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A down-to-earth dish for the refined
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November 7th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
The beauty of French tradition: cassoulet with rich duck confit and rustic sausage.
Cassoulet is, essentially, a peasant dish from Languedoc. The name is derived from earthenware pots used for slow cooking over open flame. Farm families and villagers would stew beans with pork — rinds, typically — and seasoning. Different meat, which varied from town to town, season to season, would be added toward the end.
As with so many country French traditions, cassoulet spread through the culture, achieving near-legendary status. Purists insist that certain steps be followed — beans cooked at the same time as meat, breaking the crust that develops as it thickens seven (according to some) or eight (so say others) times. In 1966, the Etats generaux de la Gastronomie francaise laid down the law: Proper cassoulet should contain at least 70 percent beans, stock, rind and 30 percent pork, mutton or preserved goose.
But there is some leeway. While white beans are necessary, leaching a thick, creamy broth as they cook, the type of meat used to finish the dish may vary. The most famous styles of cassoulet, for example, include Castelnaudary, which contains pork or confit goose. Carcassone substitutes either mutton or, in hunting season, partridge. The more flexible Toulouse version often includes duck confit and may add lard for additional richness.
Stubbornness aside, to prepare cassoulet is to commune with centuries of country French tradition.
Marek Raditsch is executive chef for the Kampa Group. This recipe is from Hergetova Cihelna,
located at Cihelná 2b, Prague 1–Malá Strana. Tel. 296 826 103.

CASSOULET WITH DUCK CONFIT

Ingredients:
4 duck drumsticks
200 grams (7 ounces) duck lard
320 grams duck/pork sausage, sliced
600 grams white beans
200 grams carrots, finely chopped
200 grams white onions, finely chopped
100 grams butter
2 tomatoes, chopped
500 milliliters (2.1 cups) clear duck broth
100 grams bacon, sliced
8 cloves of garlic
5 sprigs thyme
3 bay leaves
1 bunch parsley
Salt and pepper
Preparation:
Clean duck drumsticks, wash in cold water and allow to dry
Blend garlic and parsley into fine paste
Cover drumsticks thoroughly with paste and let sit for 24 hours
Soak white beans in water.
Preheat oven to 120 C (248 F).
Pour duck lard over marinated drumsticks and place in oven for approximately five hours, until soft.
Fry sausage and bacon and set aside.
In an earthenware pot, if possible, roast carrots and onions in butter until beginning to soften.
Add tomatoes, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and continue.
Add beans.
Pour in broth and cook until soft.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add sausages, bacon, duck drumsticks.
Allow to gain heat and then serve.


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