cassoulet from toulouse

Soak the beans 4 hours in cool water.

Boil the sausage 4 minutes and cool.

Cut pork butt into 1 inch cubes, season with salt and pepper and set aside for 2 hours. Poke needle holes in ham hock, season and set aside. Drain beans, cover with fresh water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 15 minutes.

Blanch fatback cubes in boiling water for 2 minutes. Place in 2 gallon soup pot with duck fat and place over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, garlic and Jambon and cook until light golden brown, about 7 to 9 minutes. Add pork butt and ham hock and cook until lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add stock and bring to boil. Lower heat, simmer 1 hour, covered.

Add beans and simmer 1 hour more. Allow to cool overnight.

Scrape fat off confit legs and place 2 tablespoons in 12inch saute pan with salt pork and place over medium heat. Cook until salt pork pieces are lightly browned, about 7 to 8 minutes. Place fat pieces and liquid into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add to beans and place beans in a large pot over medium heat. Remove ham hock and roughly cut meat into ½ inch cubes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a 6 quart crockery casserole, lay ⅓ of the bean pork mixture. Sprinkle with ham hock pieces and cover with ⅓ of bean pork mixture. Lay duck pieces over beans. Saute Toulouse sausages in a nonstick pan until golden brown and lay, still hot, over duck and beans. Place remaining beans over everything and add remaining cup of stock. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake 1 to 11/2 hours until crispy golden brown on top and serve.

Yield: 6 servings NOTES : Recipes Copyright Mario Batali 1997. All rights reserved.

Recipe by: MEDITERRANEAN MARIO #ME1A22 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by Sue on Feb 15, 1998