Cassoulet (adapted from Saveur recipe)

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups dried Great Northern or other small white beans

1 pound ham hocks

3 large yellow onions, peeled, quartered

5 sprigs thyme

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/3 pound cubed bacon

1 ham bone

1 tablespoon duck fat (I used bacon drippings)

1 pound fresh pork sausage, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 large head garlic, separated into cloves, peeled (about 3/4 cup)

Confit of 1 quartered duck, or 4 whole legs

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Rinse the beans, picking out any damaged beans or pebbles.

Put ham hocks in a large pot. Add 1 onion, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for 2 hours. Remove from heat, cool for 15 minutes, then drain ham hocks, discarding onion and thyme. Remove meat from each hock, cutting it into small pieces. Discard bones.

Meanwhile, place bacon, ham bone, and 1 onion in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until bacon is rendered, about 20 minutes. Add beans and enough water to cover by 1⁄2 inch (about 8 cups) and season with salt. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook until beans are tender, about 45 minutes. Adjust salt, if necessary, then set the beans aside to cool.

Heat duck fat (or bacon grease) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausages and cook, turning to brown on all sides, for about 10 minutes.

Place garlic, remaining onion, and 1⁄2 cup water in a blender and purée until smooth. Add garlic paste to sausages and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, turning sausages occasionally, for 10 minutes more.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a slotted spoon, remove and discard the ham bone and onion from beans (it is okay if some pieces of onion remain). Using a slotted spoon, transfer about half the beans with bacon to a heavy wide-mouthed 5 or 6-quart cast-iron, clay, or earthenware pot, about 4 inches deep.

Assemble cassoulet in layers: Place meat from the ham hocks on top of the beans and cover with sausages and garlic paste. If using a whole quartered duck, separate into pieces and cut breasts in halves. Arrange duck on sausages, then spoon in the remaining beans with bacon. Season with nutmeg and add just enough reserved bean cooking liquid to cover the beans (about 3 cups). Reserve remaining liquid. Bake, uncovered, until cassoulet comes to a simmer and a crust begins to form, about 1 hour.

Reduce oven heat to 250 degrees, and cook for 3 hours, checking every hour or so to make sure the cassoulet is barely simmering (a little liquid should be bubbling around edges of cassoulet). If cassoulet appears dry, break crust (browned top layer) by gently pushing it down with the back of a spoon, allowing a new layer of beans to rise to the surface. Add just enough reserved bean cooking liquid (or water) to moisten beans.

Remove cassoulet from the oven. Allow to cool completely, then cover with a lid or aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.

Remove cassoulet from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature for at least 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 1 hour.

When the cassoulet begins to simmer, break the crust and add enough warm water to just cover beans (about 1 cup). Reduce heat to 250 degrees and bake, breaking crust and adding water as needed, for 3 hours. Remove the cassoulet from oven and allow to rest for 15–20 minutes. Serve the cassoulet from the pot, breaking the crust at the table.

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