And here she is Step 4 - D-Day. First I had to count backwards on the prep time, cooking and rest time. I estimated about 5 hours total. I skimmed the congealed fat (I know that sounds gross) and brought the pork ragu up to a simmer while working on removing the duck from the bone. Then I went to work on browning the sausage and crisping the duck skin. Then everything got layered into the pot. Since I have to do things the hard way, I made my own bread crumbs (earlier in the week). I toasted slices of bread in the toaster and blasted them in the food processor. I made about 4 cups and am I glad I had that extra cup because I needed it. Pre-bake bread crumb dilemma You need to toast the bread crumbs in the fat from the skin and pork sausage. I needed to use a little of that liquid gold I had reserved (AKA duck fat). I did the 3 cups as the recipe said. You use 2 cups and then 20 minutes before it's done, you sprinkle over the additional cup. Well the 2 cups looked
Plucking the bay leaf out of the Ragu Step 3: Pork Ragu. I couldn't decide which pot to use for this, but decided it was probably best to use the Dutch oven (not THE Dutch oven). You needed to add the beans to the pork ragu afterwards, so I thought it best to use a big pot. However, before assembling the cassoulet, you need to bring the pork ragu back up to a simmer. I thought it best to store it in the pot (one less container to clean). Thankfully the pot fit in the refrigerator. This was not that complicated. Brown the pork, add the remaining ingredients, and cook until tender, skimming the fat every once in a while. Once it was done, I added the beans. Since the beans were made the day before and chilled, this helped cool the ragu down a bit as well. Next time, I think cooking the beans and the ragu on the same day would be doable. Beans added and ready to chill