Haus JaJa

Instructions

1. To make the beans: Wash and drain beans. Place in a large pot with 4 ½ quarts water, cover and bring to boil. Boil uncovered for exactly 2 minutes. Cover and let stand exactly 1 hour.
2. Remove pork rind and cut into ½ inch thick cubes. Simmer rind and pork in 3 quarts water for 15 minutes to remove excess salt. Rinse in cold water, drain and set aside. When beans have finished soaking, bring to a simmer, add the pork and rind and herb bouquet and salt to taste (1/2 tbsp if using salt pork or 1 tbsp if not using salt pork). Simmer slowly, partially covered until beans are just tender – about 1 ½ hours and salt to taste near the end of cooking.
3. Dry the lamb pieces. Film casserole with oil, heat to very hot and brown lamb pieces, removing the browned pieces to a dish. Brown the onions lightly in the lamb drippings. Return lamb to casserole and add garlic, tomato paste, herbs, wine and enough stock to just cover lamb. Salt lightly, cover and simmer slowly until lamb is tender, about 1 ½ hours.
4. Heat pan to very hot with oil and fry duck breast skin side down first. Turn to medium heat, cover and let cook through – approximately 20 minutes. Cut kielbasa half lengthwise and into chunks. Brown in duck drippings. Cut duck into serving chunks. Cut salt pork into thin slices and remove excess fat and remove rind.
5. To assemble cassoulet, using a slotted spoon, remove beans from their liquid, but reserve liquid. Arrange 3rd of beans in bottom of 6-quart casserole. Cover with a layer of lamb, duck, sausage and salt pork. Repeat with a layer of beans, then meat. End with a layer of beans coming to within about ¼ inch of rim of casserole. Ladle the lamb cooking liquid plus as much bean cooking liquid as needed to just cover beans. This can be prepared up to 2 days in advance.
6. Cooking the cassoulet: Sprinkle bread crumbs and parsley over cassoulet. If the assembled cassoulet has been refrigerated, place the covered casserole in a 325°F oven for an hour of more until contents are bubbling. Remove from oven. If using freshly made cassoulet or starting after heating it as above, heat oven to 400°F and bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes until breadcrumb topping has crusted and browned lightly. Break crust into beans with the back of a spoon and return casserole to oven. Lower temperature to 350°F and bake for 15 minutes or more until a second crust has formed. Break it into the beans, and if the cooking liquid seems too thick or the beans too dry, add bean-cooking liquid. When the crust forms again, it’s ready to serve.