Cassoulet

cassoulet a renowned composite meat dish which appears, with many variations, throughout the Languedoc. The consistent elements are haricot (white) beans and some forms of pork and sausage. Goosefat is frequently the cooking medium.

Anatole France claimed in his Histoire comique that the cassoulet he used to eat in a favourite establishment in Paris had been cooking for 20 years, thus placing cassoulet squarely within the pot-au-feu category of dishes, which traditionally live on the stove through decades while subjected to daily subtractions and replenishments. It is true that long slow cooking is essential but it need not be carried to such extreme lengths.