"cassoulet" news and stories

Bernard-Henri Lévy, author of American Vertigo, was the guest on The Daily Show tonight. In speaking about the political landscapes of the U.S. versus that in France, he said France's political leanings were like caviar vs. cassoulet.

I found that a little funny, as cassoulet is starting to be just very popular here, but I'd bet anything the concept doesn't work in the U.S. because both sides of the spectrum seem to have their redneck tendencies. And I wonder what food George W. Bush would identify with? Hmmm... he must be barbecued ribs, I think, so what does that make the Democrats? Clinton was a McDonald's hamburger, Kerry was... what, a clam bake maybe? Hillary, she seems like a cucumber sandwich kind of woman. Or is it lobster roll?

You leave the house in the dark. You come home in the dark. It's winter, and you yearn for a lovingly-cooked meal. Why not have it ready when you get home? Why not fill your house with the rustic aromas of slow cookery?

But I have a job, or, at least a life, I can hear you murmuring to yourself, shaking your head. I don't have a personal chef. I'll just throw a Lean Cuisine in the oven.

No! Stop! Put away that freezer meal. Freezers are for summer, when you eat ice cream and whir up smoothies with fresh fruit and yogurt. Winter is for slow cookers, for Crock-Pots and baking at low, low heat and, oh, the bountiful braise. Monday, January 23, we'll be celebrating all that is slow - all our recipes will cook at low heats for several hours. Nearly all of them can be mixed early in your day and set cooking, and the flavors will combine throughout the afternoon as the dish gets more, and more, and more tender, until it is meltingly delectable, until it sings on your tongue.

Classic slow-cooked meals were invented long before the Crock-Pot trademark was ever registered. Dishes like cassoulet and baked beans and Beef Bourguignonne hearken from centuries ago. Once, everything was cooked slow. We honor our culinary heritage. We long for food that has nothing "fast" about it.

Cassoulet is my nemesis. I long to try this classicly famous slow-cooked French country dish. In the winter, nothing sounds more satisfying and delectably fattening than a cassoulet. But more than the time to cook (between three and six hours, depending on your recipe) is the list of ingredients: 1/2 pound unsmoked bacon, fresh pork rind or fatback, confit duck legs, veal demi-glace, duck and Armagnac sausages, rendered duck fat.

Most of it has to do with my general fear of duck. It was only last month - and only for the good of the slashforce - that I had the guts to roast that fearfully fatty poultry. And I never had the cojones to use the duck fat (despite your encouragement and wonderful words). It was partly Jeffrey Steingarten's fault, with his exhaustive search for the perfect interpretation of the dish. How could something accessible be such a pinnacle of one of Steingarten's epic quests?

So I'm considering staring down my demons, and attempting the fearful dish, with all its duck parts and renderings and demi-glaces before you even get started on putting the dish together. Do you have any kind words as I approach my doppelganger? Do you have any tales of facing your own culinary fears?

[Photo Butter Pig]