Goose Cassoulet Recipes

GOOSE CASSOULET

Steps:

• Soak the beans overnight in water.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C (approximately 350°F).
• Rinse the tomatoes and cut into large pieces. Rinse the pork, pat dry and cut into small pieces. Rinse, shake dry and trim the soup vegetables and cut into small cubes. Peel the onions and garlic and finely chop. Melt the lard in a roasting pan, then brown the bacon in it and remove. In remaining fat, fry the pork, salt and pepper and remove. Then sauté the vegetables with the onions and garlic briefly, drain the beans and mix with bacon, meat, vegetables, tomatoes, cloves and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the broth so that the beans are just covered.
• Rinse and pat dry the goose legs. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange on the vegetables. Cover and cook for 1/2-2 hours in the preheated oven. Remove the cover and brown for another 30 minutes. Season again and serve immediately.

CHEF JOHN'S CASSOULET

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.

HOW TO MAKE CASSOULET

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.

RAYMOND BLANC'S CASSOULET

Steps:

• To cut the meats, roll up the pork rind like a Swiss roll. With the seam underneath, use a very sharp knife to cut the roll across into thin slices, then chop the rolled-up slices across into dice. Chop the bacon into small cubes (lardons). Cut the garlic sausage into 1cm thick slices.
• Drain the soaked beans and discard the soaking water. Tip the beans into a large saucepan, add the diced pork rind and lardons and cover with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and blanch for 15-20 minutes. Drain the beans, rind and lardons into a colander, and discard the cooking water.
• Roughly chop the celery, onion and carrot. Peel the garlic cloves but leave them whole. Cut each tomato into eight wedges. (You never see tomatoes in a traditional cassoulet, but chef Raymond Blanc likes them for their colour and sweetness, so he puts a couple in.) Preheat the oven to 120C/fan 100C. (If cooking in a gas oven, use mark 2.)
• Heat the goose fat or olive oil in a 26cm flameproof casserole or deep overproof sauté pan over a low heat and sweat the celery, onion, carrot and garlic for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bouquet garni and cook slowly to get a sugary caramelisation (about 5 minutes). Add the sausage, beans, pork rind and lardons and pour in 1.2 litres/2 pints water. Bring to the boil, skim off the scum, then add the salt, pepper, clove and lemon juice.
• Transfer the casserole to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring every hour. At the end of this time, the beans will be soft and creamy in texture and the juices should have thickened. You may need to cook it for longer than 2 hours (say up to 2½ hours) to get to this stage - it depends
• Remove the cassoulet from the oven. Bury the duck legs in the beans and sprinkle over the goose fat or olive oil, breadcrumbs and garlic. Return to the oven and cook for a further 2 hours. Serve the cassoulet in bowls, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

CASSOULET

Steps:

• Bundle parsley, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, celery, and leek to form a bouquet garni, wrapping kitchen twine around the aromatics several times to secure -- which ensures easy retrieval of the ingredients after they've infused the cooking liquid with flavor.
• Warm oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add fatback or pork belly, and cook until it is golden on all sides and has begun to render its fat, about 5 minutes. Add pork shoulder, and cook until golden on all sides, about 8 minutes total.
• Stick clove in half the onion, and add to pot along with bouquet garni, ham hock, carrot, tomatoes and juice, and beans. Add enough cold water to cover by 1 to 2 inches (about 8 cups). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer gently until beans are tender throughout but not falling apart, 40 to 50 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat. Discard carrot, onion, and bouquet garni. Transfer ham hock to a cutting board, reserving liquid, and let cool slightly. Trim meat and gelatin from the bone, dicing and returning them to the pot. Discard the bone.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Rub cut side of garlic clove over the entire inner surface of a small (5-quart) Dutch oven or other ovenproof vessel. This allows a subtle though distinct garlic flavor to infuse the resulting cassoulet.
• Using a wire skimmer or a slotted spoon, place half the bean mixture in the Dutch oven, spreading it evenly. Leave the cooking liquid in the pot.
• Arrange the duck confit and sausage on top of the beans in the Dutch oven to create a single, snug layer. Spoon the remaining beans over the meat, reserving the cooking liquid.
• Add enough cooking liquid so the beans are almost, but not quite, submerged. Reserve the remaining liquid. Transfer pot to oven and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours. Check the liquid every 30 minutes to make sure it is no more than 1/2 inch below the beans, and add liquid or water as necessary. Do not stir.
• After the cassoulet has cooked for 2 hours, toss bread and butter in a bowl. Sprinkle over cassoulet, and return to oven until beans are tender and bread is golden, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Before serving, let cassoulet stand at room temperature for 20 minutes to cool and to allow the beans to absorb some of the liquid. You can refrigerate cassoulet in an airtight container for up to 3 days; rewarm in an oven heated to 300 degrees.

