Back in France to Castelnaudary and its Cassoulet

The TRUE, the REAL, cassoulet, whose name comes from the cassole, in which the cassoulet is traditionally cooked, is fought over by three towns in southwest France - Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, and Toulouse; that of Castelnaudary is called the father, that of Carcassone, which adds lamb, is the son, and that of Toulouse, which uses tomato, is the holy spirit. These facts come from the Universal Cassoulet Academy.  Here is the recipe from Castelnaudary. The photographed cassoulet is of my doing.

Ingredients:
350 to 400 grams of dried Tarbais beans. I like to use these beans for they stay firm, even after a long time cooking. Strictly speaking you can use any dried white bean, if you cannot find the origin protected Tarbais. The haricot Tarbais can be ordered through the internet.
2 or more - I use 4 - preserved duck legs.
4 pieces of Toulouse sausage, each weighing 80 grams
4 pieces of pork shoulder or shin, each piece weighing 50 grams
250 grams of pork skin
A bit of salted lard
Several carrots, cut into chunks and several onions, cut in half, and a chicken carcass.

To prepare:
First soak the beans overnight. The next morning put them into 3 litres of cold water, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and reserve the beans; throw away the water.
Prepare a bouillon with 3 litres of cold water, the pork skin cut into large strips, the chicken carcass, and the carrots and onions. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper - use plenty of pepper. Cook for an hour, then filter the broth and keep the pork skin. Cook the soaked beans in this broth for about an hour, until they are tender but still firm. Drain the beans, but save the broth. Mix together in a mixer or a robot 6 peeled, degermed garlic cloves and salted lard that weighs twice the weight of the garlic.

Degrease the deboned duck legs, cut into pieces, in a frying pan and then remove. Brown the sausages and the pork pieces in the remaining duck fat. Reserve the fat.

Now to put it all together.

Line the bottom of a cassole with the pork skin and add a third of the beans. Then arrange the pork pieces and the duck on top and then cover with the rest of the beans. Put the sausages on top of the beans, pushing them down a little bit into the beans. Cover these ingredients just to the top with the broth. Save the remaining broth. Add more pepper, if you wish, and add a tablespoon of the reserved duck cooking fat.
Put into a oven preheated to 160°. During the cooking a crust will form on top; push this crust into the cassoulet 7 times. If the cassoulet becomes too dry, add some bouillon. Cook for two to three hours.
Serve the cassoulet very hot in its cassole.

An authentic and inexpensive cassole, handmade, can be bought at Not Freres, a pottery just outside Castelnaudary in Mas-Saintes-Puelles.

If all this seems fatiguing, go to the Cantelgril (NOT part of a similarly named French chain) in Mirepoix in the Ariege for a tasty cassoulet. Or go to Le Colombier in Toulouse, a lovely old restaurant that has been serving its delicious cassoulet since 1874.