Sqwertz > wrote in
:

>
> Unlike Chinese master stocks, the probability of anything in the stew
> being more than 6 months old other than a maybe a milliliter or so of
> sauce is near zero.
>
> But I'm no cassoulet probability expert, I just play one on Usenet :-)
>
> -sw
>

My mother used to keep a pot of what she called 'Perpetual Soup' simmering
on a back burner all winter long. After a meal, she's judiciously choose
which of the leftovers were worthy of the honor of being added to the pot.
The flavor and consistency thus tended to vary over time, but it was almost
always really delicious.

But as Sqwertz points out, the likelyhood of anything in such a concoction
being more than a small amount of time old is highly unlikely because of
the turnover. It's hardly likely that the cassoulet that was first made
14,000 days ago is the cassoulet that's in that pot.