CHRISTMAS CASSOULET

Steps:

• Evenly divide chicken stock and beans between 2 large stockpots. Bring both pots to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming foam from surface as it rises. Remove pot from heat and let beans cool in liquid.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Fit 2 roasting pans with racks; set aside.
• Remove thyme leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme. Season ducks, inside and out, with salt, pepper, and thyme leaves. Place two ducks on one rack in a roasting pan, and one duck on another. Add enough water to each roasting pan to come just below the bottom of the racks. Transfer both roasting pans to oven and roast for 45 minutes.
• Fit another roasting pan with a rack. Season goose, inside and out, with salt, pepper, and sage. Using a fork, prick skin all over and place on rack in roasting pan. Add enough water to come just below the bottom of the rack. Transfer to oven; roast for 1 hour.
• Place lamb and pork bones on a large rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper; transfer to oven and roast for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt 1/4 cup duck fat in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add lamb cubes, working in batches as necessary, and cook, turning, until browned on all sides; transfer to a plate and set aside. Add pork cubes, working in batches as necessary and adding 1/4 cup more duck fat, if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time (you may not need to use the full 1/4 cup). Cook, turning, until browned on all sides; transfer to a plate and set aside. Add pancetta to skillet, working in batches as necessary, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides; transfer to a plate and set aside. Alternatively, melt 1/4 cup duck fat in each of 3 large skillets and, working in batches, brown meat separately in each skillet.
• Drain fat from skillet; add 1/2 cup of duck fat to skillet and melt over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic to skillet, in batches if necessary, and cook, stirring, until golden, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1 bottle of wine; let simmer for 15 minutes. Alternatively, if using 3 skillets, divide onion, garlic, tomato, and wine evenly among the 3 skillets. Transfer to stockpots with beans and their liquid, dividing evenly.
• Remove breast meat from ducks and goose. Remove the legs of each and cut each leg into two pieces; remove bones from thighs. Cut breast and thigh meat into bite-size pieces and set aside. Remove wings and set aside along with drumsticks. Cover meat, wings, and drumsticks and refrigerate overnight. Using a cleaver, halve carcasses; set aside.
• Place 2 large layers of cheesecloth on work surface. Repeat with another 2 layers of cheesecloth to make 2 separate cheesecloth stacks. Evenly divide duck and goose carcasses, roasted bones, parsley, leeks, carrots, cloves, bay leaves, and remaining 6 sprigs thyme between cheesecloth stacks. Wrap and tie with kitchen twine to enclose. Add one to each pot with beans and add enough water to cover beans by 2 inches. Place pots over medium-high heat; simmer until beans are almost tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Beans should be covered by 2 inches of liquid at all times; if liquid begins to reduce, add water as necessary. Remove from heat and remove as much excess liquid from beans as you can; transfer liquid to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight. Let bean mixture cool for 1 hour; transfer to refrigerator and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight.
• The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place beans over medium-high heat; bring to a simmer. Remove cheesecloth packets and discard. Skim fat from the surface of reserved bean liquid and divide evenly between the two pots of beans.
• In a Dutch oven that holds at least 18 quarts, alternately layer the beans with remaining bottle of wine and a mixture of the reserved cubed lamb, pork, pancetta, duck, and goose, seasoning between each layer with salt and pepper. Top the mixture with the reserved duck and goose drumsticks and wings.
• Make the Topping: In a medium bowl, mix together breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic; season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with duck fat and stir to moisten. Sprinkle evenly over to cover. Transfer Dutch oven to oven and bake until a light-brown crust has formed, 2 to 3 hours.
• About 1 hour before you are ready to serve, place sausages in a high-sided skillet; add enough water to skillet to cover sausages by three-quarters. Bring water to a simmer over medium-high heat; cook, turning, about 35 minutes. Cover skillet and continue cooking until sausage is cooked through, about 10 minutes more. Remove sausage from casings and cut on the bias into 1/2-inch slices. Top cassoulet with garlic sausage and serve.

GOOSE CASSOULET

Steps:

• Soak the beans into water during 1 night then rinse them generously. Cover the bottom of a large casserole with the pork rind and display the beans on it. Add the bacon, the peeled onions pricked with the cloves, the bouquet garni, 3 crushed garlic cloves, the peeled and cut (into 8 pieces) carrots. Season with salt & pepper, cover with water; put a lid and simmer for 2 hours. During this simmering, fry the pork and lamb pieces in oil. Add 4 peeled and minced onions and 2 peeled and minced garlic cloves. Spread with thyme and then add the tomatoes cut into pieces. Season with salt & pepper, and then add 2 fl oz water, cover and let simmer for 1 hour. Right before the beans are cooked, take out the bouquet garni, the onions and the pork rind. Cut the rind into small cubes then put them back with the beans, together with the sausage and the preserved goose. Add the meats with all the cooking juice and other ingredients. Gently mix and simmer for another 20 minutes. This must be served very hot but can be re-heated.

CASSOULET SOUP

Steps:

• Sauté onion and kielbasa in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until onion is soft and sausage is light brown, about 8 minutes. Add thyme and stir 1 minute. Add wine and boil until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Mix in broth, 1 cup beans and goose or turkey. Mash remaining beans to coarse puree; add to soup. Partially cover pan and simmer soup until flavors blend, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle parsley over and serve.

