Cassoulet White Beans And Duck Stew Recipes

FRENCH CASSOULET - PORK AND WHITE BEAN CASSEROLE

Steps:

• For the Duck Confit: Process salt, onion, garlic, peppercorns, parsley, and bay leaves in food processor until a smooth paste with some small chunks forms, about 30 seconds, scraping down side of bowl as necessary. Massage duck legs with salt mixture and place in gallon-sized zipper-lock bag. Press out air, seal bag, and place in refrigerator 12 to 18 hours For the Bean Stew: Dissolve 2 tbsp salt in 3 quarts cold water in large bowl or container. Add beans and soak at room temperature, 8 to 24 hours. ** Drain and rinse well. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300°F. Rinse duck legs under cold running water, rubbing off any salt mixture. Pat legs dry with paper towels. Heat duck fat in large saucepan over med heat until completely transparent (if using canola oil, it should register about 135°F on instant-read thermometer). Add duck legs, making sure they are completely submerged in fat. Transfer pot to oven and cook until meat offers no resistance when poked with a fork, 3 to 4 hours. Using kitchen twine, tie together celery, bay leaf, and thyme, and set aside. Place sausage and salt pork in med saucepan and add cold water to cover by 1 inch; bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to simmer and cook 5 minutes. Transfer sausages to a cutting board, allow to cool slightly, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Remove salt pork from water; set aside. Heat 2 tbsp oil in 8-quart Dutch oven over med-high heat until beginning to smoke. Add sausage pieces and brown on all sides, 8 to 12 minutes total. Transfer to med bowl. Add pork shoulder and brown on all sides, 8 to 12 minutes. Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring constantly, until onion is translucent, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Return sausage to Dutch oven; add white wine, using wooden spoon to scrape browned bits from bottom of pan. Cook until slightly reduced, about 30 seconds. Stir in diced tomatoes, celery bundle, and reserved salt pork. Stir in broth and beans, pressing beans into even layer. If any beans are completely exposed, add up to 1-cup water to submerge (beans may still break surface of liquid). Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until beans are tender, about 1-1/2 hours. Remove confit and stew from oven and increase temperature to 350°F. Using slotted spoon, transfer duck legs to large plate and cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, remove skin from duck legs and discard. Remove meat from bones, leaving meat in large pieces; discard bones. The cooked confit, covered with fat, will last up to one month in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, remove celery bundle and salt pork from bean stew and discard. (Alternatively, dice salt pork and return to stew.) Using large spoon or ladle, skim fat from surface of stew. Adjust seasoning of stew with salt and pepper. Add duck meat and stir gently to combine. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. For the Breadcrumb Topping: Meanwhile, pulse bread and remaining 2 tbsp oil in food processor until crumbs are no larger than 1/8 inch, eight to ten 1-second pulses. Transfer to med bowl, add parsley, and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1/2 cup breadcrumb mixture evenly over casserole; bake, covered, 15 minutes. Remove lid and bake 15 minutes longer. Sprinkle remaining breadcrumb mixture over top of casserole and bake until topping is golden brown and beans are bubbling around edges of pot, about 30 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.
• To make Cassoulet: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rinse and dry the chicken well and season with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature 15 minutes. In a large Dutch oven, over medium low heat, add the bacon and slowly render the fat. Remove the bacon to a plate when crispy, leaving the fat in the pan. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken on both sides and then remove to a plate. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, another minute. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half. Stir in beans, bay leaf, and thyme. Nestle chicken thighs and bacon back into pot. Add the chicken stock, cover, and bake in the oven for 35 minutes. During the last 15 minutes of cook time, remove the lid and cover the top with sliced tomatoes and the Garlic Bread Crumbs. Serve cassoulet with a baguette. To make Breadcrumbs: In a small sauté pan over low heat, add the oil and the garlic. Stir until the oil is fragrant, about 1 minute. Toss in the breadcrumbs and cook until the breadcrumbs start to turn golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and remove from heat.
• Combine the herbs and salt. Rub the salt mixture into the duck legs. Place the duck legs in a large Ziploc bag, place in fridge and let marinate for 24 hours. Remove duck from bag, rinse and pat dry. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place duck in the bottom of a baking dish just big enough to hold the duck in a single layer, skin side up, covering the bottom completely. Cover with the lard and oil. The fat should just cover the top. If it doesn't quite cover, pour in a bit more oil until it does. Put duck in oven and reduce the heat to200°F. Bake, uncovered at 210°F for 1 hour 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and let cool inside the oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove duck from oven. Strain the legs and set aside to cool. Once cooled, shred it. If you are going to keep the confit for a while, press the meat into a small glass or porcelain container and then cover with a layer of the melted fat. If you're going to use the meat straight away, don't bother with this step. But in either case, keep the fat for roasting potatoes! Covered in the fat, sealed and stored in the refrigerator, duck confit will hold up to a month.

