Cassoulet

Cassoulet is a slow-cooked French stew of white beans and meat, and the source is clear about that: it is rooted in the Languedoc region of southwest France and dates back to at least the mid 1300s. It was originally baked in an earthenware dish called a casserole, which is where the name comes from. The traditional version is elaborate. It calls for duck confit, the French method of preserving duck before refrigeration, along with a long list of meats: pork, sausage, lamb, salt pork, bacon, ham hocks, pork skin and pork shoulder. There are many regional versions and the source's own view is that the best come from home kitchens, which gives licence to improvise. **This recipe improvises considerably.** It uses goat meat rather than duck and pork, a bouillon cube, and a teaspoon of potash, all West African rather than French. The result is a genuine adaptation, cooking a French dish with a West African hand, and it is worth being clear about which parts are which. The dish is filed as European because that is what cassoulet is; the recipe as written is an African version of it. The one technique it keeps is the two stages: the meat is cooked and then fried before it meets the beans.