Best 10 A Small Cassoulet Recipes

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**Cassoulet: A French Classic Slow-Cooked Stew**

Cassoulet is a hearty, flavorful French stew that originated in the southwestern region of Occitanie. This iconic dish is typically made with white beans, meat (such as pork, duck, sausage, or lamb), and vegetables, all braised together in a flavorful broth. The result is a rich, comforting stew that is perfect for a cold winter day.

This article features two delicious cassoulet recipes: a traditional cassoulet and a small cassoulet. The traditional cassoulet is a more elaborate dish that requires a bit more time and effort, but the results are well worth it. The small cassoulet is a simplified version of the classic dish that is perfect for busy weeknights.

Both recipes provide step-by-step instructions and helpful tips to ensure that your cassoulet turns out perfectly. You'll also find a detailed ingredient list and nutritional information for each recipe.

Whether you're a seasoned cook or a beginner, these cassoulet recipes are sure to impress your family and friends. So gather your ingredients and get ready to enjoy a taste of French comfort food at its finest!

Check out the recipes below so you can choose the best recipe for yourself!

TRADITIONAL CASSOULET



Traditional Cassoulet image

Cassoulet is a traditional French bean stew with pork, duck confit, and sausage. It takes some time to prepare, but it's very doable even if it's your first time!

Provided by Sally Vargas

Categories     Entree     Dinner     Ingredient

Time 11h55m

Yield 10

Number Of Ingredients 17

2 pounds dried flageolet, great northern beans, or navy beans
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with kitchen twine
6 to 8 cloves garlic, unpeeled
4 duck whole leg confit , excess fat trimmed off
6 slices (6 ounces) thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound sweet Italian sausages
1/2 baguette or 4 slices crusty sourdough bread, torn into small pieces
2 tablespoons duck fat (rendered from browning the confit) or olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, for garnish

Steps:

  • Preheat the oven: Set an oven rack to the center and preheat the oven to 300°F.
  • Bake the cassoulet: Cover the Dutch oven with a lid and set it in the oven. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes without opening the lid.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 1005 kcal, Carbohydrate 90 g, Cholesterol 136 mg, Fiber 21 g, Protein 62 g, SaturatedFat 14 g, Sodium 3226 mg, Sugar 7 g, Fat 42 g, UnsaturatedFat 0 g

EASY CASSOULET



Easy Cassoulet image

Cassoulet on a weeknight? It's possible! This quick and easy cassoulet with white beans, chicken, and sausages comes together in about 45 minutes.

Provided by Sally Vargas

Categories     Entree     Dinner     Ingredient

Time 45m

Yield 6

Number Of Ingredients 14

4 ounces thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 sweet Italian pork sausages (about 12 ounces)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 (14.5-ounce) cans great northern or navy beans
1 small handful fresh thyme, tied together with kitchen twine
1 1/2 cups coarse fresh breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
Baguette, for serving

Steps:

  • Prep the chicken and sausages: Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and season both sides with salt and black pepper. Prick each sausage with the tip of a paring knife in a couple of places. This will prevent them from bursting as they cook.
  • Cook the onions and garlic: Pour off and discard all but a thin layer of fat from the skillet. Return the skillet to the stove over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the onions soften.
  • Turn on the broiler: Set a rack about 8 inches from the broiler element and turn on the broiler.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 1156 kcal, Carbohydrate 117 g, Cholesterol 206 mg, Fiber 19 g, Protein 70 g, SaturatedFat 13 g, Sodium 2472 mg, Sugar 10 g, Fat 47 g, UnsaturatedFat 0 g

HOW TO MAKE CASSOULET



How to Make Cassoulet image

This is the world's greatest baked bean recipe, and a classic French dish; it's almost the national dish. It's perfect for a cold winter night.

