The French are geniuses.

So, I never really thought much of French cooking, really. I dont know why, exactly, perhaps it was simply youthful rebellion against the overwhelming French influence on formalized Western cuisine, or my greater affinity for Asian styles of cooking, but I just never was terribly sold on the importance of it.

Oh, certainly, I recognized that some of the techniques were downright invaluable. I couldn't live without the roux, if nothing else. But I never really thought much of it, because it seemed like such a basic thing.

And despite being the Bourdain fan that I am, even when he'd go on at length about the wonders of French cooking, it still didn't really register.

Until I watched him make cassoulet.

It was for the Cleveland episode of No Reservations, that he prepared a cassoulet for Michael Ruhlman and his family.

Here was a dish, which basically involved cooking a bunch of different kinds of pork, inside of pork skin, with a pot-pie-like pastry crust to top the whole thing off.

Pork pot pie.

Any dismissal of the French instantly vaporized. I don't know how I can even entirely express in text with enough emphasis. I literally feel that the medium of text is inadequate to describe how utterly and completely astounded and infatuated I was at the very idea of this dish. I've taken longer to fall in love with women.

Of course, the moment I saw it, I knew I would have to make it. Someday, somehow, I would make a cassoulet, because it was simply too damn genius not to experience first hand, and there aren't exactly a lot of French bistros in the middle of the Oregon desert.

Well, today, I finally got my chance. I was perusing the days selection of meats at Ray's, and saw the package of pig skin, and immediately the light bulb moment went on in my head. I would make cassoulet. A chat with the butcher revealed that he was perfectly happy to cut me a bit of skin to suit even.

My mind was made up. A frenzy of activity ensued to acquire all the desired and needed ingredients for my own interpretation of the concept. First things first, I needed a pan, as my house is dreadfully short on them, and completely lacking one that was ovenable.

I wound up going with a cheap disposable foil 5lb. loaf pan.

Next was ingredients. At this point, I realized I was going to need a basket, so I went back to the door, and grabbed one, and basically worked my way around the store from there. A sweet potato, cheap surplus from Thanksgiving, a red bell pepper, shallot, Braeburn apple, fresh savory for some herbage, an onion which I didn't wind up actually using because of the strength of the shallot, some brown sugar and paprika for some further flavorants, a bottle of cheap pinot grigio (more cheap sale-priced Crane Lake), and two cans of white beans. From the butcher counter, 4 strips of peppered bacon, 1 large andouille sausage, a custom cut measure of pork skin, and a smoked pork hock chunk, cut in half. Finally, to top it off, premade pie crusts, to provide the topping.

Once I got it home, I discovered that the pork skin wasn't quite the big solid piece I'd hoped for, as he'd mostly just picked out bits from the already cut package from the shelf. Fortunately, there was a big enough sheet of it to cover the base of the pan, which I figured was good enough, so I laid it across the bottom of the pan.

Then, into the pan went the yam, shallot, apple, and red bell pepper, all diced, followed by three cloves of minced garlic. On top of this went the two halves of pork hock, followed by sliced andouille, and chopped bacon. On top of all this went the cans of white beans, draining the liguid into a seperate vessel first. Then seasoning: black pepper, paprika, cumin, New Mexico chili powder, garlic powder, salt, a sprig or two worth of the fresh savory, and a generous helping of brown sugar. For liquid, the liquid from the beans, a good amount of the pinot grigio (maybe a cup and a half or so), a bit of soya sauce and seasoned rice vinegar, and then topping it off with water until everything was roughly to the level of the top layer of beans.

All of this was topped by covering the top with the pie crust. One 9-inch pie crust wasn't quite big enough to cover the whole length of the pan, so I wound up using one whole one, and part of the other, crimping it over the top and trimming the excess from the side of the pan, then slitting across the top five times.

This went into the oven for about a half an hour at 350 degrees, followed by another 10 minutes or so at 450. This proved not enough, so it wound up going back into the oven for another hour at 350, and to be honest, I think it could've used another half an hour or so, and this will probably be what I do to heat up the leftovers for dinner tomorrow.

However, difficulties with nailing down the cooking time aside, the dish was overall absolutely fucking delicious. Like a rich, slightly sweet bean soup, and absolutely tasty. The red pepper and some of the sweet potato seemed a bit undercooked, hence the consideration of another half an hour's cooking time.

Still, while probably not remotely faithful to the traditional French recipe except in the overarching concept, I think I managed to pull of a very, very tasty dish, and I intend to make it again. Possibly even next weekend.