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Featured Cookbook
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Cassoulet
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My Favorite Clam Chowder
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Aromatic Rice with Peas
Book Description
This award-winning volume brings to light sixty-five articles, including three selections never before published, and is the only collection to draw on the full scope of Beard’s magazine journalism and his syndicated column. The Armchair James Beard is meant for browsing and meditating on food, rather than for cooking. But it does contain 130 recipes, so it is sure to send readers back to the kitchen to try their hands at the tempting dishes that Beard sets forth in this charming collection.
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The Armchair James Beard
Authors: John Ferrone (Editor)
Date: April 1999
ISBN: 1592285589
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Paperback
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There are many versions of cassoulet, all of them good and all monumentally substantial. One of the versions of which I am fondest was originated by an older Frenchwoman who lived in this country for many years and adapted the recipes of her native land to the best raw materials available in New York, San Francisco, or wherever she happened to be, I have made her adaptation of cassoulet many times and still think it is one of the best I’ve ever eaten.
Servings: 10 to 12
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Soak 2 pounds of Great Northern beans overnight in water to more than cover. Add 1 tablespoon of salt; 1 onion stuck with 2 cloves; 3 or 4 garlic cloves; 1 bay leaf; and 1 pig’s foot, split. Bring to a boil, skim off any scum that rises, and simmer until the beans are just tender. Be careful not to overcook them.
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While the beans are cooking, salt and pepper well 1 small leg or half leg of lamb (about 3 1/2 pounds) and 3 pounds of loin or shoulder of pork. Put the meats in a roasting pan and roast at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours, basting from time to time with 1 1/2 cups of red wine, Let the meats cool, then chill so that the fat in the pan juices congeals. Skim off the fat and reserve the juices. Cut the meats into 2-inch cubes.
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Poach 8 to 10 French saucissons or Italian sausages in water to cover for 5 minutes. Or use a larger sausage, such as saucisson a l'ail cotechino or Polish kielbasa, cutting it into slices about 1/2 inch thick.
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Finely chop 4 to 6 garlic cloves, and blend them with 1 1/2 teaspoons of crumbled thyme and 1 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper. Remove the pig’s foot from the cooked beans, and cut away the skin and meat from the bones, Drain the beans, reserving the liquid, and discard the bay leaf, onion, and garlic cloves.
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Put a layer of beans in a deep earthenware or enameled iron pot, sprinkle with some of the garlic-herb mixture, and add some of the diced meats, including the meat and skin from the pig’s foot and the sausages. Continue making layers until all the ingredients are used, finishing with a layer of beans.
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Combine the reserved pan juices with the bean liquid, 1/2 cup of red wine, and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. Pour enough into the pot to reach almost to the final layer of beans, Top with a few strips of salt pork, cut rather thin, and cover lightly with foil, Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour, Remove the foil, sprinkle the top with dry bread crumbs, and bake for 1 hour more or until the liquid is absorbed, the top is glazed, and the crumbs are brown, If the liquid is absorbed too quickly during the first hour or so, add more.
Serve with crisp bread and a hearty wine, such as a Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
You can vary this cassoulet by adding roast or preserved goose or crisp roast duck, or you can make it just with lamb and sausages, omitting the pork. Also leave out the tomatoes, if you like, or add more garlic. The recipe is very flexible, and any way you prepare it, the result is likely to be superb.
More From This Book:
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Cassoulet
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My Favorite Clam Chowder
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Aromatic Rice with Peas
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