Provided by Chef John

Categories     World Cuisine Recipes     European     French

Time 11h

Yield 8

Number Of Ingredients 26

1 pound dried Great Northern beans
1 whole clove
½ onion
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
10 cups water
½ pound thick-sliced bacon, chopped
2 ribs celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
½ onion, diced
salt to taste
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound link sausages (preferably French herb sausage), cut in half crosswise
1 pound cooked duck leg confit
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
¼ cup butter
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Steps:

  • Soak Great Northern beans in water in a large bowl overnight. Drain beans and place into a large soup pot. Push whole clove into the 1/2 onion and add to beans; stir in garlic, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, and 10 cups water. Bring beans to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat until beans have started to soften, about 1 hour. Drain beans and reserve the cooking liquid, removing and discarding onion with clove and bay leaf. Transfer beans to a large mixing bowl.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  • Cook bacon in a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium heat until lightly browned and still limp, about 5 minutes. Stir celery, carrots, and 1/2 diced onion into bacon; season with salt. Cook and stir vegetables in the hot bacon fat until tender, about 10 minutes.
  • Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat; brown sausage link halves and duck confit in the hot oil until browned, about 5 minutes per side.
  • Season vegetable-bacon mixture with 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, cracked black pepper, and herbes de Provence; pour in diced tomatoes. Cook and stir mixture over medium heat until juice from tomatoes has nearly evaporated and any browned bits of food on the bottom of pot have dissolved, about 5 minutes. Stir mixture into beans.
  • Spread half the bean mixture into the heavy Dutch oven and place duck-sausage mixture over the beans; spread remaining beans over meat layer. Pour just enough of the reserved bean liquid into pot to reach barely to the top of the beans, reserving remaining liquid. Bring bean cassoulet to a simmer on stovetop and cover Dutch oven with lid.
  • Bake bean cassoulet in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
  • Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add 4 crushed garlic cloves, panko crumbs, and parsley to the melted butter. Season with salt and black pepper, and drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over crumbs. Stir to thoroughly combine.
  • Uncover cassoulet and check liquid level; mixture should still have several inches of liquid. If beans seem dry, add more of the reserved bean liquid. Spread half the crumb mixture evenly over the beans and return to oven. Cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes. There should be about 2 or 3 inches of liquid at the bottom of the pot; if mixture seems dry, add more reserved bean mixture. Sprinkle remaining half the bread crumb mixture over cassoulet.
  • Turn oven heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake cassoulet, uncovered, until crumb topping is crisp, edges are bubbling, and the bubbles are slow and sticky, 20 to 25 more minutes. Serve beans on individual plates and top each serving with a piece of duck and several sausage pieces.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 524.3 calories, Carbohydrate 54 g, Cholesterol 81 mg, Fat 23.7 g, Fiber 11.1 g, Protein 30.9 g, SaturatedFat 8.7 g, Sodium 1208.1 mg, Sugar 3.3 g

CHEF JOHN'S CASSOULET



Chef John's Cassoulet image

Cassoulet takes a lot of time and ingredients (some hard to find) and uses lots of pots and pans. So why make it? That's easy. Cassoulet is one of the most delicious dishes you'll ever have. Plus, it's great for honing your observational skills, since no two cassoulet are the same, and the times I give are only a guide.

Provided by Chef John

Categories     Main Dish Recipes     Pork     Pork Chop Recipes     Baked

Time 12h12m

Yield 8

Number Of Ingredients 24

1 pound Tarbais beans, or other white beans, soaked overnight
3 quarts seasoned chicken stock or broth
4 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
6 sprigs thyme
6 unpeeled garlic cloves, cut in half
Reserved bones from duck confit and pork, if available
12 ounces fresh pork shoulder or chop, cut into 2-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 ½ pounds Toulouse sausages, or other garlic pork sausage
2 duck leg confit
1 cup diced onion
½ cup diced carrot
½ cup diced celery
¼ cup tomato paste
¾ cup white wine
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups plain dry bread crumbs
½ cup chopped Italian parsley, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons rendered duck fat
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup cooking liquid

Steps:

