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The author calls it a “space pastoral” — a pastoral traditionally portraying an idealized version of country life, only here the “country” is the galaxy and the “life” is sleeping in floating sacks, eating chicken cassoulet from sachets, and tending lab mice.

He’s the first to say that he has benefited from my job since my days in cooking school when I’d come home with pints of onion soup, a loaf of challah or scoops of cassoulet.

Try contrasting flavors — like steak with Champagne or a rich cassoulet with a minerally white — or drink something just because you like it.

Yes, the bronzed roast chicken with a vinegar-sharpened, tarragon-brightened sauce is delicious, and, oui, the cassoulet is a strapping feast of garlicky sausage and duck confit amid a field of Tarbais beans.

Try this broth-first, vegetarian take on a traditional cassoulet.