FRENCH CASSOULET - DUCK, PORK AND WHITE BEAN CASSEROLE

Steps:

• For the Duck Confit: Process salt, onion, garlic, peppercorns, parsley, and bay leaves in food processor until a smooth paste with some small chunks forms, about 30 seconds, scraping down side of bowl as necessary. Massage duck legs with salt mixture and place in gallon-sized zipper-lock bag. Press out air, seal bag, and place in refrigerator 12 to 18 hours For the Bean Stew: Dissolve 2 tbsp salt in 3 quarts cold water in large bowl or container. Add beans and soak at room temperature, 8 to 24 hours. ** Drain and rinse well. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300°F. Rinse duck legs under cold running water, rubbing off any salt mixture. Pat legs dry with paper towels. Heat duck fat in large saucepan over med heat until completely transparent (if using canola oil, it should register about 135°F on instant-read thermometer). Add duck legs, making sure they are completely submerged in fat. Transfer pot to oven and cook until meat offers no resistance when poked with a fork, 3 to 4 hours. Using kitchen twine, tie together celery, bay leaf, and thyme, and set aside. Place sausage and salt pork in med saucepan and add cold water to cover by 1 inch; bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to simmer and cook 5 minutes. Transfer sausages to a cutting board, allow to cool slightly, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Remove salt pork from water; set aside. Heat 2 tbsp oil in an 8-quart Dutch oven over med-high heat until beginning to smoke. Add sausage pieces and brown on all sides, 8 to 12 minutes total. Transfer to med bowl. Add pork shoulder and brown on all sides, 8 to 12 minutes. Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring constantly, until onion is translucent, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Return sausage to Dutch oven; add white wine, using wooden spoon to scrape browned bits from bottom of pan. Cook until slightly reduced, about 30 seconds. Stir in diced tomatoes, celery bundle, and reserved salt pork. Stir in broth and beans, pressing beans into even layer. If any beans are completely exposed, add up to 1-cup water to submerge (beans may still break surface of liquid). Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until beans are tender, about 1-1/2 hours. Remove confit and stew from oven and increase temperature to 350°F. Using a slotted spoon, transfer duck legs to large plate and cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, remove skin from duck legs and discard. Remove meat from bones, leaving meat in large pieces; discard bones. The cooked confit, covered with fat, will last up to one month in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, remove celery bundle and salt pork from bean stew and discard. (Alternatively, dice salt pork and return to stew.) Using a large spoon or ladle, skim fat from surface of stew. Adjust seasoning of stew with salt and pepper. Add duck meat and stir gently to combine. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. For the Breadcrumb Topping: Meanwhile, pulse bread and remaining 2 tbsp oil in food processor until crumbs are no larger than 1/8 inch, eight to ten 1-second pulses. Transfer to med bowl, add parsley, and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1/2 cup breadcrumb mixture evenly over casserole; bake, covered, 15 minutes. Remove lid and bake 15 minutes longer. Sprinkle remaining breadcrumb mixture over top of casserole and bake until topping is golden brown and beans are bubbling around edges of pot, about 30 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.
• To make Cassoulet: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rinse and dry the chicken well and season with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature 15 minutes. In a large Dutch oven, over medium low heat, add the bacon and slowly render the fat. Remove the bacon to a plate when crispy, leaving the fat in the pan. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken on both sides and then remove to a plate. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, another minute. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half. Stir in beans, bay leaf, and thyme. Nestle chicken thighs and bacon back into pot. Add the chicken stock, cover, and bake in the oven for 35 minutes. During the last 15 minutes of cook time, remove the lid and cover the top with sliced tomatoes and the Garlic Bread Crumbs. Serve cassoulet with a baguette. To make Breadcrumbs: In a small sauté pan over low heat, add the oil and the garlic. Stir until the oil is fragrant, about 1 minute. Toss in the breadcrumbs and cook until the breadcrumbs start to turn golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and remove from heat.
• Combine the herbs and salt. Rub the salt mixture into the duck legs. Place the duck legs in a large Ziploc bag, place in fridge and let marinate for 24 hours. Remove duck from bag, rinse and pat dry. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place duck in the bottom of a baking dish just big enough to hold the duck in a single layer, skin side up, covering the bottom completely. Cover with the lard and oil. The fat should just cover the top. If it doesn't quite cover, pour in a bit more oil until it does. Put duck in oven and reduce the heat to200°F. Bake, uncovered at 210°F for 1 hour 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and let cool inside the oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove duck from oven. Strain the legs and set aside to cool. Once cooled, shred it. If you are going to keep the confit for a while, press the meat into a small glass or porcelain container and then cover with a layer of the melted fat. If you're going to use the meat straight away, don't bother with this step. But in either case, keep the fat for roasting potatoes! Covered in the fat, sealed and stored in the refrigerator, duck confit will hold up to a month.