  • Rinse soaked beans and drain.
  • Pour broth into a large pot. Add chopped pancetta, bones from duck confit, and the drained beans. Tie bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme sprigs, and garlic into a small square of cheesecloth to create the bouquet garni; add to the pot. Stir. Bring to a simmer over high heat; skim foamy scum that forms, if desired. Reduce heat to low until beans are almost tender, 30 to 45 minutes.
  • Sprinkle pork pieces with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; brown the pork pieces, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Add sausage to the skillet and cook in the same oil, turning until nicely browned on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes. Cut sausages in half and transfer to bowl with pork pieces.
  • Remove fat and skin from duck confit and add them to the same skillet. Cook over medium heat until fat is rendered, about 3 minutes. Transfer all fat and browned pieces from the skillet to a mixing bowl. Add melted butter. Stir in bread crumbs and chopped parsley; stir until mixture looks like damp sand. Mix in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup broth.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  • Place onions, carrots, and celery in the same skillet used to brown the meats; add pinch of salt. Cook and stir over medium heat until onions are translucent and mixture turns golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in tomato paste; cook and stir until tomato paste starts to caramelize and stick to the bottom of the pan, 3 or 4 minutes. Pour in white wine; cook and stir until most of the wine evaporates, 5 or 6 minutes. Remove from heat.
  • Drain beans over a large bowl to retain all the cooking liquid. Remove bones and bouquet garni.
  • Place drained beans in large shallow baking dish or cast iron skillet (about 12 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep). Stir in cooked vegetables and about 1 cup broth. Add pork pieces and distribute evenly among the beans. Top with the shredded duck confit. Nestle the sausage halves into the bean mixture.
  • Ladle cooking liquid into the baking dish until beans are nearly submerged. Spread bread crumb mixture evenly over the top but don't press into the liquid. Use your fingertips to make gentle indentations on the crumb surface for better browning.
  • Bake in preheated oven until most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 2 hours. Remove from oven and create a small "well" in the center of the cassoulet crust. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid (or as needed) into the well to rehydrate mixture. Use a fork to gently poke into the cassoulet to ensure the liquid is fairly evenly distributed but try not to disturb the crusty surface.
  • Continue baking until cassoulet surface is crispy and caramelized, the meat is fork tender, and the beans are creamy and tender, about 30 to 45 more minutes.
  • Serve in large bowls with a spoonful or 2 of hot cooking liquid. Top with chopped fresh parsley.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 712.1 calories, Carbohydrate 64 g, Cholesterol 107.1 mg, Fat 28.7 g, Fiber 2.6 g, Protein 44.8 g, SaturatedFat 10.3 g, Sodium 2342.6 mg, Sugar 6.2 g

WEEKDAY CASSOULET



Weekday Cassoulet image

Provided by Melissa d'Arabian : Food Network

Categories     main-dish

Time 1h55m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 19

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, cut in 1/2 through the bone
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound slab bacon, sliced into large lardons
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups cooked Northern white beans
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tomato, sliced very thinly
Garlic Bread Crumbs, recipe follows
1 baguette, sliced, for serving
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3 slices slightly stale or dried bread, pulsed into crumbs in food processor
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Steps:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Rinse and dry the chicken well and season with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
  • In a large Dutch oven, over medium-low heat, add the bacon and slowly render the fat. Remove the bacon to a plate when crispy, leaving the fat in the pan. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken on both sides and then remove to a plate. Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half. Stir in the beans, bay leaf and thyme. Nestle the chicken thighs and bacon into the pot. Add the chicken stock, cover and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the lid and top the cassoulet with sliced tomatoes and the Garlic Bread Crumbs. Return to the oven and bake, uncovered, 15 minutes longer. Serve the cassoulet with baguette slices.
  • In a small saute pan over low heat, add the oil and the garlic. Stir until the oil is fragrant, about 1 minute. Toss in the bread crumbs and cook until the bread crumbs start to turn golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and remove from heat.

CASSOULET



Cassoulet image

This slow-cooked casserole of white beans and several kinds of meat has long been considered the pinnacle of regional French home cooking. It takes planning (you'll need to find all the ingredients), time and a good deal of culinary stamina. But the voluptuous mix of aromatic beans surrounding rich chunks of duck confit, sausages, roasted pork and lamb and a crisp salt pork crust is well worth the effort. Serve this with a green salad. It doesn't need any other accompaniment, and you wouldn't have room for it, anyway. This recipe is part of The New Essentials of French Cooking, a guide to definitive dishes every modern cook should master. Buy the book.

