Saveur is one of my favorite magazines, but their recipes tend to be a bit complicated. The cassoulet was actually simple to make, but there were a lot of ingredients and it's really a two-day process. I ended up starting the last couple of steps a little late, so everything didn't cook as long as the recipe recommended, but it didn't seem to matter. I had tried making cassoulet about seven years ago (it was one of my first dates with my husband), and it was okay, but it doesn't really compare to this one. The meat and beans were such a wonderful combination. I'm actually in the process of making another today. I'm using smoked ham hocks this time and just plain duck breasts. We'll see how it goes!
I got all of my pork at Paulina Meat Market. It's such a great store and I don't go there often enough. From what I can tell, they have every meat possible, and if they don't have it they're willing to order it.
Here's a neat little article on cassoulet from Time. Apparently there's even an Académie Universelle du Cassoulet, a group of chefs dedicated to cooking traditional cassoulet across Languedoc and beyond.
Since cassoulet is so hearty, we decided to keep the other dishes pretty simple and light. I also tried to pick things from other food blogs I really enjoy. The frisee salad with red currants came from the kitchn while the whole lemon tart came from smittenkitchen. We also had the speedy no-knead bread made famous by Mark Bittman in the New York Times. It actually comes from Sullivan Street Bakery and I think is one of the best things I've learned to make. It works every time and seems almost foolproof.
Here are photos of the confit and cassoulet. Unfortunately the photos I took of the group didn't turn out very well at all.
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