HOW TO MAKE CASSOULET

Steps:

• We may think of it as decadent, but cassoulet is at heart a humble bean and meat stew, rooted in the rural cooking of the Languedoc region. But for urban dwellers without access to the staples of a farm in southwest France - crocks of rendered lard and poultry fat, vats of duck confit, hunks of meat from just-butchered pigs and lambs - preparing one is an epic undertaking that stretches the cook. The reward, though, may well be the pinnacle of French home cooking.Cassoulet does take time to make: there is overnight marinating and soaking, plus a long afternoon of roasting and simmering, and a few days on top of that if you make your own confit. However, it is also a relatively forgiving dish, one that welcomes variation and leaves room for the personality of the cook - perhaps more than any other recipe in the canon. As long as you have white beans slowly stewed with some combination of sausages, pork, lamb, duck or goose, you have a cassoulet.The hardest part about making a cassoulet when you're not in southwest France is shopping for the ingredients. This isn't a dish to make on the fly; you will need to plan ahead, ordering the duck fat and confit and the garlic sausage online or from a good butcher, and finding sources for salt pork and fresh, bone-in pork and lamb stew meat. The beans, though, aren't hard to procure. Great Northern and cannellini beans make fine substitutes for the Tarbais, flageolet and lingot beans used in France.Then give yourself over to the rhythm of roasting, sautéing and long, slow simmering. The final stew, a glorious pot of velvety beans and chunks of tender meat covered by a burnished crust, is well worth the effort.
• Named for the cassole, the earthenware pot in which it is traditionally cooked, cassoulet evolved over the centuries in the countryside of southwest France, changing with the ingredients on hand and the cooks stirring the pot.The earliest versions of the dish were most likely influenced by nearby Spain, which has its own ancient tradition of fava bean and meat stews. As the stew migrated to the Languedoc region, the fava beans were replaced by white beans, which were brought over from the Americas in the 16th century.Although there are as many cassoulets as there are kitchens in the Languedoc, three major towns of the region - Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse - all vigorously lay claim to having created what they consider to be the only true cassoulet. It is a feud that has been going on at least since the middle of the 19th century, and probably even longer.In 1938, the chef Prosper Montagné, a native of Carcassonne and an author of the first version of "Larousse Gastronomique," attempted to resolve the dispute. He approached the subject with religious zeal, calling cassoulet "the god of Occidental cuisine" and likening the three competing versions to the Holy Trinity. The cassoulet from Castelnaudary, which is considered the oldest, is the Father in Montagné's trinity, and is made from a combination of beans, duck confit and pork (sausages, skin, knuckles, salt pork and roasted meat). The Carcassonne style is the Son, with mutton and the occasional partridge stirred in. And the version from Toulouse, the Holy Spirit, was the first to add goose confit to the pot.The recipe for cassoulet was codified by the "États Généraux de la Gastronomie" in 1966, and it was done in a way that allowed all three towns to keep their claims of authenticity. The organization mandated that to be called cassoulet, a stew must consist of at least 30 percent pork, mutton or preserved duck or goose (or a combination of the three elements), and 70 percent white beans and stock, fresh pork rinds, herbs and flavorings.That settled the question of which meats to use. But there are two other main points of contention that still inspire debate: the use of tomatoes and other vegetables with the beans, and a topping of bread crumbs that crisp in the oven. Julia Child chose to do both, as we do here. "The Escoffier Cookbook" and "Larousse Gastronomique" give some recipes that include the tomatoes, vegetables and bread crumbs, and some that omit them. The beauty of it is that if you make your own cassoulet, you get to decide.Above, "The Kitchen Table" by Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779).
• Casserole dish You will need a deep casserole dish that holds at least eight quarts, or a large Dutch oven, to bake the cassoulet. If you use a Dutch oven, you won't need the cover. The cassoulet needs to bake uncovered to develop a crisp crust.Baking sheets All of the ingredients for a cassoulet are cooked before being combined and baked again. The meat can be cooked in any number of ways; here, the pork and lamb stew meat is roasted on rimmed baking sheets so that it browns.Large pot The beans and garlic sausage (or kielbasa) are cooked in a large pot before they are added to the casserole, though you could use a slow cooker or pressure cooker, if you have one. You will also need a second small pot for simmering the salt pork.Wirecutter, a product recommendations website owned by The New York Times Company, has guides to the best Dutch ovens and baking sheets.
• This slow-cooked casserole requires a good deal of culinary stamina. But the voluptuous combination of aromatic beans with rich chunks of duck confit, sausage, pork and lamb is worth the effort. Serve it with a green salad. It doesn't need any other accompaniment, and you wouldn't have room for one anyway.