Provided by Melissa Clark

Categories     dinner, project, main course

Time 2h

Yield 12 servings

Number Of Ingredients 31

2 1/2 pounds bone-in pork stew meat, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 1/2 pounds bone-in lamb stew meat, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
9 garlic cloves, peeled, plus 3 grated or minced garlic cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf, torn into pieces
2 sprigs rosemary, torn into pieces
2 sprigs thyme, torn into pieces
1/2 cup/4 ounces duck fat, melted (or goose fat or lard, or a combination)
1 pound dried Tarbais, flageolet, lingot, Great Northern or cannellini beans
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1 bouquet garni (3 sprigs Italian parsley, 3 sprigs thyme and 1 bay leaf, tied with kitchen string; see Techniques)
1 stalk celery, halved
1 large carrot, halved
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 whole clove
1/2 white onion, cut stem to root end
8 ounces fully cooked French garlic sausage or kielbasa, skin removed and cut into chunks
8 ounces salt pork
1/4 cup duck fat (or goose fat, lard, a combination or olive oil), more as needed
1 pound fresh pork sausage, pricked all over with a fork
1 1/2 large onions, diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
9 garlic cloves, peeled
3 cups tomato purée, from fresh or canned tomatoes
Kosher salt, to taste
4 legs duck confit, bought or homemade (see Techniques)
1 1/2 cups panko, or other plain, dried bread crumbs

Steps:

  • The night before cooking, marinate the meat and soak the beans. For meat: In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except fat and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate overnight. For beans: In a large bowl, combine beans, 1 teaspoon salt and enough cold water to cover by 4 inches. Cover and let sit overnight.
  • The next day, roast the meat: Heat oven to 325 degrees. Pour fat over meat in the bowl and toss to coat. Spread meat in one even layer on a rimmed baking sheet, leaving space between each piece to encourage browning (use two pans if necessary). Top meat with any fat left in bowl. Roast until browned, about 1 hour, then turn pieces, cover with foil, and continue to roast until soft, another 1 1/2 hours. Remove meat from baking sheet, then scrape up all browned bits stuck to the pan. Reserve fat and browned bits.
  • Meanwhile, cook the beans: Drain beans, add them to a large stockpot and cover with 2 inches water. Add bouquet garni, celery, carrot, 2 garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons salt and the pepper. Stick whole clove into the folds of the onion half and add that as well. Bring to a boil and then simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until beans are cooked through, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, adding garlic sausage after 30 minutes. When beans are cooked, remove bouquet garni and aromatics, including vegetables. Reserving cooking liquid, drain the beans and sausage.
  • While beans are cooking, bring a medium pot of water to a boil and add salt pork. Simmer for 30 minutes, remove and let cool. Cut off skin, then slice pork into very thin pieces and reserve.
  • Heat a very large skillet (at least 12 inches) over medium heat and add a drizzle of duck or other fat. Add fresh pork sausages and cook until well browned on all sides, about 20 minutes. Remove to a plate and reserve, leaving any sausage fat in skillet.
  • In same skillet over medium-high heat, add 1/4 cup of the reserved fat and the browned bits from the roasted meat. Add diced onions, carrots and celery, and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add 9 whole garlic cloves and cook until fragrant, another 2 to 4 minutes. Add tomato purée, season with salt to taste, and simmer until thickened to a saucelike consistency, 5 to 10 minutes, if necessary. Add cooked beans and stir to combine. Remove from heat and reserve.
  • Assemble the cassoulet: Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large Dutch oven, lay salt pork pieces in an even layer to cover the bottom of the pot. Add a scant third of the bean and garlic sausage mixture, spreading evenly. Top with half of the roasted meat pieces, 2 pork sausages and 2 duck legs. Add another scant third of the bean mixture, and top with remaining meat, sausages and duck legs. Top with remaining beans, spreading them to the edges and covering all meat. Pour reserved bean liquid along the edges of the pot, until liquid comes up to the top layer of beans but does not cover. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and drizzle with 1/4 cup duck fat.
  • Bake until crust is lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Use a large spoon to lightly crack the crust; the bean liquid will bubble up. Use the spoon to drizzle the bean liquid all over the top of the crust. Return to oven and bake 1 hour more, cracking the crust and drizzling with the bean liquid every 20 minutes, until the crust is well browned and liquid is bubbling. (The total baking time should be 1 1/2 hours.) Remove from oven and let cool slightly, then serve.

CASSOULET



Cassoulet image

Cooking is not always about simplicity and ease. Sometimes what you want in the kitchen is a project, a culinary jigsaw puzzle to solve. There is no greater one than cassoulet. I developed the recipe that follows at the shoulder of Phillipe Bertineau, the chef at Alain Ducasse's Benoit bistro in New York City: rich and creamy, sticky with duck and pork, brightly spiced, with an astonishing depth of flavor. Feel free to tweak the list of ingredients to match what you can find in the market, but if you can manage the Tarbais beans and the duck fat for the confit, you really won't be sorry. Start the preparation on the evening before you have a day off. A few hours of cooking the next day yields a dinner of remarkable heft and deliciousness, one that pairs well with red wine and good friends.

