Beans and Pork Cassoulet

This has been a great find. This not cassoulet by a classic sense. it is greatly simplified. Cassoulet is fundamentally a bean and meat stew. It is often made by combining fatty meats with flavorful bones and cured meats. It is a great way to use up a bunch of smaller portions of assorted meats.

The combination of beans, a pork joint, cured meat, onions and lots of herbs slow cooked until you have a rich protein broth.

Recipes often call for fatty skins from things like duck, leaner meats like chicken, bones and cured meats. A simpler and cheaper approach is to combine all that in a single piece of pork joint. a cheap ham shank is a cured meat with fatty pork skin and so much tasty collagen from the joint.

You need a lot of a fresh flavorful herbs. This was kind of a happy accident I used a whole bunch of cilantro I had floating around and it was great.

So it is really down to just 4 flavor pillars Onions, Cilantro, Ham Shank and Beans. Feel free to expand this pork picnic and Kielbasa instead of ham. I have tried all types of beans, mixed are great, some whole dried peas really shine. Add A bay leaf to add some dimension to the herbs

I don't put a crust on my cassoulet. I could add bread crumbs or dry out the broth, but it is good as is. I have tossed in some leftover rice when done. that is great too. but eating the broth with spoon is hard to pass up.

Note soaking 1c beans needs at least 2 c water, 1 t salt and 0.5 t of baking soda to help them absorb the water and become nice and creamy.

Ingredients

• 1 lb (2.5 c) dried beans, soaked in 5 cups water 2.5 t salt, 1.25 t baking soda, drained
• Meat
  • ₆ lb pork shoulder, shank, picnic or bone in ham
  • 1 lb cured meat or or more ham
• Herbs, Chopped
  • ₁-2 c of flavorful fresh herbs (cilantro is my favorite, though time or celery is classic)
  • 2 bay leaves, if you got them
• Aromatics, diced
  • 2 onions, diced
  • 8 cloves of garlic or another onion
  • Maybe a carrot

Procedure

1. Put the Aromatics and Herbs in a pot or crockpot

2. Add Meat and beans

3. Cover with water

4. Bring to boil

5. Simmer slowly covered all day

6. Pull out the bones and shred or cut up any remaining meat

7. Serve with crusty bread, crackers, rice or just as is.