Cassoulet

Name: Cassoulet
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 4 h
Total time: 16 h 45 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 500 g dried haricot or Tarbais beans; 2 onions, 1 halved, 1 finely chopped; 1 carrot, halved; 6 clove garlic, 2 whole, 4 finely chopped; 1 bouquet garni, thyme, bay and parsley stalks tied together; 4 confit duck legs, about 1 kg, plus 3 tbsp of their fat; 400 g pork belly, skin removed, cut into 4 cm pieces; 6 Toulouse sausages or coarse garlic pork sausages, about 500 g; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 750 ml chicken stock; 80 g fresh breadcrumbs, from day-old white bread; salt and black pepper

16 h 45
Prep 30 min
Cook 4 h
Serves 8
medium

Start cooking

White beans baked slowly with confit duck, pork belly and garlicky sausages under a golden crust that is broken and allowed to re-form.

Method

1
Cover the beans with plenty of cold water and leave them to soak overnight.
2
Drain the beans and put them in a large pan with the halved onion, the carrot, the 2 whole garlic cloves and the bouquet garni. Cover with fresh water by 5 cm.
3
Bring to the boil, skim off the foam, then simmer gently until the beans are just tender but still whole. Do not salt them yet.
4
Meanwhile, warm 1 tablespoon of duck fat in the casserole over medium heat and brown the pork belly on all sides. Lift out.
5
Brown the sausages all over in the same fat, then lift out and cut each into 3 pieces.
6
Add the chopped onion and chopped garlic and cook gently until soft and golden.
7
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute.
8
Heat the oven to 160°C. Drain the beans, keeping the cooking liquid, and discard the onion, carrot, whole garlic and herbs. Season the beans.
9
Pull the duck meat from the bones in large pieces. Spread half the beans in the casserole, cover with the duck, pork and sausage, then add the rest of the beans.
10
Pour in the stock and enough bean liquid to just cover the beans.
11
Scatter the breadcrumbs over the top and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of duck fat.
12
Bake uncovered. Every 30 minutes, break the crust with a spoon and push it under, adding a little bean liquid if it looks dry. Leave the final crust unbroken.
13
Let the cassoulet settle for 15 minutes before serving straight from the dish.

Notes

Confit duck legs are sold in tins and jars. The fat they sit in is what you fry with, so keep it.
Breaking the crust and letting it form again builds a deep, golden top. Some cooks in Castelnaudary leave the breadcrumbs out altogether.
It reheats beautifully the next day. Add a splash of stock and warm it at 160°C for about 45 minutes.

Equipment

Large saucepan, Large flameproof casserole or deep earthenware dish, Slotted spoon, Colander

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