Provided by Sam Sifton

Categories     dinner, casseroles, main course

Time 5h

Yield 6 to 8 servings

Number Of Ingredients 28

2 1/4 cups Tarbais beans, approximately 3/4 pound, or substitute Great Northern beans or other large white beans, picked over to remove stones
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 unsmoked pork hocks, sometimes sold as ''knuckles''
1 pound salted pork belly, sometimes sold as ''salt pork,'' skin removed and reserved, sliced into 6 portions
2 pig ears (optional)
3 duck legs
1 teaspoon French four-spice powder, or substitute 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper and a healthy pinch each of ground cloves, ground ginger and ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cardamom
1 pinch ground coriander
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 pinch sweet paprika
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 quart duck fat or as much as you can find, plus 1-2 pounds best available lard
3 whole heads of garlic
2 bay leaves
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig rosemary
4 pods star anise
1 bouquet garni (1 celery rib, 1/2 peeled carrot, 1/2 medium-size peeled onion, 1/2 head garlic, 6-8 sprigs of parsley, either wrapped together with butcher's twine or put in a cheesecloth sachet)
6 fresh pork garlic sausages
3 small carrots, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups
2 ribs celery, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups
1 small celery root, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups
1 medium-size turnip, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups
1 small rutabaga, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Steps:

  • Put beans in a large bowl, and cover with cold water, then add baking soda, and allow to soak overnight.
  • Place the pork hocks, sliced pork belly, reserved pork skin and, if using, the pig ears into a stockpot, and fill with water to cover them by several inches, then set over high heat to come to a boil. Let the meats and skin blanch for 5 to 6 minutes, then remove from the water and allow to cool. Put the slices of pork belly on a plate, then dice the pork skin and, if using, julienne the pig ears, and add these to the plate. Cover, and place in the refrigerator overnight.
  • Now turn to the cooled pork hocks and the duck legs. In a small bowl, combine four-spice powder with ground cardamom, ground coriander, additional nutmeg, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Use this spice mixture to season the duck legs and the cooled pork hocks, then put them on a platter, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.
  • Heat oven to 350. Melt the duck fat or duck fat and lard in a heavy, oven-safe pot deep enough to hold the duck legs, pork hocks and the three heads of garlic, then add the meats and the garlic to it, along with the bay leaves, thyme, rosemary and star anise, then place in the oven to simmer for approximately an hour and a half, or until both the duck and the pork are cooked tender and soft and the heads of garlic have almost collapsed. Remove the meats and the garlic from the fat, and allow to cool slightly. (Strain and reserve the perfumed duck fat for another use - more duck confit, say, or to cook potatoes. It will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for quite some time.)
  • Drain soaked beans. Put around 5 quarts of water in a large, heavy-bottomed pot, then add the beans, along with the bouquet garni, and bring it to a boil over high heat. Lower heat to a simmer, and cook until the beans are softening but not cooked through, approximately 30 minutes. Reserve the beans and cooking liquid separately. Discard bouquet garni.
  • Meanwhile, return pot to medium heat, and add to it 2 tablespoons of the reserved duck fat. When it shimmers, add the garlic sausages to the pot, and sauté until lightly browned, approximately 5 minutes, then remove and reserve. Add the diced carrots, celery, celery root, turnip and rutabaga to the pot, and sweat them slowly in the fat, stirring often, until they begin to soften, approximately 10 minutes. Add the partly cooked beans to the pot, along with the reserved diced pork skin and the ears if you're using them, then the tomato paste, and stir to combine.
  • As the vegetables sweat, remove the bones from the cooled pork hocks, and squeeze the heads of garlic to release the garlic confit within. Add both to the bean pot.
  • Add enough of the reserved bean-cooking water to the bean pot to just cover the beans, then nestle the duck legs, the sausages and the slices of pork belly on top of the beans. Put the pot in the oven to simmer for 30 minutes to an hour, or until the beans are cooked through.
  • Increase oven heat to 450, and cook until the beans are bubbling and crusted around the edges and the meats are deeply crisp on top (about 10-15 minutes). Let rest 10 minutes or so before serving.

