February 21, 2007 Ask the Chef Article

First day in Monaco. I’m staying with mon ami Patrick Mercurio and Godson Malcom. We have a beautiful apartment right on the marina. Sunny and warm, probably in the high 60’s. Why is it that the weather is the most comfortable in the winter in places like southern France and Monterey? No tourists to speak of, which means no traffic and easier to get a table at the best restaurants. I started my day with a coffee and then searched out the open market. Mornings in the markets are just fabulous. Husbands and wives working their concessions of fresh pastries, breads and pizza by the slice all artfully arranged in their show-cases. Then there are the local women catching up on the latest or ongoing gossip. There is a certain look these women have when sharing particularly delicious news. Eyes darting back and

forth, smiling and holding on to the the arm of the receiver, with the tastiest morsels delivered close to the ear – great stuff! Now, what to eat first. At a pasta making shop, I found several varieties of small handmade raviolis – mushrooms, vegetables, meats, seafood and, my favorite, swiss chard and parmesan. That’s going to be lunch – raviolis, a frisee salad and a heavenly view out the window. The locals prefer to eat Italian. Pasta is hot along with grilled meats and panna cotta. Next day we passed through St. Jean De Luz, which is true Basque country. We ate at a French-Bascque restaurant called Ostalapia (www.ostalapia.com) and met the owner Christian Duplessi a former rugby player. The house drink was a large punch bowl of deep red sangria with slices of orange. I asked him about Picon Punch, served in every Bascque restaurant in California and Nevada,

and he said he’d never heard of it. Oh well, must be an American-Bascque thing. This place is truly wonderful – very old and surrounded by mountains. The dining room is one big room with a roaring fireplace. The menu fea-tures foie gras, sauteed calamari, mussels and unbelievable suckling lamb served with big beans and home fries – oh my God, like butta! Finished off with dessert of an apple tart with a cooked custard topping. On to Toulouse, home of the cassoulet. Patrick says, “John, I’m going to take you to the best place for cassoulet!” I was excited because I have never tasted the real thing made by a specialist and we were told there would be a French film crew there and I can do a segment for my TV show – alright! Cassoulet is another example (like boullibasse) where local products are combined to form a great dish.

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Some even credit the local water as a key ingredient. Cassoulet from Toulouse includes confit of duck (by-product of the local foie gras farms), white beans (introduced from Italy), salt pork, fresh pork hock, garlic, bay leaves and a garlic sauce made specially for this dish. This night was made for cassoulet – cold, windy and damp. Appetizers of copa, salami, pork crackling and foie gras on toast with local jams. Next was the cassoulet with 2 to 3 portions per person, followed by a salad with fresh pressed garlic, olive oil and vinegar always served in the

same dish. Finished with local cheeses, three different wines and some Armagnac, this was a celebration of real food, cooked up by three generations – grand-mother to father to son, chef Eric Rousselot at his restaurant Chez Etienne a la Bastide d’Andou. Now, here in his own words, is Eric’s method for his Cassoulet de Castelnaudary:

Glossary:
La Saucisse – Sausage

Le Confit d’oie – goose or duck meat heavily salted and cooked in grease

Les Coustellous – extremities of the pork chops, ribs

La Couenne / Les Couennes – Sliced pieces of pork skin

Le Jarret – back of the knee

La Cassole – a traditional ternacota plate

Le Rondo – a type of gravy, stock from pork

Les Rotisseurs – grill-room owners

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A good Cassoulet starts with white beans originating from the regions of Vendee, from the North, or Cocco beans from the South West. Know that in order to stew it correctly you will need pure water, and you will require water as well to make the beans soak as a preliminary measure. Wash them carefully and rinse as many times as needed. You will thus give birth to the good bean by adding the Saucisse and the Confit d’oie, the Couennes, thyme, salt, pepper, and a puree of garlic. What will be left for you to do is to stew them for a long time. The Saucisse, golden with its delicious smell of garlic, and cut into slices will be laid on a bed of beans.

Together of course with the Couennes, the Confit d’oie, with the Coustellous (bones) and a good Jarret (ham hock), stewed and cooked with some grease. All that remains now is to prepare them properly. Cook your beans, Couennes, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper with the best rondo you have in the kitchen. My grandmother used to add a bone of old ham and a little onion. While the Jarret or the Coustellous are stewing, cook the quite big piece of sausage until they reach a lovely golden hue within a very hot oven. After one hour and a quarter, put the beans in the Cassole with garlic and fill half of it. There you will delicately lay the Saucisse, the Couennes, and the

Confit d’oie, mixed with the juice of the good Saucisse and the well cooked Jarret. Put the beans on top and stew for six hours in the oven at the fresh temperature of one hundred degrees Celsius. Humidify now and then with water and juice. Then let it cool out of the oven since the feast will take place on the day which follows.

Two hours before eating, humidify and remove the beans with a spoon so that they do not stick to the Cassole. Put it in the oven for the very last time, humidify, put some pepper and enjoy your meal, as does Mr. Valby, the international Chairman of La Chaine Des Rotisseurs.