Facing my Fears of French Cooking with Pork Cassoulet

I love French food, but for some reason, am intimidated to cook it.  One of the dishes that has simultaneously fascinated and intimidated me for years is Cassoulet.  I adore this rich, luscious French casserole and was terrified to cook it.  I collected different Cassoulet recipes for years and, as I read through them, I would think to myself that they were too complicated and I couldn't make this fabulous dish at home.

As I wandered through Austin's Downtown Farmers Market a few weeks ago, I was delighted to see all the outstanding pork products.  Dai Due was selling beautiful Chaurice sausage, Kocurek Family Artisanal Charcuterie had maple bacon and duck stock, and Full Quiver was selling beautiful pork roasts.  As I loaded up my bag, I realized that I had acquired the ingredients for a pork version of  Cassoulet.  It was clearly time to face my fears and start cooking.

As it turns out, the only hard thing about making Cassoulet is that it's time consuming.  Like Paella, you cook everything separately then throw it all together.  Because my time was limited that week, I cooked the beans and pork roast one day, then assembled and cooked the Cassoulet the next.  This would be the perfect dish to make when you find yourself with leftover beans or roast, which is probably how it originated - a way to make leftovers delicious.

A few caveats: This recipe makes about 15 servings.  Invite your friends to dinner or invest in freezer containers before you make it. (Of course, you could also 1/2 the proportions.)

I used Chaurice sausage and maple bacon because that is what was available at our market.  You can substitute with whatever sausage and bacon is available to you.  You can also substitute the duck stock that I used with beef stock/broth.  I would not suggest using chicken stock for this dish; you'll get a very different flavor.

Pork Cassoulet
2 lbs great northern white beans
2 onions

1/2 head of garlic, peeled

4 cups stock - either beef or duck

2 cups water

3 bay leaves

2.5 lb pork shoulder roast

3 cups red wine

1/4 lb bacon
1 lb sausage
2 tbsps tomato paste
1/2 tbsp salt

4 sprigs of rosemary

Pepper

olive oil

1 cup bread crumbs

Soak the beans overnight.  Drain them, rinse them and drain again.

Place beans in pot with onions, bay leaves, garlic, rosemary, stock and water.  Simmer until beans are tender, about an hour.

Drain and reserve the cooking liquid.  Remove the onions and bay leaves and set the beans aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Salt and pepper the pork shoulder.   In a skillet brown the pork on all sides.  Put the pork shoulder in a roasting pan an add 2 cups of wine.  Place the roast in the oven and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, basting often, until the roast is fork tender (pulls away from the bone with a fork.) Drain the meat, reserving the cooking liquid.  When cooled, cut the meat into 2 inch cubes, trimming any fat.

Cook the sausages in a skillet over medium heat until just cooked through.  Cut the sausage into bit sized pieces and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the reserved liquid from the beans and meat, tomato paste, salt and 1 cup wine.

In a casserole dish, place a layer of 1/3 of the beans, half the pork roast, half the sausage and the rosemary.

Cover with another third of the beans, the remaining pork, the bacon and the remaining sausages. Although the bacon cooks down, if you don't like large pieces of bacon in your food, you can cut it into smaller pieces.

Top with the remaining beans.  Slowly pour the broth mixture over the beans until the liquid just covers the top of the beans.  Top with ground pepper.

Combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a small bowl.  Sprinkle over the top of the Cassoulet.  Place the Cassoulet in the oven and bake for about an hour until it is bubbling and the bread crumbs are browned.

As you serve, be certain to remove the rosemary sprigs.  You don't want to serve your guest little trees.