CASSOULET (FRENCH STEW MADE WITH DUCK AND SAUSAGE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. FOR THE BEANS: In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Saute the onions and celery for 4 minutes, or until they are slightly wilted.
• Add the beans, salt, cayenne, water and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until beans are tender and most of the water is absorbed, about 2 hours.
• FOR THE MEATS: In a large oven proof skillet, over medium high heat, combine the flour and oil. Stirring constantly, make a medium brown roux.
• Add the onions, celery, bell peppers, carrots, salt and cayenne. Stirring constantly, cook for 4 minutes or until vegetables are slightly wilted.
• Add the duck legs and sausages and cook for 3 minutes on each side.
• Add the chicken broth and stir the mixture until the roux and broth are combined and mixture thickens. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pot to loosen any brown particles. Bring to a boil. Add the beans and duck meat. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 30 minutes.
• FOR THE GRATINE: In a mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, and olive oil. Mix well. When the bean/meat mixture is cooked, spoon the gratine evenly over the top and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Spoon a serving of the mixture from the pan onto a plate and add garnishments.

CASSOULET

Steps:

• FOR THE BEANS AND SAUSAGE:.
• In a heavy 4 to 6 quart pot or soup kettle, bring the chicken stock to a boil over high heat. Drop the beans in and boil them briskly for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let the beans soak for 1 hour. Meanwhile, simmer the salt pork in 1 quart of water for 15 minutes; drain and set aside.
• With the point of a sharp knife, pierce 5 or 6 holes in the sausage; then add the sausage & salt pork to the beans. Bring to a boil over high heat.
• Tie the parsley, celery tops, leek, bay leaves and cloves tightly in the cheesecloth, and add to the beans, along with the onion, 1/2 teaspoon garlic & 1/2 teaspoon thyme. Reduce the heat and simmer ncovered for 45 minutes, adding stock or water if needed.
• With tongs, transfer the sausage to a plate and set it aside. Cook the beans and salt pork for another 30 or 40 minutes, or until the beans are tender.
• Remove the salt pork from the beans, pare off the skin and discard the skin. Set aside the salt pork on the same plate as the sausages.
• Drain the beans, RESERVING THE BROTH IN WHICH THEY WERE COOKED. Discard the onion and the boquet garni. Degrease the stock and taste for seasoning. Set the stock aside.
• FOR THE PORK AND LAMB:.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees . In a heavy 10 to 12 inch skillet, brown the pork and lamb in the olive oil over medium heat. When the meat is a rich brown on all sides, transfer it with tongs to a dutch oven.
• Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the fat in the skillet and saute the onions over low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the celery and garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
• Pour in the wine, bring to a boil and cook over high heat until the mixture has been reduced by half. With a rubber spatula, scrape the contents of the skillet into the dutch oven with the meat. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, salt & pepper to the dutch oven, and stir to combine.
• Bring the mixture in the dutch oven to a boil on the top of the stove, cover, and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
• Transfer the meat to the same plate with the sausage & salt pork.
• Strain the liquid the meat was braised in, pressing on the vegetables to release their juice. Discard the vegetables.
• Degrease the braising liquid and add to the reserved bean stock.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut the sausage into 1/4 inch slices. Remove the skin from the duck confit and pull all the meat from the bones. Discard the skin and bones (you can leave the skin on if you want, but I think it makes it too fatty -- ). Cut the duck into 1 inch pieces. Cut the salt pork into 1 inch pieces.
• Combine the duck, sausage, salt pork, pork & lamb.
• Spread a 1 inch layer of the beans on the bottom of a large dutch oven. Spread half the meat mixture over these beans, top with another 1 inch layer of beans and the remaining meat mixture, ending with a final layer of beans.
• Pour the reserved bean stock/ braising liquid over the beans until it almost covers them (if there isn't enough stock, you can add chicken stock or water to make up the difference).
• Mix together the bread crumbs and parsley, and spread over the top of the cassoulet. Pour the 2 tablespoons duck fat, goose fat, or melted butter on top of the parsley/crumb mixture.
• Bring the casserole to a boil on top of the stove, then bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 and 1/4 hours, or until the crumbs have formed a firm, brown crust.
• Push the crust down into the cassoulet, bringing more fresh beans & meat to the top.
• Place the casserole under the broiler and broil until the top is brown and crusty.
• Remove from the oven and let cool. Push the second crust down into the cassoulet. Cover and refrigerate.
• The day you want to serve the cassoulet, bake in the oven, covered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then remove the cover and broil the top until it is brown and crusty.

CASSOULET

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.

HOW TO MAKE CASSOULET

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.
• Photography Food styling: Alison Attenborough. Prop styling: Beverley Hyde. Additional photography: Karsten Moran for The New York Times. Additional styling: Jade Zimmerman. Video Food styling: Chris Barsch and Jade Zimmerman. Art direction: Alex Brannian. Prop styling: Catherine Pearson. Director of photography: James Herron. Camera operators: Tim Wu and Zack Sainz. Editing: Will Lloyd and Adam Saewitz. Additional editing: Meg Felling.
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