Recipe :
Le Cassoulet
Food & Wine : Le Cassoulet and Les Jamelles "Special Reserve" Cabernet-Merlot
Time: 12 hrs + 4 h 30 You need : 1 kilo dried navy beans, 1 half-dried ham hock, 350 g spare ribs, 1 saucisson to boil, 1 sprig thyme, 1 onion with a clove in it, 1 carrot, 1 garlic clove, 200 g fresh lard, 1 firm tomato, 3 duck legs or 2 goose legs confits, 400 g Toulouse sausage, 50 g stale bread crumbs, salt, pepper
Soak the beans in cold water for about 12 hours. The next day, blanch the salted meats (hock and spare ribs). Put the drained beans in a large pot, along with the pork hock, spareribs, saucisson, cloved onion, thyme, and the carrot cut in 4 lengthwise. Cover with water. Do not add salt! Simmer for an hour. In a large terracota pot whose sides have been rubbed with the garlic clove, put the lard with the fat on the pot side. Remove the beans, onion and carrot. Put half of the drained beans at the bottom of the pot. Put the boned pork hock on top, the spareribs cut along the bones, and the peeled and sliced saucisson. Add pepper, a little bit of salt, and cover with the remaining beans and a ladleful of broth. Bake in the oven at low heat, without a lid on, for 3 hours. Every 20 minutes, push back gently into the cassoulet the film that formed at the surface. After you do it for the last time, bury the confits and grilled Toulouse sausage under the beans. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, pour the melted goose fat on top and put the pot in the oven a few more minutes. Serve in the pot you used for the cooking.