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Cassoulet

"A cassoulet is a substantial dish" - A.J. Liebling

Cassoulet is a slow cooked bean stew or casserole containing meat ( pork sauasages, pork, duck ) pork skin and white beans.

Both cassoulet and casserole derive from the French 'casse' - a small saucepan, probably also from Medieval Latin, 'cattia' - a dipper or ladle.

Cassoulet in particular "is named after the cassole, the distinctive oval covered earthenware pot in which cassoulet is ideally cooked. In the process of preparing the dish it is traditional to deglaze the pot from the previous cassoulet in order to give a base for the next one. This has led to stories, of a single original cassoulet being extended for years or even decades." Source: Wikimedia

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Cassoulet.cuit.jpg )

Cassoulet - Pork & Beans

Cassoulet may be the French version of pork and beans, but consider the following:

"This puppy's got everything: duck confit, sausages, ham hocks, pork rinds, and ham bones. Oh, right. And beans. You make duck confit for two days, precook the ham hocks for 2 hours, then partially cook the cassoulet for 4 hours, let it cool overnight (to integrate the flavors? they don't say), then finish cooking it for another four hours." Thanks to ObsessionwithFood.com ( http://www.obsessionwithfood.com/2005_01_01_blog-archive.html ) for this simplification of the a recipe from Saveur.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Cassoulet.jpg )

Cassoulet_carcassonne

"Cassoulet Carcassonne contains more of mutton and sometimes replaces the duck with partridge.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Cassoulet_Carcassonne_FRA_001.JPG)

Cassoulet_toulousain

"In the cassoulet of Toulouse, the meats are pork and mutton, the latter frequently a cold roast shoulder. " Source: Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassoulet )

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Cassoulet_toulousain.jpg )