{"id":1113,"date":"2022-01-23T16:41:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-23T15:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/?p=1113"},"modified":"2024-12-02T21:06:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T20:06:04","slug":"cassoulet-with-pata-negra-cured-ham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/?p=1113&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Cassoulet with \u00ab\u00a0Pata-Negra\u00a0\u00bb cured ham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cassoulet is one of those seemingly simple monuments, but it\u2019s very demanding in terms of cooking. Cassoulet has several lesser-known uses:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Enhancing natural protection against winter<\/li>\n<li>Keeping dieticians at bay<\/li>\n<li>Turning my dad into a happy dad<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My dad grew up in the Southwest of France, and even though he\u2019s extraordinarily kind and always happy when I share a bit of the rpoceedings of\u00a0 my recipes with him, you can\u2019t fool him with an ordinary cassoulet. So, a bit of pressure, to be honest \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n<p>This one is a true embodiment of slow food. It involves several steps, each requiring hours of preparation&#8230; Let me tell you (almost) everything.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For 4 portions guaranteed to make a cassoulet-loving dad happy:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>400g white beans, Pamier lingot variety for authenticity, but almost anything would do<\/li>\n<li>1 fat duck, cleaned and plucked ( the fat fillets will be kept for another session, not using them here)<\/li>\n<li>50g cured ham fat not rendered<\/li>\n<li>100g low-grade cuts of dry-cured ham (such as a hock)<\/li>\n<li>300g fresh pork belly with its rind<\/li>\n<li>1 Toulouse sausage or anything with an approaching format<\/li>\n<li>1 bouquet garni<\/li>\n<li>2 cloves<\/li>\n<li>1 onion (if you like adding it to the broth)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>First, carve the duck into pieces: fillets to be set aside for grilling later, thighs and wings for confiting.<\/p>\n<p>To confit the duck: at least 3 hours at 150\u00b0C. For something even more tender, lower the temperature and increase the cooking time.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, the most interesting part is the carcass, which you\u2019ll clean of any remaining offal.<\/p>\n<p>Blanch it quickly, then prepare a broth (4-5 liters) with the bouquet garni and cloves. This will form the base for cooking the beans.<\/p>\n<p>Simmer the broth for at least 5 hours on low heat to dissolve the collagen thoroughly.<\/p>\n<p>Many people believe the secret to cassoulet is the fat&#8230; nope. The secret to cassoulet is collagen. The extra collagen we extract from the duck carcass will make all the difference and give our cassoulet that perfect consistency ;-). Okay, it\u2019s partly the fat too, but mostly the collagen.<\/p>\n<p>The beans need to soak for a LONG time. I insist: at least overnight, preferably a full day. I recommend rinsing and changing the water twice during rehydration. Then, optionally, let them rest uncovered in the fridge for a day to dry slightly and improve absorption of the broth.<\/p>\n<p>Cut the pork belly into 4 pieces and separate the rind, scraping and scoring it.<\/p>\n<p>Although cassoulet reheats well, the first cooking is the most critical.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the assembly and timeline I suggest, but it\u2019s flexible:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Throughout the cooking process:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Maintain a gentle simmer.<\/li>\n<li>Add broth as needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Honestly, the traditional cassole is a beautiful piece of cookware, but any dish that allows regular evaporation will do for a decent cassoulet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Timeline:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>T-7h:<\/strong> Put the beans in the broth along with the rind and diced ham fat. Start cold and bring to a gentle simmer to begin cooking the beans.<\/li>\n<li><strong>T-5h:<\/strong> Add the whole pieces of fresh pork belly and the ham.<\/li>\n<li><strong>T-2h:<\/strong> Stop adding broth, remove the rind, and add the sausage and confit duck pieces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you\u2019re patient, the result looks like this at the end:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-789\" src=\"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20220103_122329-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Cassoulet dans un bol en ceramique\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20220103_122329-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20220103_122329-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20220103_122329-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20220103_122329-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20220103_122329-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cassoulet is one of those seemingly simple monuments, but it\u2019s very demanding in terms of cooking. Cassoulet has several lesser-known uses: Enhancing natural protection against winter Keeping dieticians at bay [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nounours_recipes","category-slow-food-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1116,"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions\/1116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lacuisinedenounours.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}