• The hardest part of making a cassoulet may be obtaining the ingredients. Beyond that, it helps to think of cooking and building it in stages. Once you've gathered and prepared the components (the meat, beans, salt pork, sausage, duck confit and bread crumb topping), assembling the dish is just a matter of layering the elements.• You can use any kind of roasted meats for a cassoulet, and the kinds vary by region. Substitute roasted chicken, turkey or goose for the duck confit, bone-in beef for the lamb and bone-in veal for the pork. Lamb neck is a great substitute for the bone-in lamb stew meat, and you can use any chunks of bone-in pork, like pork ribs, in place of the pork stew meat. (The bones give the dish more flavor, and their gelatin helps thicken the final stew.)• Do not use smoked sausages in the beans, or substitute smoked bacon for the salt pork. The smoky flavor can overwhelm the dish, and it is not traditional in French cassoulets. If you can't find salt pork, pancetta will work in its place, and you won't need to poach it beforehand.• You can buy duck confit at gourmet markets or order it online. If you'd prefer to make it yourself, this is how to do it: Rub 4 fresh duck legs with a large pinch of salt each. Place in a dish and generously sprinkle with whole peppercorns, thyme sprigs and smashed, peeled garlic cloves. Cover and let cure for 4 to 24 hours in the refrigerator. When ready to cook, wipe the meat dry with paper towels, discarding the garlic, pepper and herbs. Place in a Dutch oven or baking dish and cover completely with fat. (Duck fat is traditional, but olive oil also works.) Bake in a 200-degree oven until the duck is tender and well browned, 3 to 4 hours. Let duck cool in the fat before refrigerating. Duck confit lasts for at least a month in the refrigerator and tastes best after sitting for 1 week.• Don't think the meat is the only star of this dish. The beans need just as much love. You want them velvety, sitting in a trove of tomato, stock and rich fat. Buy the best beans you can, preferably ones that have been harvested and dried within a year of cooking. The variety of white bean is less important than their freshness.• Bread crumbs aren't traditional for cassoulet, but will result in a topping with an especially airy and crisp texture. Regular dried bread crumbs, either bought or homemade, will also work.• When you roast the meat, leave plenty of space between the chunks of meat so they brown nicely. More browning means richer flavor. You can also use leftover roasted meat if you have them on hand.• The bouquet garni flavors both the beans and the bean liquid, which is used to moisten the cassoulet as it bakes. To make one, take sprigs of parsley and thyme and a bay leaf and tie them together with at least 1 foot of kitchen string. Tuck the bay leaf in the middle of the bouquet and make sure you wrap the herbs up thoroughly, several times around, so they don't escape into the pot.• Feel free to use a slow cooker or pressure cooker for the beans. Add the garlic sausage (or kielbasa) about halfway through the cooking time. It doesn't have to be exact, since the sausage is already cooked; you're adding it to flavor the beans and their liquid.• Use a very large skillet, at least 12 inches, for sautéing the sausages and finishing the beans before you layer them into the casserole dish. • In this recipe, the beans are finished in a tomato purée, which reduces and thickens the sauce of the final cassoulet. But you can substitute a good homemade stock for the purée. You'll get a soupier cassoulet, but it's just as traditional without the tomatoes.• The salt pork is layered in strips into the bottom of the baking dish. Then, while cooking, it crisps and turns into a bottom crust for the stew. So it is important to slice it thinly and carefully place it in a single layer on the bottom of the dish (and up the sides, if you have enough). Don't overlap it very much, or those parts won't get as crisp.• The reserved bean liquid is added to the cassoulet for cooking, and its starchiness is what keeps the stew thick and creamy. Using stock instead would make for a soupier but still delicious cassoulet.• You create a substantial top crust with crunch by repeatedly cracking the very thick layer of bread crumbs as the cassoulet cooks, and by drizzling the topping with bean liquid, which browns and crisps up in the heat. It's best to crack the topping in even little taps from the side of a large spoon. You are looking to create more texture and crunch by exposing more of the bread crumbs to the hot oven and bean liquid, which should be drizzled generously and evenly.• If you like you can skip the bread crumbs entirely, which is just as traditional. The top will brown on its own, but there won't be a texturally distinct crust.• You do not have to make the cassoulet all in one go. You can break up the work, cooking the separate elements ahead of time and reserving them until you are ready to layer and bake the cassoulet. Or assemble the cassoulet in its entirety ahead of time, without bread crumbs, and then top and bake just before serving.
• Photography Food styling: Alison Attenborough. Prop styling: Beverley Hyde. Additional photography: Karsten Moran for The New York Times. Additional styling: Jade Zimmerman. Video Food styling: Chris Barsch and Jade Zimmerman. Art direction: Alex Brannian. Prop styling: Catherine Pearson. Director of photography: James Herron. Camera operators: Tim Wu and Zack Sainz. Editing: Will Lloyd and Adam Saewitz. Additional editing: Meg Felling.
• All Chapters
• Soufflé

