Food Thread: Cassoulet, Cleavers, And Cheetos (French Style)!

My apologies for the terrible and unappetizing photograph, but I find people who use flash photography to document their meals at restaurants to be deserving of flogging, so you will have to suffer through my description rather than look at an absolutely delicious dish!

That's called "cassoulet," and it is a simple dish consisting of some excellent white beans with two kinds of sausage, a confit duck leg, and in this case two large chunks of roasted pork belly. The specifics are infinitely variable, though as far as I know, the base is always beans. But don't ask a Frenchman, because it is a topic of some energy and passion, especially if he is from anywhere near the towns that claim cassoulet as their own.

They can fight all they want. But I get to eat a delicious dish that is surprisingly simple to make. It takes a fair amount of time, but the results are wonderful. Of course there are existential arguments about how to make it, and the concept of breadcrumbs to make the top crispy is deeply disturbing. The traditional technique allows the liquid from the beans to solidify and toast at the end of the cooking.

While I am all for authenticity, I have had both versions, and they both taste great!

What I find most interesting about this dish is how much flavor the beans pick up from all of the meat and fat. I am an unrepentant carnivore, but there is a part of me that thinks the beans are the best part of the dish!

Here's a pretty traditional recipe, and there are hundreds on the internet. Sadly, my favorite recipe is from Serious Eats, but Kenji López-Alt is a sleazy leftist scum, so I won't link to him.

I would avoid recipes that call for chicken; the classic is a confit duck or goose leg. And don't use canned beans. Yeah, dried beans are more work, but they taste better in this dish. Pork shoulder is traditional, but the version I just had used pork belly, and I have no problems with that substitution!

If anyone makes this, please keep us all apprised of the outcome. Unless it was awful, in which case blame the French!

I have a favorite butcher already, mostly because the pork chops I bought from him were spectacular, and the NY Strip (I forgot what they called it) was great too! So I ask for a veal chop of a particular size, and he shows me on the loin where he plans on cutting. Perfect! And then he cuts it with a knife right to the bone, and takes out a cleaver for the last bit. He then trims some more bone with the cleaver, and wraps up the chop. I found that amusing, because an American butcher would have used his band saw and would have been done in a quarter of the time.

The meat is great, and the experience is wonderful, but damn... I love good old American speed and efficiency. And as much as I find the traditional cleaver to be appealing, a band saw makes a better, cleaner cut. Two points to America!

******

These were everything you would expect from them. Delicious! Just like Cheetos, but without the hand-staining orange powder. They were sort of whitish, but don't hold that against them.

Yes, I like junk food on occasion, and I am not embarrassed at all. Remember... Everything in moderation (including moderation!).

It's chocolate pudding that has put on airs.

Bitters-and-Bourbon Chocolate Pot de Crème

But there is nothing wrong with chocolate pudding, and adding bourbon and bitters just means that the little brats might not like it as much and you will get more of it.

I know...I know! You all find his delivery to be immensely irritating. But I think he has moderated it somewhat, and besides, this looks great, and it might even be of use to those readers who cook mostly for themselves. It is rare that I find recipes for one that aren't just crap.

And here is the written recipe too.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole for One

Don't say I never do anything for you.

CIA Files Reveal JFK Was Killed By Seed Oils

Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shake their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.

$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty of fifty years, but it is worth it!

posted by CBD at 04:00 PM

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