The preserved goose or duck is sold in tins or jars as confit d’oie or de canard. You should find there is plenty of spare fat in the confit tin for use in the recipe but you can also buy goose fat (graisse d’oie) tinned separately. Some people like to cover the top of the stew with fresh breadcrumbs mixed with chopped parsley and garlic, and grill or gratin until a herb crust is formed.
INGREDIENTS
1 kg/2 lb 4 oz smoked belly of pork, cut into large cubes
100 g/3 ½ oz goose fat
750 g/1 lb 10 oz dried white haricot beans, soaked in water overnight
6 tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
10 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of thyme
A pinch of powered cloves
Half a litre/18 fl oz of white Languedoc wine and water mixed
6 pieces of preserved goose or duck
6 Toulouse sausages
6 uncooked garlic sausages
salt and pepper
Recipe continues
METHOD
Fry the cubes of pork in some of the goose fat in a large casserole until golden. Add the haricot beans, the tomatoes and tomato puree, garlic, herbs, cloves salt and pepper. Cover with the mixture of wine and water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently for about 1 ½ hours.
Meanwhile, brown and part cook the sausages in the remaining goose fat and put them, along with the preserved goose or duck pieces into a greased earthenware casserole.
When the beans have almost finished cooking, tip then over the sausages and goose. If necessary add a little more liquid – the consistency should be roughly that of a tin of baked beans – and place in a hot oven (230˚C/450˚F/Gas Mark 8) for 20-30 minutes, until the confit has heated through and the sausages are cooked.
Ideally the whole dish should be cooked in the oven from start to finish, but it is more convenient to split the cooking process as I have.