French Recipe: Simplified Traditional Cassoulet

Cassoulet is a classic dish originating in Languedoc. At its heart, this is a meat-and-beans dish for poor folks to get a lot of nutrients out of a little food. It’s the type of dish you’ll see in many cultures.

France actually has kind of Cassoulet cook-offs here, but they are nowhere near as popular as American chili cook-offs, or as competitive. What makes the dish French is the use of ingredients you’re likely to find in France. In France, there’s a lot of pork and duck and they’re both cheap.

You’ll find all kinds of versions here, from the supermarket beanie-weenie variety in a ketchup sauce, more or less, to truly amazing combinations of small game hens, artisanal sausage, etc.

With quality ingredients and roasting time, you can make an amazing dish. The spirit of this dish is in cheap, quality fare.  

K

 Simplified Traditional Cassoulet

Servings: 6 

Preparation Time: 1 hour (plus overnight for soaking beans) 

Cooking Time: 3 hours 

Total Time: 4 hours

Note:

If French garlic sausage is unavailable, another mildly flavored pork sausage. Avoid using smoked sausage – it takes over the dish.

Use what you have – I like chicken & Italian sausage for this when in the US.If you don’t want to check on it, add a bit more liquid and cook with a lid.  

You might use canned beans, but I like dried much better.

Ingredients:

·      Dried Cannellini Beans or other white bean: 360g, soaked overnight

·      Assorted Meats: Combination of 350g fresh pork belly (with skin), 230g fresh pork sausage, one fresh pork shank, and 2 pre-cooked duck legs confit. A similar volume of other meats will work well.

·      One medium yellow onion, chopped fine  

·      8 garlic cloves, chopped fine

·      1 medium carrot, chopped fine

·      1 tablespoon fresh parsley

·      ½ teaspoon fresh thyme

·      pinch of nutmeg

·      3 bay leaves, added at end

·      5 cups (1.2l ) chicken broth as needed. I tend to cut mine with water if using premade, depending on saltiness.

·      If you have it, ass 1 tablespoon of duck fat to make it richer.

·      S&P – and nutmeg – to taste

Method:

1.        Soak beans overnight, then boil them until about half-cooked, 30 minutes or so. Rinse.

a.        If you want get fancy, mix the beans with a purée of onion, garlic, water, parsley, salt, and thyme.

2.        Sauté the pork belly pieces and sausage in a pot, rendering the fat from the pork belly, then browning the sausage.

3.        In a deep baking dish or Dutch oven, layer the beans mixture, meats, and then another layer of beans. Season with nutmeg and pepper. Add just enough chicken broth to just cover the beans.

a.        The beans should stay covered with liquid, no lid on the pot.

4.        Roast in a preheated oven at 350°F (170°C) until it starts bubbling and forming a crust. Break the crust, add more broth, and continue at lower temperature, 325° F. Check every 20-30 minutes until done, maintaining moisture by breaking the crust and adding broth.