Ask your butcher if they can cut you a small portion - mine was happy to, but hey, he’s my sister’s husband! An alternative is to buy the packaged shoulder, cut off what you need, and save the rest for a nice barbecue down the road.
Pork Cassoulet
1 lb dried cannellini beans
4 oz salt pork
1.5 lbs toulouse sausage or kielbasa
1.5 lbs pork shoulder cut into rough chunks (1 inch or so)
1 onion
2 carrots
Tomato Paste
Garlic
⅔ cup white wine
1 large, ripe, or 14.5 oz can of diced tomato
4 cups homemade or store-bought chicken stock
Bouquet garnis: 2 celery stalks, halved; few thyme sprigs; bay leaf
4 slices of sandwich bread or your favorite large loaf
Parsley
Soak your beans in a large bowl of salted water overnight (no less than 8 hours). Place salt pork and raw sausage (no need to include already cooked sausage like kielbasa) in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes then transfer the salt pork to a bowl and the sausage to a cutting board to cool slightly. Slice the sausage into bite-sized rounds.
Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and brown for about 10 minutes - remove with a slotted spoon and place in the bowl with the boiled salt pork. Add the pork shoulder pieces to the dutch oven, browning all over, and adjusting the heat lower to medium, if necessary. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300 and dice your onion and carrots into ¼-inch dice, adding them to the browned pork after 10 minutes, stirring frequently for a couple of minutes. Add tomato paste, stirring and roasting for 1 minute, then add 4 cloves of minced garlic and stir until fragrant. Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan. Stir in the cooked sausage, tomatoes and salt pork. Drain and rinse the soaked beans and add them to the pot along with the stock which should just cover the beans (they can float on the surface, but if any beans are exposed add some water). Add in the bouquet garnis (fastened with butcher string) and bring to a boil, cover the pot and place in the lower third of the oven for 90 minutes.
Remove from the oven and increase the heat to 350. Discard the bouquet garnis and place the salt pork on a cutting board to cool slightly. Taste the broth and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Dice the salt pork and stir back in the pot, and place it, uncovered in the oven for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, tear the bread into rough pieces, and pulse 4 times in a food processor. Drizzle with some olive oil and pulse a few times more achieving a large crumb texture and transfer to a bowl. Finely chop a handful of parsley leaves and stir into the breadcrumbs, seasoning with salt and pepper. Take a quarter of the breadcrumbs and top the casserole and place back in the oven, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking for 10 additional minutes. Finally, toss the remaining crumbs evenly atop the cassoulet and place back in the oven, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. Check the topping around 25 minutes - you want a nice deep, golden brown topping. Let rest, uncovered for 10 minutes before serving.
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Copyright 2020, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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