The sugar burns slightly as the meat is broiled to form a bittersweet crust that pairs beautifully with the juicy richness of the duck. The wines here are all delicious right now and also will benefit from years of cellaring.
Now, earlier than I go any additional, French fries are not French, they arrive initially from Belgium—that’s the explanation why I decided not to give them their own spot in the listing. While the baguette is the visible icon of French gastronomy, cheese is probably the factor that stands out the most from our gastronomy. Soft, creamy, exhausting, strong, blue, spicy, smoked… there’s a cheese for everybody’s style. Just just like the quiche we mentioned earlier, they are very versatile and may be filled with all kinds of elements, from salmon to duck to any kind of vegetable or cheese.
But they’re less than the price of a median Napa Cabernet on a restaurant wine list. Say Bordeaux, and other people suppose “costly.” But this huge area is home to more than 5,000 wineries and, once you escape the storied names, provides plenty of killer offers. This strong pink, dense with black cherry and forest-floor notes, is certainly one of them. The Languedoc- Roussillon region produces huge quantities of wine. Much of it’s forgettable, but there are great offers to be discovered among the dross. Lafage is a perennial go-to for wines, includ- ing this floral, peachy white. Lighter reds are back in fashion, a boon for areas like the Loire and Beaujolais.
Although there are innumerable variations of cassoulet, most are primarily based on a stew of white beans and varied types of pork. The dish will get its name from the pot it’s historically baked in, the cassole, which is often shaped like a wide inverted cone to insure the greatest quantity of luscious crust. This model contains duck confit and the French garlic sausages which might be a specialty of Toulouse. Duck is usually paired with something sweet, as in canard à l’orange. Jean-Georges Vongerichten tops it right here with chopped sugar-coated almonds.