Lamboons Cassoulet

Lamboons are chunks of lamb preserved in duck or goose fat. Other food terms you may wish to explore include:

• porcoons - which are chunks of pork preserved in pork fat
• cardoons - wild artichokes
• Lorna Doones - soft, square vanilla flavored butter cookies

To make lamboons, you need to:

1. render duck or goose fat by skinning the bird, cutting the skin into 1/4 inch strips and cooking them in a slow (250F-300F) oven; the fat from one or two ducks should be sufficient
2. cut up a four to six pound lamb shoulder, the thicker part of a leg of lamb, not the shank, into two to four inch chunks
3. rub a mixture of crushed garlic, thyme, pepper and salt on the lamb - as for the quantity of salt, consider using somewhat less than the 1/3 ounce for each pound of meat rule, perhaps about half of that
4. let the lamb "marinate" for about 24 hours
5. rinse and pat the lamb chunks dry with paper towels or the like
6. cook the lamb chunks covered in duck fat in a slow oven, 250F-300F, for two or three hours - that is - until the chunks are tender and cooked through; try piercing them with a non-pointed implement to check
7. let the chunks cool a bit, then put them in a good canning jar and cover with duck or goose fat while still slightly warm
8. seal the jar and let the lamb ripen in the refrigerator for a week or two

To make the cassoulet:

1. soak a pound of cranberry beans - if you can't get cranberry beans, try kidney or pinto beans, but cranberry beans are best - in water for an hour
2. bring the water to a slow boil and let simmer for an hour, until the beans are soft
3. in a heavy metal roasting pan, heat up the lamboons along with a moderate bit of the duck fat - how much depends on how rich you want the dish to be
4. add a pound of uncured lamb sausage and cook until brown all the way through; cut up the sausage into 1/2 inch slices
5. add the beans and mix everything together
6. bake in the oven for an hour or two
7. tweak the flavoring with thyme, salt and pepper - or try rosemary or marjoram
8. top with bread crumbs and olive oil and brown under the broiler

In other words, it is a lot like a duck or goose confit based cassoulet, but based on lamb and lamb products instead. You can vary the quantities as you choose. You can add fresh lamb towards the end if you want.