A Simple 3-hour Cassoulet

Finding France: a Narrative Recipe for Cassoulet

This is not the definitive story of Cassoulet, its history, or its raison d’etre; I’ve already written an entire book devoted to that, from a clay pot to the groaning table—Cassoulet: a French Obsession, available here. Rather, I want to walk you through a simple guide to cooking a basic Cassoulet with readily available ingredients in a modest amount of time. In other words, everything that people think Cassoulet isn't—simple. 

If you consider that Cassoulet is essentially a peasant dish of beans and salted meat, it was never meant to be difficult. Rather, because of its very simplicity, from cooking methods (stove top simmering and oven baking) to basic ingredients (dried beans, garden aromatics, and some charcuterie), a cook must pay attention to the purchase of good quality products and the precise process.

As a side note, most French people do not cook cassoulet from scratch but buy it readymade in jars or cans from specialty shops or supermarkets. But let me walk you through my simple steps that will result in a delicious and savory Cassoulet in just over 3 hours. This recipe in cookbook format is also in the Recipe File No.2 Archive for paid subscribers.

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About Cooking Beans- 1:00 hour 

Understanding cooking beans is the key to a great cassoulet. Start with this year’s harvest of dried beans (check the date on the package), as they will taste better and take less time to cook. Beans improperly stored (too warm, too humid, too long) will remain hard no matter how long you cook them! I use about 80-100 grams of dried beans per person, so 500 grams or a pound will easily feed six people. Soaking beans in advance, several hours or overnight, reduces the cooking time. You can start cooking the beans directly from dried; it will double the cooking time. 

Choose a large 6-8 liter/quart stock pot with a lid to hold the beans, the meat, and the water. Rinse the soaked beans and add to the pot; 500 grams of dried beans, once soaked, will yield about 1000 grams. Cover the soaked beans with double their weight, about 2-3 liters, of water. Cover and bring to a boil. While the beans and water are heating up, prepare the vegetables and aromatics for that pot of beans.

Peel one whole carrot, one onion, and two garlic cloves. Stud the whole onion with two whole spice cloves; tie up a bouquet garni of 2-3 bay leaves, fresh thyme, celery leaf, and parsley stalks. Add a piece of thick ventrêche or pancetta, salt pork, or bacon to the pot—about 150 grams or 6 ounces, along with all the prepared vegetables to the bean pot once it has started to boil; add a half-teaspoon of black peppercorns. Turn the heat down to a rolling simmer and let the beans cook until just tender and the skins start to peel up when you blow on them. Depending on the age and size of your beans, this will take 45-60 minutes. Fresher and smaller beans will take less time, but I prefer a larger bean like a Tarbais (Haricot Mais). The better you season your beans at this stage, the better your cassoulet will taste. But don’t add salt yet, as the pork belly can be salty enough.

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Prepare the Meats—while the beans cook

While the beans and seasonings are cooking, prepare the meats that you will add to the cassoulet. Buy good quality fresh pork sausage and some duck confit if you like. Brown the sausage, about one fat link per person or six links, made with pork shoulder and belly, salt and pepper. A true Saucisse de Toulouse has no wine, garlic, or other seasonings in it—just salt and pepper. You don't have to cook them all the way through; just get a good caramelized color on the outside. Leave the links whole. You can also use some pre-cooked duck confit, just enough to give the beans that Southwestern flavor. For six people, I would use two to four duck legs, remove the bones, and pull the meat apart, leaving it in big chunks. I think one leg per person plus all the other meat is too much. I want to keep this a bean dish flavored with meat. So sausage, plus pork belly, plus duck confit, ham hock, etc, take away from the simplicity and the beans themselves. Remove the ventrêche or salt pork from the beans and cut into small lardon-size pieces. You can brown these now or leave them to brown on the top of the cassoulet in the oven.

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Building the Cassoulet- 15 minutes

Use a large oven-proof dish (preferably terracotta or something heavy like cast iron that will hold the heat); the dish should be deep enough to hold all the meat and beans with its liquid. A traditional clay Cassole for this amount of beans and meat is about 28cm/12 inches across and 15 cm/6 inches deep.  Turn the oven on to 220°C/450°F.

Once the beans are cooked through, taste the bean broth for salt. This is the time you would salt lightly, especially if adding confit or other charcuterie that is already salted. Remove the carrot and onion and bouquet garni. I often chop up the carrot and return it to the beans; I place the onion in the center of the finished cassoulet as a garnish. I like to sue everything.

Begin by placing a layer of beans across the bottom, place the browned sausage on top, and cover with another layer of beans. Now, stud any other meat, the duck confit, etc, into this last layer and sprinkle the pork belly pieces across the top where the fat and skin will render further, brown, and help create a textured crust as it bakes. Add enough of the bean broth to just cover the beans and meat.

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Bake the Cassoulet- 1.5-2 hours

Place the Cassoulet in a very hot oven— 220°C/450°F and bake for 60 minutes. I usually leave my oven very hot for the entire process; if not, turn it down some. After 1.5-2 hours, the surface of the beans and meat burbles away at a volcanic rate and will have formed a dark mahogany crust. There will still be ample broth to ladle with the beans and meat. This broth will thicken and be starchy after the cassoulet sits for a while.

At this point, you can bring the steaming hot dish to the table along with a crisp green salad dressed with a sharp vinaigrette, which you prepared while the cassoulet was cooking. Et voilà! A total of 3 to 3 ½ hours from start to finish using soaked dried beans. Bon Appétit!

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Coming Next:

Story No. 3. Anatomy of A Sunday Lunch in Gascony

Portrait No. 3. Madame Vétou Pompèle, la Reine de Cuisine

Recipes File Archives No.3. My Poule au Pot or chicken in a pot, roast duckling with green olives and garlic, chicken wing sauce for sweetbreads, Pomme de Terre Purée three ways: classique, à la tripe, souffléed, Tarte au Poire et Chocolate

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