CASSOULET (FRENCH STEW MADE WITH DUCK AND SAUSAGE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. FOR THE BEANS: In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Saute the onions and celery for 4 minutes, or until they are slightly wilted.
• Add the beans, salt, cayenne, water and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until beans are tender and most of the water is absorbed, about 2 hours.
• FOR THE MEATS: In a large oven proof skillet, over medium high heat, combine the flour and oil. Stirring constantly, make a medium brown roux.
• Add the onions, celery, bell peppers, carrots, salt and cayenne. Stirring constantly, cook for 4 minutes or until vegetables are slightly wilted.
• Add the duck legs and sausages and cook for 3 minutes on each side.
• Add the chicken broth and stir the mixture until the roux and broth are combined and mixture thickens. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pot to loosen any brown particles. Bring to a boil. Add the beans and duck meat. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 30 minutes.
• FOR THE GRATINE: In a mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, and olive oil. Mix well. When the bean/meat mixture is cooked, spoon the gratine evenly over the top and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Spoon a serving of the mixture from the pan onto a plate and add garnishments.

TRADITIONAL FRENCH CASSOULET RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cover beans with 3 quarts water and add salt. Stir to combine and let sit at room temperature overnight. Drain and rinse beans and set aside.
• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Place stock in a large liquid measuring cup and sprinkle gelatin over the top. Set aside. Heat duck fat (if using) in a large Dutch oven over high heat until shimmering. Add salt pork and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned all over, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a large bowl, leaving rendered fat in Dutch oven, and set aside. (If not using duck fat, cook pork with no additional fat.)
• Season chicken pieces with pepper (do not add salt) and place skin side down in now-empty pan. Cook without moving until well-browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Flip chicken pieces and continue cooking until lightly browned on second side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer to bowl with salt pork.
• Add sausages and cook, turning occasionally, until well-browned on both sides. Transfer to bowl with salt pork and chicken. Drain all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot.
• Add onions to pot and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook until onions are translucent but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add drained beans, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaves, cloves, and stock/gelatin mixture. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce to low, cover Dutch oven, and cook until beans are almost tender but retain a slight bite, about 45 minutes.
• Using tongs, remove carrots, celery, parsley, bay leaves, and cloves and discard. Add meats to pot and stir to incorporate, making sure that the chicken pieces end up on top of the beans with the skin facing upwards. Beans should be almost completely submerged. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered, until a thin crust forms on top, about 2 hours, adding more water by pouring it carefully down the side of the pot, as necessary, to keep beans mostly covered.
• Break crust with a spoon and shake pot gently to redistribute. Return to oven and continue cooking, stopping to break and shake the crust every 30 minutes until you reach the 4 1/2 hour mark. Return to oven and continue cooking undisturbed until the crust is deep brown and thick, about 5 to 6 hours total. Serve immediately.

WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH DUCK CONFIT

Steps:

