 |
|
|
 
|
|
Cassoulet travelog |
|
|
|
|
My travelog on the famous French peasant dish Cassoulet
Pronunciation kahs-soo-lay'
Travelog
Languedoc, the home of cassoulet! In southwestern France the independent-minded peasants created a bean dish worthy of the highest epicurean honors.
Several years ago I realized a suppressed desire: I drove through the back roads of rural Languedoc in search of the perfect cassoulet.
My itinerary also took me through the crowded streets of Toulouse, Castelnaudary, and Carcassonne because these three cities are touted as having the finest urban cassoulets in Languedoc. My taste buds discovered an even better source of the citified cassoulet: Villefranche de Lauragais. It lies in the cassoulet corridor between Toulouse and Castelnaudary. Please keep it a secret.
Farmhouse cassoulets are even more exciting, perhaps because these renditions are less codified. Each cook has his own cast of ingredients - in some pots smoked pork is the star, but in others it may be goose, duck, lamb, mutton, sausages, or another meat.
Many armchair gourmets insist that if the dish is to be accorded the appellation cassoulet, it must contain confit d'oie (preserved goose). Not so. Though many cassoulets in Languedoc contained this ingredient, I came across several equally authentic and ambrosial versions prepared without it. This is fortunate for foreign cooks, because quality confit d'oie is usually hard to come by outside of France. When it is available, confit d'oie is usually canned and, as such, is apt to degrade more than improve your dish. It's also ridiculously expensive.
What's essential to a good cassoulet is slow cooking. Should the liquid boil, the beans will burst and begin to lose their skins.
cassoulet
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
I hope you find my cassoulet travelog page interesting ©2008 HQP / Hillman Quality Publications
|
cassoulet