A SMALL CASSOULET



A Small Cassoulet image

Categories     Lamb     Bake     Roast     Simmer     Boil

Number Of Ingredients 17

1/3 cup Great Northern beans
2 teaspoons duck fat, if you have it, or vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 carrot, chopped
1/2 rib celery, chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and slivered
A splash of red wine
Several sprigs parsley with stems
Pinch of dried thyme
1/3 bay leaf
3/4 cup duck, goose, or chicken stock, or more if needed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 or 4 chunks pork left over from A Small Roast Pork Tenderloin (page 42)
3 or 4 pieces Braised Shoulder Lamb Chops (page 48) with aromatic vegetables
1/4 pound garlic sausage, sliced fairly thick and lightly browned
1/4 cup breadcrumbs mixed with a little chopped fresh parsley
Duck or goose fat or butter for dotting the top

Steps:

  • "Quick soak" the beans: Put them in a small cooking pot and cover with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, let boil heartily for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 1 hour.
  • Close to the end of the hour during which your beans have been soaking, heat the fat in another fairly small, heavy cooking pot, and sauté the onion, carrot, celery,and garlic until the vegetables are limp-about 3 minutes. Splash in the wine, and let it cook down briefly. Now transfer the beans and their cooking water to this pot, and add the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf. Add enough stock to bring the liquid level up to about 1 inch above the beans, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 1 hour or more, with cover askew, until the beans are just tender. Salt them now, and add several grindings of pepper. Fish out the parsley and bay leaf, and spoon a layer of beans into a small casserole, cover with the pork and lamb, another layer of beans, a layer of sausage slices, and a final layer of beans. Pour the bean cooking liquid into the casserole, and add enough stock to come halfway up. Sprinkle the parsleyed breadcrumbs on top, and dot the surface with small amounts of fat. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 1 hour.

QUICK CASSOULET



Quick Cassoulet image

A great combination of beans, smoked sausage and vegetables in an easy one skillet meal. We've been making this so long I can't even remember where I first got the recipe. It's a staple when we go camping. My teenage daughter and her friends love it. Serve with a green salad and French bread.

Provided by Beth Stone Strachan

Categories     Main Dish Recipes     Casserole Recipes

Time 30m

Yield 4

Number Of Ingredients 14

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ pound smoked sausage, sliced
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Steps:

  • Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic; cook and stir for a few minutes, until the onion is transparent. Add the sausage to the skillet, and cook for a few more minutes to brown.
  • Pour in the kidney beans, cannellini beans and tomatoes, and season with the bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender.
  • Remove bay leaves and discard. Sprinkle parsley over the top, and serve.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 466.5 calories, Carbohydrate 40.9 g, Cholesterol 38.6 mg, Fat 22.4 g, Fiber 13.1 g, Protein 23.9 g, SaturatedFat 7 g, Sodium 1781 mg, Sugar 5.8 g

HOW TO MAKE CASSOULET



How to Make Cassoulet image

Provided by Melissa Clark

Number Of Ingredients 0

Steps:

