HAPPY NEW YEAR.....THE BIG DAY!

So now comes the big day! Timing it backwards from finish, you separate the pork, pork skin, and remove the herbs from the meat/bean ragout.

The Duck is freed from baggie bondage (right) and the layering begins. First a layer of pig skin in the bottom to keep the dish from sticking.
Then a layer of beans,

Then some pork, the duck, more beans and so on. The Toulouse sausage goes on top. And it all goes into the oven. In this cse Betsy started it at our house, then about 1/2 way through we transported it to the final party at the Fahey's gorgeous prairie style home in Hutchinson.

So here it is! The crowning glory. Just add wine, some fresh french bread, a great salad and wonderful company! Paula's recipe will feed 8 to 14 depending on the appetizers, in this case italian sausage and hard cheeses....and for dessert shirleys famous mudslide cheese cake. Oh man is this living. We give our thanks to Jeff and Candace Woods who brought the salad and wine, Jim and Linda Fahey for hosting, Tom and Shirley Smith for the bread and mudslide...and especially to Paula for all the work she did in finding this classic recipe. This is truly entertaining at it's best.

Oh yeah, everyone was so enthralled with the meal that no one took a picture of everyone sitting down and enjoing!

Is it worth it all? An unqualified yes! There is no better way to enjoy the company of friends!

And since no one got a picture of everyone, guess thisone of Maggie will have to do!

HAPPY NEW YEAR CASSOULET- DAY 3

Now the action starts! The duck has marinated overnight, the pork is ready, beans at hand, vegetables cleaned, start early.

First we sealed the marinated duck into vacuum pouches. Last year we tried to make do with zip closure bags, but the vacuum sealer was the secret.

The duck pouches are then cooked at 180 degF for 6 hours.

Then the rest of the pork gets cut into cubes, veggies chopped...beans are washed and set to soak overnight.

And perhaps the most interesting part of this whole caper, and the reason for being really good friends with a great butcher, you need a piece of pig skin...hair attached is optional, and the NON option is really preferred if available.

But since the butcher in Gaylord only had fresh pork, we got to scald and scrape off the hair, and singe the last little bit, then roll the skin into tight rolls, much easier said than done.

All this goes into the pot, with herbs, to make a pork ragout. It cooks awhile while the duck is in hot water.

The ragout is placed to cook for several hours. This is really a great picture!

Now the beans and meat ragout are brought together and

simmered for seeral hours. Then chill it down for overnight...easy to do on the porch here in Minnesota winters! This reduces thee sauce and blends the flavors.

HAPPY NEW YEAR...CASSOULET DAY 2

The second day (Thursday) is a light schedule. The process is to imitate duck confit. A confit is an old method of storing meats by rendering out fat and storing the meat covered with fat. In this case, we are not using fat, but the cooking method known as sous vide to tenderize the duck meat. After cutting up the duck (this was about the only part where we purchased an ingredient), it is placed overnight in a bag with herbs. Paula Wolfert gives full instructions in her book "The Cooking of SW France". The beauty of this is that it takes 2 days instead of weeks.

The result was excellent. The duck meat becomes silky smooth instead of stringy. Betsy did cheat the instructions a bit. The recipe calls for using just the legs, but she used pretty much the whole thing.

HOW TO CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR....THE RIGHT WAY!

It's going to be a tradition. Cassoulet at New Years'. This traditional dish of SW France, specifically the Toulouse region was researched and included in Paula Wolfert's famous book, The Cooking of SW France . This is far more than a cookbook...it's an introduction to a culture through it's cooking. For those who are starting to look at green eating and being a locavore, you can do a cassoulet pretty much locally (if you've got a good butcher who processes home raised animals). Take a look at, http://www.localharvest.org/ to find farms and farmers near you.

Tom starting the process slicing pork from Katy and Peter Hemberger's CSA farm to make Toulouse style sausage.

Paula's book not only gives the basic recipe, but recipes for all the somewhat specialized ingredients like Toulouse sausage and duck confit.

Betsy finished off the additional ingredients ( the wine was for the sausage, not her!). Unfortunately we don't have a picture of the two of us working the Kitchenaid to grind and stuff the sausage.

Have to say the result not only looked good, but tasted fabulous. While Paula lists some shortcuts and substitutions, we did it her way all the way this time, and the result was heaven!
So once the sausages are made, the first day is done.
As you'll see later, we got into all this a few years ago when Paula approached us to make a cassole (which is the pot in which you finish the cassoulet which was similar to one she got in France some 20 years ago for the first edition of her book. In 2 years we've sold over 80 of these beautiful bowls.