Cassoulet

Ingredients

Beans

• 1 kgdried Tarbais or large white beans, soaked overnight

Meat

• 4duck confit legs
• 600 gToulouse sausage
• 500 gpork shoulder, cubed
• 300 gpork rind
• 1ham hock
• 200 gsalt pork or fatty bacon

Broth

• 2onions
• 1carrot
• 1 headgarlic
• 4cloves
• a bouquet of thyme, bay and parsley
• 3 litreswater
• 3 tbsptomato paste

To cook

• duck fat

Directions

1. Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water and drain them.
2. Simmer the pork rind and ham hock with the onion, carrot, cloves and bouquet in the 3 litres of water for 1 hour 30 minutes, then strain, keeping both the broth and the rind.
3. Cover the drained beans with the strained broth, add the garlic, and simmer for 40 minutes until barely tender and still whole. They go on cooking for hours in the oven, and beans that are soft now will be mush at the end.
4. Brown the pork shoulder in duck fat, then the sausages, and set both aside. Warm the confit legs just enough to lift them out of their fat and scrape the excess off.
5. Line the base of a wide earthenware cassole with the pork rind, fat side down. The rind is not filler: it releases the gelatine that makes the sauce cling to the beans.
6. Layer in half the beans, then the pork shoulder, the meat picked from the ham hock and the sausages, then the rest of the beans, and bury the confit legs on top.
7. Pour in enough hot broth to just cover, with the tomato paste dissolved into a little of it first.
8. Bake uncovered at 150°C (300°F) for 3 hours.
9. As the surface dries a crust forms. Break it and push it under with the back of a spoon, then let another form and repeat.
10. Castelnaudary tradition says to break the crust seven times. Three or four does the job, and each one thickens the sauce without a grain of flour going anywhere near it.
11. Top up with hot broth whenever the beans look dry, but never drown it. A cassoulet should be moist, not soupy.
12. Rest it for at least 30 minutes and serve it from the dish it was cooked in.

Technique

• No flour, no thickener. All the body comes from the beans, the rind and the repeated crust.
• Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse each claim their own version and dispute the others. Carcassonne adds mutton; Toulouse leans on more sausage.
• The name comes from the cassole, the glazed clay dish made at Issel, and the shape genuinely matters: wide and shallow gives you more crust.

Substitutions

• Large haricot or cannellini beans if Tarbais are unavailable.
• Goose confit in place of duck.
• A good garlic sausage if you cannot get Toulouse.

Variations

• The Carcassonne version, with mutton added.
• The Toulouse version, heavier on sausage and sometimes finished with breadcrumbs.
• Reheated the next day, which most cooks in the region consider the better meal.

History

Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse each claim their version; the name comes from the cassole, the glazed clay dish made at Issel.

Frequently asked questions

What is Cassoulet?

Cassoulet is a main from France: white beans slow-baked with duck confit, sausage, and pork. Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse each claim their version; the name comes from the cassole, the glazed clay dish made at Issel.

How long does Cassoulet take to make?

Cassoulet takes 45 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 5 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Cassoulet?

Yes, within limits. Large haricot or cannellini beans if Tarbais are unavailable. Goose confit in place of duck. A good garlic sausage if you cannot get Toulouse.

What is the most important thing to get right in Cassoulet?

Top up with hot broth whenever the beans look dry, but never drown it. A cassoulet should be moist, not soupy.