  • We may think of it as decadent, but cassoulet is at heart a humble bean and meat stew, rooted in the rural cooking of the Languedoc region. But for urban dwellers without access to the staples of a farm in southwest France - crocks of rendered lard and poultry fat, vats of duck confit, hunks of meat from just-butchered pigs and lambs - preparing one is an epic undertaking that stretches the cook. The reward, though, may well be the pinnacle of French home cooking.Cassoulet does take time to make: there is overnight marinating and soaking, plus a long afternoon of roasting and simmering, and a few days on top of that if you make your own confit. However, it is also a relatively forgiving dish, one that welcomes variation and leaves room for the personality of the cook - perhaps more than any other recipe in the canon. As long as you have white beans slowly stewed with some combination of sausages, pork, lamb, duck or goose, you have a cassoulet.The hardest part about making a cassoulet when you're not in southwest France is shopping for the ingredients. This isn't a dish to make on the fly; you will need to plan ahead, ordering the duck fat and confit and the garlic sausage online or from a good butcher, and finding sources for salt pork and fresh, bone-in pork and lamb stew meat. The beans, though, aren't hard to procure. Great Northern and cannellini beans make fine substitutes for the Tarbais, flageolet and lingot beans used in France.Then give yourself over to the rhythm of roasting, sautéing and long, slow simmering. The final stew, a glorious pot of velvety beans and chunks of tender meat covered by a burnished crust, is well worth the effort.
  • Named for the cassole, the earthenware pot in which it is traditionally cooked, cassoulet evolved over the centuries in the countryside of southwest France, changing with the ingredients on hand and the cooks stirring the pot.The earliest versions of the dish were most likely influenced by nearby Spain, which has its own ancient tradition of fava bean and meat stews. As the stew migrated to the Languedoc region, the fava beans were replaced by white beans, which were brought over from the Americas in the 16th century.Although there are as many cassoulets as there are kitchens in the Languedoc, three major towns of the region - Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse - all vigorously lay claim to having created what they consider to be the only true cassoulet. It is a feud that has been going on at least since the middle of the 19th century, and probably even longer.In 1938, the chef Prosper Montagné, a native of Carcassonne and an author of the first version of "Larousse Gastronomique," attempted to resolve the dispute. He approached the subject with religious zeal, calling cassoulet "the god of Occidental cuisine" and likening the three competing versions to the Holy Trinity. The cassoulet from Castelnaudary, which is considered the oldest, is the Father in Montagné's trinity, and is made from a combination of beans, duck confit and pork (sausages, skin, knuckles, salt pork and roasted meat). The Carcassonne style is the Son, with mutton and the occasional partridge stirred in. And the version from Toulouse, the Holy Spirit, was the first to add goose confit to the pot.The recipe for cassoulet was codified by the "États Généraux de la Gastronomie" in 1966, and it was done in a way that allowed all three towns to keep their claims of authenticity. The organization mandated that to be called cassoulet, a stew must consist of at least 30 percent pork, mutton or preserved duck or goose (or a combination of the three elements), and 70 percent white beans and stock, fresh pork rinds, herbs and flavorings.That settled the question of which meats to use. But there are two other main points of contention that still inspire debate: the use of tomatoes and other vegetables with the beans, and a topping of bread crumbs that crisp in the oven. Julia Child chose to do both, as we do here. "The Escoffier Cookbook" and "Larousse Gastronomique" give some recipes that include the tomatoes, vegetables and bread crumbs, and some that omit them. The beauty of it is that if you make your own cassoulet, you get to decide.Above, "The Kitchen Table" by Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779).
  • Casserole dish You will need a deep casserole dish that holds at least eight quarts, or a large Dutch oven, to bake the cassoulet. If you use a Dutch oven, you won't need the cover. The cassoulet needs to bake uncovered to develop a crisp crust.Baking sheets All of the ingredients for a cassoulet are cooked before being combined and baked again. The meat can be cooked in any number of ways; here, the pork and lamb stew meat is roasted on rimmed baking sheets so that it browns.Large pot The beans and garlic sausage (or kielbasa) are cooked in a large pot before they are added to the casserole, though you could use a slow cooker or pressure cooker, if you have one. You will also need a second small pot for simmering the salt pork.Wirecutter, a product recommendations website owned by The New York Times Company, has guides to the best Dutch ovens and baking sheets.
  • This slow-cooked casserole requires a good deal of culinary stamina. But the voluptuous combination of aromatic beans with rich chunks of duck confit, sausage, pork and lamb is worth the effort. Serve it with a green salad. It doesn't need any other accompaniment, and you wouldn't have room for one anyway.
