Cassoulet & Pot-au-Feu ideas wanted

[shel]

After avoiding the issue for too long, it's about time to learn to make an excellent cassoulet and pot-au-feu. Does anyone have any ideas or receipes for these French dishes? Thanks!

shel

[teamfat]

Odd you should ask. I've been rummaging through James Peterson's 'Glorious French Food' over the last few days and was thinking the same thing. It seems to me, and you purists may cringe, that cassoulet is basically a French version of a big ol' pot of chili.

It has been in the upper 90s, close to 100 degrees F here in Salt Lake lately, got our first real rain in something like 45 days today, so the attention has been more towards lighter summer fare. But as I said I have been thinking about it, if I actually make something in the near future I'll file a report.

mjb.

[boar_d_laze]

The best cassoulet recipe I've ever seen and used is Pellaprat's for "Cassoulet of Goose Toulousaine." (See, p. 695 of the 1994 Vendome edition.) Although it's quite a good recipe, I have mixed feelings about recommending it. There are better uses for the time, money and actual ingredients. Traditionally the dish was made with leftovers and scraps over a combination of a dying fire and residual heat. It's more wienies and beans than chili. Actually, I prefer wienies and beans to cassoulet. Chili too -- although I don't understand why you'd associate chili with beans. Who would put beans in chili?

Speaking of dying fires, pot au feu is also an awful lot of trouble for a bowl of soup and a little bit of boiled meat. Michel Guerard has a few good variations in Cuisine Gourmande, and there's a really good modern recipe by Guy Martin. I googled both of these to see if I could link you up to one of them, especially hoping for an English translation of the Martin recipe, and ran across a wonderful article about pot au feu. In addition to the history and social significance of the dish, it includes a very good recipe and detailed description of the technique. Pot au feu is ALL very simple, very tedious, repetitious technique and time. Nothing else too it really, as you'll see. Worth it? Try it and let me know. à la carte

One last thought: If you're interested in cuisine bourgeois, see if you can't dig up some used cookbooks by Madeleine Kamman. She's fantastic on the subject.

BDL

[teamfat]

I don't understand why you'd associate chili with beans. Who would put beans in chili?

Basically the reason I was thinking beans and chili was because a local market had some lamb on sale yesterday. And the only chili I make with beans is this black bean and lamb version. All the others are just meat, chiles, onions, seasonings, sometimes tomatoes. The discounted lamb looked like it needed to be discounted, I didn't get any.

Pot au feu is ALL very simple, very tedious, repetitious technique and time. Nothing else too it really, as you'll see. Worth it?

When cooking or doing prep work that fits this description, I tend to think of it as the culinary version of the Karate Kid's 'Wax on, wax off' training. Of course, that rarely, if ever, makes it seem any less tedious!

Tending to a smoker all day can get tedious, too, but I KNOW that is worth it.

mjb.

[shel]

OK, I'll look for the cassoulet recipe you mentioned, and the one for pot-au-feu. I've a few here as well. I don't mind the time spent making a good cassoulet, in fact, I look forward to spending hours, or days, prepping and cooking something that I enjoy. The results I've gotten over the years have been OK, but less than stellar, so learning to make a really great dish will be time and money well spent.

Having a recipe is good, but what I'm really looking for are tips and techniques for preparing and cooking the dish that goes beyond an ingredient list and times and temperatures.

The article on pot-au-feu says, "In this era of take-out food and frozen meals, preparing a dinner that requires a substantial portion of the day to cook seems anachronistic. Once ideally suited to cooking on the residual heat of the iron stove still hot from preparation of the midday meal, pot-au-feu requires too much attention for modern lives in modern times." Well, I live an anachronistic life - very few modern or electrical appliances, I most often prefer making things by hand, and taking all day to make a simple dish sounds like time well spent. I have the time, temperament, and the desire to spend all day preparing food, or working on many projects.
shel

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

The best cassoulet recipe I've ever seen and used is Pellaprat's for "Cassoulet of Goose Toulousaine." (See, p. 695 of the 1994 Vendome edition.) Although it's quite a good recipe, I have mixed feelings about recommending it. There are better uses for the time, money and actual ingredients. [...]

Speaking of dying fires, pot au feu is also an awful lot of trouble for a bowl of soup and a little bit of boiled meat. Michel Guerard has a few good variations in Cuisine Gourmande, and there's a really good modern recipe by Guy Martin. I googled both of these to see if I could link you up to one of them, especially hoping for an English translation of the Martin recipe, and ran across a wonderful article about pot au feu. In addition to the history and social significance of the dish, it includes a very good recipe and detailed description of the technique. Pot au feu is ALL very simple, very tedious, repetitious technique and time. Nothing else too it really, as you'll see. Worth it? Try it and let me know. à la carte

One last thought: If you're interested in cuisine bourgeois, see if you can't dig up some used cookbooks by Madeleine Kamman. She's fantastic on the subject.

BDL

[shel]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

One last thought: If you're interested in cuisine bourgeois, see if you can't dig up some used cookbooks by Madeleine Kamman. She's fantastic on the subject. BDL

Good idea. I have When French Women Cook - one of my favorite books - but I don't recall if there's a cassoulet recipe/technique in it. The book's in storage for a few more weeks, but I'll check.

Paula Wolfert has a nice section on cassoulet in the first edition of Cooking of Southwest France. It, too, is stored right now.

shel