671. COOKED GOOSE FULL OF BEANS

If you are utterly enraged by some unexpected atrocity that has blighted your day, what you need is someone or something to take it all out on. This cassoulet is just your dish: accompanied by a booming red wine, it will not tire, nor be easily offended, nor argue back.


Soak overnight:

1 1/2 pounds dried white beans.

The next day put them in a large saucepan and add:

1 large onion, studded with cloves
1/2 pound diced salt pork
1 teaspoon peppercorns
Thyme, bay leaf, garlic cloves.

Cover with fresh water and cook gently until they are almost soft (from 2-3 hours).

Meanwhile, remove from 1 roast goose the best cuts, such as drumsticks, thighs, pieces of breast and wing, etc. leave the skin on, and conserve the drippings.

Cook in the drippings:

1 pound lamb, cubed
1 pound bacon

When the beans are ready, place the pieces of goose, lamb, ham, and:

1 pound fresh garlic sausage

in thick slices in alternating layers in a large, deep earthenware casserole. Add enough of the liquid in which the beans have cooked (to which you add half a can of tomato paste) to come halfway up. Cook uncovered in a very slow oven, stirring two or three times, for 2-3 hours, when it is ready to serve.


courtesy of: The Eating-In-Bed Cookbook, by Barbara Ninde Byfield. MacMillan, 1962 / submitted by: David H. King MD and Cynthia Arrieu-King