The Daring Cooks January 2011 Challenge: Hearty Winter Stew - The French Way

Happy new year Daring Cooks! It feels so good to be back! I wasn't able to join last month's challenge but I made sure that I started 2011 right by resolving (uh-oh new year's resolutions) to face and complete all challenges (food and otherwise) for the whole year.

Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

Cassoulet is a rich, slow cooked stew or casserole that originated in the south of France during the 14th century. It traditionally contains pork, sausages, and white beans as well as a duck or goose confit and then topped with fried bread crumbs or cracklings. The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, which is a deep, round earthenware pot with slanted sides. This is a dish that traditionally takes about three days to prepare, but is oh so worth all the effort!! A confit, in case you don’t know, is one of the oldest ways to preserve food. It is essentially any kind of food that has been immersed in any kind of fat for both flavor and preservation. When stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months! Typically meats (most often waterfowl) are preserved in fats, while fruits are preserved in sugar.

*We had to make confit to be incorporated in the cassoulet. I chose the easier route by making chicken confit with butter. Can I just say, the smell, taste and texture of the chicken confit is sooooooooooo good. I couldn't stop myself from smelling and yes, picking some of the chicken just to taste...

For the complete recipe of Anthony Bourdain's recipe click here. I made some changes as suggested by our hosts. I didn't use pork rind to line my dish for the cassoulet, and substituted bacon.

And here is the cassoulet, ready for eating...I had a taste and boy was it good!

Thank you Jenni and Lisa for this month's DC challenge! It was truly a learning experience reading through the posts in the forum and taking your suggestions.