Project Cassoulet: This is it

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 a little skimpy but I went with it. 

Off we went into the oven. Easier said than done. That Dutch oven is HEAVY empty - let alone when it's stuffed with all the goodies in a cassoulet. Somehow it made it into the oven.

How do you spell heavy? I spell it LODGE

Then every 1/2 hour you're smashing down the crust that forms. Well the crust didn't form. The breadcrumbs sort of absorbed into the liquid. So I added the remaining cup. That helped a little, but I had to then toast up that remaining cup in yet more of that liquid gold. Last 15 minutes, I added it and there wasn't enough crust as I thought there should be. I cheated and blasted it with the broiler. This pot is so big it was mighty close to the broiler. I didn't let it go for too long.

So how did it come out - OMG FABULOUS! The beans were buttery soft; you tasted each element - the pork, the duck, the sausage. It was amazing how much flavor was in there when you consider the main seasoning was thyme, salt, and pepper. I will definitely make this again. Will it be a weekly or monthly dish - probably not. It is a lot of work and it does make a lot. Four of us maybe ate a quarter of it.  The work is definitely doable over stages and most of the work is just watching things cook. This is certainly not a lightweight dish either. This year National Cassoulet day was January 9th. I can't imagine wanting to eat this on January 9 after all that holiday eating has ended, but on a cold February, it was the perfect dish.

Note: there is no picture of the actual inside of the cassoulet. It really isn't really that pretty. In this case a picture really doesn't do it justice.