  • The hardest part of making a cassoulet may be obtaining the ingredients. Beyond that, it helps to think of cooking and building it in stages. Once you've gathered and prepared the components (the meat, beans, salt pork, sausage, duck confit and bread crumb topping), assembling the dish is just a matter of layering the elements.• You can use any kind of roasted meats for a cassoulet, and the kinds vary by region. Substitute roasted chicken, turkey or goose for the duck confit, bone-in beef for the lamb and bone-in veal for the pork. Lamb neck is a great substitute for the bone-in lamb stew meat, and you can use any chunks of bone-in pork, like pork ribs, in place of the pork stew meat. (The bones give the dish more flavor, and their gelatin helps thicken the final stew.)• Do not use smoked sausages in the beans, or substitute smoked bacon for the salt pork. The smoky flavor can overwhelm the dish, and it is not traditional in French cassoulets. If you can't find salt pork, pancetta will work in its place, and you won't need to poach it beforehand.• You can buy duck confit at gourmet markets or order it online. If you'd prefer to make it yourself, this is how to do it: Rub 4 fresh duck legs with a large pinch of salt each. Place in a dish and generously sprinkle with whole peppercorns, thyme sprigs and smashed, peeled garlic cloves. Cover and let cure for 4 to 24 hours in the refrigerator. When ready to cook, wipe the meat dry with paper towels, discarding the garlic, pepper and herbs. Place in a Dutch oven or baking dish and cover completely with fat. (Duck fat is traditional, but olive oil also works.) Bake in a 200-degree oven until the duck is tender and well browned, 3 to 4 hours. Let duck cool in the fat before refrigerating. Duck confit lasts for at least a month in the refrigerator and tastes best after sitting for 1 week.• Don't think the meat is the only star of this dish. The beans need just as much love. You want them velvety, sitting in a trove of tomato, stock and rich fat. Buy the best beans you can, preferably ones that have been harvested and dried within a year of cooking. The variety of white bean is less important than their freshness.• Bread crumbs aren't traditional for cassoulet, but will result in a topping with an especially airy and crisp texture. Regular dried bread crumbs, either bought or homemade, will also work.• When you roast the meat, leave plenty of space between the chunks of meat so they brown nicely. More browning means richer flavor. You can also use leftover roasted meat if you have them on hand.• The bouquet garni flavors both the beans and the bean liquid, which is used to moisten the cassoulet as it bakes. To make one, take sprigs of parsley and thyme and a bay leaf and tie them together with at least 1 foot of kitchen string. Tuck the bay leaf in the middle of the bouquet and make sure you wrap the herbs up thoroughly, several times around, so they don't escape into the pot.• Feel free to use a slow cooker or pressure cooker for the beans. Add the garlic sausage (or kielbasa) about halfway through the cooking time. It doesn't have to be exact, since the sausage is already cooked; you're adding it to flavor the beans and their liquid.• Use a very large skillet, at least 12 inches, for sautéing the sausages and finishing the beans before you layer them into the casserole dish. • In this recipe, the beans are finished in a tomato purée, which reduces and thickens the sauce of the final cassoulet. But you can substitute a good homemade stock for the purée. You'll get a soupier cassoulet, but it's just as traditional without the tomatoes.• The salt pork is layered in strips into the bottom of the baking dish. Then, while cooking, it crisps and turns into a bottom crust for the stew. So it is important to slice it thinly and carefully place it in a single layer on the bottom of the dish (and up the sides, if you have enough). Don't overlap it very much, or those parts won't get as crisp.• The reserved bean liquid is added to the cassoulet for cooking, and its starchiness is what keeps the stew thick and creamy. Using stock instead would make for a soupier but still delicious cassoulet.• You create a substantial top crust with crunch by repeatedly cracking the very thick layer of bread crumbs as the cassoulet cooks, and by drizzling the topping with bean liquid, which browns and crisps up in the heat. It's best to crack the topping in even little taps from the side of a large spoon. You are looking to create more texture and crunch by exposing more of the bread crumbs to the hot oven and bean liquid, which should be drizzled generously and evenly.• If you like you can skip the bread crumbs entirely, which is just as traditional. The top will brown on its own, but there won't be a texturally distinct crust.• You do not have to make the cassoulet all in one go. You can break up the work, cooking the separate elements ahead of time and reserving them until you are ready to layer and bake the cassoulet. Or assemble the cassoulet in its entirety ahead of time, without bread crumbs, and then top and bake just before serving.
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Tips:

  • Use high-quality ingredients, especially the beans. The better the beans, the better the cassoulet.
  • Soak the beans overnight before cooking. This will help them to cook more evenly and reduce the cooking time.
  • Use a variety of beans in your cassoulet. This will add flavor and texture to the dish.
  • Don't overcook the beans. They should be tender but still hold their shape.
  • Use a good quality sausage. A spicy sausage will add a lot of flavor to the cassoulet.
  • Brown the sausage and vegetables before adding them to the cassoulet. This will help to develop their flavor.
  • Use a combination of chicken stock and water to make the cassoulet. This will give the dish a rich flavor.
  • Simmer the cassoulet for at least 2 hours, or until the beans are tender and the flavors have melded.
  • Serve the cassoulet hot with a side of crusty bread.

Conclusion:

Cassoulet is a hearty and flavorful dish that is perfect for a cold winter day. It is a versatile dish that can be made with a variety of ingredients, so you can customize it to your own liking. If you are looking for a delicious and satisfying meal, give cassoulet a try.

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