The gauntlet has been throw down. Cassoulet. I've never made it before. The 5 pages of rather obtuse instructions in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, best executed over three days, has been, let's not lie, intimidating. But, with Paul Bocuse's assistant's brother in attendance and a whole mess of hungry french people in the Apartment, there was only one logical choice: Cassoulet.
Step 1, going to the butcher. I don't have to remind anyone, but, Ireland is NOT France (or America). The choice of meats is not what it could be. That said, after going to two or three different butchers, I found mostly everything I needed. And, with about 20 pounds of meat (mostly bones) the walk back to the apartment became quite annoying. But here are the shots of the meat larder:
Meat for Day I
Actually, this is only about half the meat. All I did today was make brown stock (Fonds Brun) and roast the pork shoulder for the Cassoulet's secondary meat infusion. Not pictured is the breast of lamb, lamb bones, pork bones, Toulouse Sausage, or Duck that will make up the majority of the dish's protein component.
Boston Butt Rubbed with Salt and Sugar
Oxtail, Ready to make Fonds Brun
Nothing could be easier than roasting a pork shoulder. Rub a Boston Butt with salt and sugar, wait a few hours, place in a 325 degree oven for about 6-8 hours. When the meat registers 195 degrees: done. The HUGE supply of internal fat and collagen does the rest. P.S. thanks, esp., to Monica to converting me from a braised to roasted pork fan, cause roasted boston butt is a glorious thing--its what we make Barbecue from after all.
The fonds brun took just about the same amount of time to simmer down, but it was just as easy. Step one, take the oxtails, some pork bones, veal bones, and lamb bones, and roast in a hot oven for 45 minutes.
Unroasted Bones and Oxtail
Roasted Bones, Oxtail and Veggies
Throw everything into a pot and simmer VERY gently for about 8 hours. The house is going to smell lovely, esp. with the roasting pork. In fact one of the French guys who is staying with us right now nearly fell over from the smell when he walked it. Its really good, I swear.
Fonds Brun Simmering Away
Allright, so with all this said, what's so difficult, really? The answer is logistics. The fridge is already completely packed, and I only have a few pots large enough to handle the volume of food being cooked. In fact the roasted pork and stock are sharing the same Cochette for the time being. And do to lack of space, that Cochette is chilling (and i mean literally chilling) on the temple bar roof outside my bedroom window.
Roast Pork sitting in stock. That Nasty Gray layer is congealed fat. Normally I would skim that by this point, but, because the fat will act like a bacteria seal as the stock sits outside (under a lid) I thought it was good to keep.
Cochette Chilling Outside my Window
The lack of pots and pans, mixing bowls, refrigerator space, and stove space is all going to be an issue in this preparation. The key, as always in a big cooking project is logistical management. Staying on top of that is whats really important. Until tomorrow.
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