Cassoulet with pork, lamb, bacon and sausage cakes

Marinate the trimmed pork loin overnight in the fridge in a salt marinade of salt, pepper, thyme, crushed bay leaf, garlic and allspice.

Dry the pork and wipe off the marinade.

Heat three tablespoons of pork fat over medium heat until it smokes, then brown the pork on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Chop the carrot, peel and slice the onion, and set aside a couple of unpeeled garlic cloves.

Tie parsley, half a bay leaf and a quarter teaspoon of thyme in cheesecloth with string as an herb bouquet.

Keep no more than two spoonfuls of the used pork fat, add a knob of butter over medium heat, then the vegetables and the herb bouquet; cover and cook slowly five minutes.

Set the browned pork on the vegetables, get the meat sizzling on the stove, cover, and roast in the oven until it reaches 175 to 180F, a few hours, basting periodically with the juices.

Bring half a pound of fresh pork rind to a boil in a saucepan of cold water, boil one minute, drain, rinse in cold water and repeat.

Cut the rind into quarter inch strips with large scissors, then into small pieces.

Return the rind to the saucepan with more cold water and simmer slowly half an hour.

Set the roast pork aside to cool and reserve the cooking juices; chill them until the fat rises and can be peeled off.

Tie four unpeeled garlic cloves, two cloves, two bay leaves, parsley and half a teaspoon of thyme into a second cheesecloth bouquet.

Soak two pounds of dry cannellini beans in cold water overnight.

Simmer the bacon 10 minutes to render down the fat.

Add the bacon, the sliced small onion, the pork skin and its cooking liquid, the herb bouquet, a dessert spoon of salt and four quarts of water to the beans.

Simmer about 90 minutes until the beans are just tender, skimming the scum and topping up with a little boiling water if the beans are not submerged.

Trim the fat from the lamb shoulder, including between the layers, and cut it into roughly two inch squares.

Brown a pound of lamb bones in a 450F oven for 20 minutes, shaking them every five minutes.

Brown each side of the lamb in the duck fat in a large frying pan without crowding.

Move the browning fat to an oven safe pan over medium heat and brown the onions lightly for five minutes.

Add the lamb bones and lamb meat, the beef stock, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves, vermouth, salt and pepper.

Cover and simmer an hour and a half, on the stove or in a 325F oven.

For the sausage cakes mix the ground pork with salt, pepper, allspice, mashed garlic, crumbled bay leaf, cognac and pork fat.

Form the sausage mixture into cakes two inches in diameter and brown them lightly over medium heat.

Drain the beans and pick out the pieces of pork skin. Keep the bean cooking juices and the bits of bacon.

Take the lamb out of its dish and discard the bones; remove all but two tablespoons of fat and correct the seasoning of the cooking liquid.

Cut the roast pork into one and a half to two inch serving chunks and slice it a quarter inch thick; slice the bacon a quarter inch thick.

Peel the solidified fat off the reserved pork roasting juices.

Pour the drained beans into the lamb cooking juices, stir in any juices from the roast pork, simmer five minutes, turn off the heat and leave 10 minutes, then drain the beans for assembly.

Layer the casserole: beans, lamb, roast pork, bacon slices, sausage cakes, and beans on top.

Pour over the meat juices and then the bean cooking juices, up to the surface of the beans.

Mix the breadcrumbs with eight tablespoons of chopped parsley and spread over the top, then pour duck fat over.

Bring the casserole to a simmer on the stove without burning the bottom.

Bake in the upper part of the oven at 375F for 20 minutes.

Break the crust with the back of a spoon and baste the top with the liquid; turn the oven down to 350F and bake an hour, breaking and basting several times as the crust reforms but leaving a final crust intact. Add a spoonful or two of bean cooking liquid if it gets too thick.