• Quick-soak beans by putting them in cold water to cover by 2 inches in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and cover, then soak 1 hour. Drain, discarding liquid.
• Remove skin and bones from duck legs, reserving both, then coarsely shred meat.
• Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat until it shimmers, then cook reserved bones, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and cloves, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes.
• Add drained beans, broth, water, and tomatoes and simmer, partially covered, stirring and skimming froth occasionally, until beans are tender, about 50 minutes.
• Meanwhile, thinly slice reserved skin, then lightly season with salt and pepper. Cook in a dry medium nonstick skillet over low heat, stirring to separate, until fat is rendered and skin is crisp, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Discard bay leaves, bones, and thyme from soup. Transfer 2 cups solids and 1 cup liquid from soup to a blender and blend until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), then return to soup. Stir in 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and keep warm, covered.
• Heat Armagnac in a small saucepan over low heat just until warm, then carefully ignite with a kitchen match (use caution; flames will shoot up). When flames subside, stir Armagnac into soup along with meat, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve sprinkled with crisp skin.

CASSOULET (WHITE BEANS AND DUCK STEW)

Steps:

• Soak Beans overnight and drain
• Cure the duck confit overnight. Pat the duck legs dry with paper towels and place them on a sheet pan. Toss the duck legs with the salt, thyme and garlic. Wrap with plastic and let cure in the refrigerator overnight.
• The next day, preheat the oven to 300°. Using paper towels, wipe off the salt from the duck legs and place them in a medium Dutch oven. Cover the legs with the duck fat, making sure they are completely submerged. Cover the pot and cook in the oven until the legs are tender, 2 to 2½ hours. Let the legs cool in the fat, then transfer them to a plate. Strain the fat, reserving 10 tablespoons for the cassoulet and the rest for another use.
• Meanwhile, make the Tarbais beans: Place the celery stalk on a cutting board and fit the parsley stems, thyme and bay leaf into the crease of the stalk, then secure with butcher's twine to make a bouquet garni. Stud each half of the onion with 3 cloves. Place the soaked beans in a large pot with the bouquet garni, studded onion, salt pork, garlic and carrots, then cover with water.
• Bring to a simmer and cook, adding water as needed to keep the beans covered, until tender, 1 hour. Drain the beans, discarding the bouquet garni and onion. Remove the salt pork and set aside to cool, then roughly chop and reserve.
• In a small bowl, whisk the stock and tomato paste until smooth, then pour over the drained beans and carrots. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the chopped salt pork.
• Assemble the cassoulet: In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the duck fat over medium-high heat. Add the duck sausage and cook, turning as needed, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• In a 4½-quart Dutch oven, rub 2 tablespoons of the duck fat and the garlic clove over the entire inside of the pot. Spread out a third of the bean mixture in an even layer, then top with 3 confit duck legs, 4 duck sausages and half the garlic sausage slices. Repeat this layering of beans and meat one more time until all the meat is used up, then top with the remaining third of the beans. Cover and refrigerate the cassoulet overnight.
• The next day, preheat the oven to 325°. Bring the cassoulet to room temperature, then cook, uncovered, until a crust forms on the top, 45 minutes. Break the top and pour in 2 more tablespoons of the reserved duck fat and the chicken stock. Continue to bake until another crust forms, 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and raise the temperature to 400°.