Award Winning Cassoulet Recipe (2024)

Award Winning Cassoulet Recipe

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Cassoulet is a slow-cooking casserole that originates from the South of France. This recipe is certainly for the more advance cook, but well worth it if you are cooking for a crowd that would appreciate a more refined dish.Chef Alexander Burger from Bar Boulud’s Cassoulet was one of the winning dishes at D’Artagnan’s Fourth Annual Cassoulet War.25 Slow-Cooker Soups

Servings

8

servings

Award Winning Cassoulet Recipe (1)

Ingredients

  • 1 whole duck about 4 lbs with gizzards or 4 duck legs
  • ½ cup kosher or sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
  • 8 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 3 dried bay leaf
  • 1 sprig rosemary
  • 8 sprigs thyme
  • 4 cup rendered duck fat
  • 1 clove garlic cut in half
  • 6 sprigs thyme
  • 6 cup water (or chicken stock)
  • 1 whole carrot
  • 1 whole onion, cut in half
  • 1 whole celery stalk
  • 1 sachet (head garlic, 2 cloves, 1 tsp black pepper corns, 1 fresh bay leaf, 8 sprig thyme, 1 sprig rosemary)
  • neck & remaining duck bones
  • 1.5 lb tarbais beans, or cannellini (soaked overnight)
  • 1 iberico ham bone
  • 1.5 pound pork skin, fat removed and julienne
  • 1 pound slab bacon, lardons
  • 4 toulouse sausages (or pork sausage without fennel)
  • 1 duck confit (or 4 legs) duck heart and gizzards
  • 4 teaspoon duck fat
  • 1 cup carrot, medium dice (about the same size as beans)
  • 2 cup onion, medium dice (about the same size as beans)
  • 1 cup celery, medium dice (about the same size as beans)
  • 1 cup tomato, medium dice, peeled and seeded
  • 2 teaspoon garlic, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon tomato paste
  • bouquet garnis (1 bay leaf ½ t corriander seed, 4 sprigs flat leaf parsley, 3 sprigs thyme, 1 sprig rosemary, 1 sprig oregano, 1 leaf sage, bundled together and tied with a strip of green leek)

Directions

  1. Separate duck into 6 pieces. 2 Breasts bone in, 2 Wings, 2 Thighs. Pat Dry. Be sure to reserve all bones and gizzards. In a mixing bowl combine sea salt, peppercorns, coriander, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, and 8 sprigs of thyme. Rub the salt mixture into the side of the duck with the meat and place the fat side up. Store overnight uncovered.Preheat oven to 250ºF. Rinse the cure off of the duck with cold water. Pat dry. Bring a 13x3 inch cast iron pan up to low heat and place the duck skin side down. Render the fat slowly, after 10 minutes bring the heat up to medium. Once the duck skin is golden brown gently flip the duck pieces with tongs and cover completely with the rendered duck fat. Add the additional garlic and thyme. Bring to a boil, cover and put into a 250ºF oven for 1.5 hours. Be sure that the duck is tender but not totally falling off of the bone.Remove pan from oven. Keep the duck in the fat and bring to room temperature. (about 1 hour) Remove duck from the pan, reserve 2 cups of the fat and put the rest in the refrigerator to cool.
  2. Bring all of the ingredients to a boil and let simmer for one hour. Be sure to skim any excess fat or impurities using a ladle.After one hour, strain the liquid and discard the duck bones and vegetables. Return the liquid back to pot and keep hot.
  3. Gently poach the ham bone, pork skin, and bacon for 10 minutes in the hot broth. Add sausages and continue poaching for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and remove all meats, placing them in a separate plate to cool. Reserve liquid and set aside.Preheat oven to 250ºF. Heat a 14x11x5 inch Le Cruset Dutch oven to medium heat on the stove. Add carrot, onion, and celery sweat until vegetables are translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cook for another two minutes, add tomato paste and mix well. After add Chopped tomato. Add beans to the vegetables and cover with about 6C of the Broth or until the beans are covered. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for an hour or until the beans are ¾ of the way cooked. Remove Dutch oven from the stove and add the duck legs, sausages, bacon, pork skin, and ham bone. Add Bouquet garnis. Cover with liquid about ¾ of the way up and put in oven for two hours.After 2 hours adjust seasoning and turn the oven up to 350ºF so that the meat can begin to caramelize. Once the beans are cooked thoroughly, and the meat is tender then season the broth and serve.

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Award Winning Cassoulet Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best sausage for cassoulet? ›

Usually Toulouse sausage is most commonly used in traditional french cassoulet, a sausage made from a blend of pork and duck meat. Chicken breast – I used boneless and skinless chicken breast but thighs can be substituted if that's all you have. Salt & pepper – To taste.

Should cassoulet be cooked covered or uncovered? ›

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.

What is the main ingredient of the French dish cassoulet? ›

Cassoulet
Cassoulet served in Carcassonne, France, in a casserole sized for single serving
TypeStew/casserole
Place of originFrance
Main ingredientsHaricot beans with meat (typically pork, sausages, goose, duck, lamb or mutton)
Cookbook: Cassoulet Media: Cassoulet

What are the 3 regional styles of cassoulet? ›

Convention has it that the cassoulet of Castelnaudary is based largely on pork and pork rind, sausage, and (sometimes) goose; the Carcassonne variety contains leg of mutton and (occasionally) partridge; and the cassoulet of Toulouse includes fresh lard, mutton, local Toulouse sausage, and duck or goose.

What to use instead of Toulouse sausage? ›

Conran suggests Polish kielbasa as a Toulouse substitute, but the smoky sort I use makes everything taste like a frankfurter, so I'd steer clear – basically, you need something with a very high meat content, and preferably a hefty whack of garlic.

What is closest to Toulouse sausage? ›

Toulouse sausage is very similar to Spanish butifarra sausage in that the quality of the meat shines brightest, not any collection of heavy spices.

What do the French eat with cassoulet? ›

You can serve cassoulet on its own with a salad and bread on the side, but it's traditional to accompany it with something colorful . . . usually greens of some sort.

What vegetables to serve with cassoulet? ›

It's a traditional one pot meal. If someone wants an accompaniment, I would go with lightly dressed salad greens to balance the heavy fatty goodness of the cassoulet.

What kind of beans are in cassoulet? ›

All the ingredients for a good cassoulet can be found in most grocery stores. Purists will argue that you need to find real tarbais beans but I have found white kidney beans work just as well. They will mention that there are 3 versions of true cassoulets (Castelnaudary, Carcassone, and Toulouse).

What is the Holy Trinity of cassoulet? ›

There are three types of cassoulet – the Holy Trinity. There's the 'Father' (pork and goose), the 'Son' (mutton and partridge), and the 'Holy Ghost' (sausage, mutton, and duck).

What French town is famous for cassoulet? ›

Castelnaudary is widely regarded as France's capital of cassoulet, and it's the only place in the world that can claim to hold the official recipe.

What does "cassoulet" mean in English? ›

Meaning of cassoulet in English

a dish of white beans cooked slowly in a small amount of liquid with meat and herbs, originally from France: I went there for a Sunday supper and they were serving cassoulet.

Which southern city is renowned for cassoulet? ›

In 1929, Proposer Montagné, the famous chef from Carcassonne, acknowledged the supremacy of Castelnaudary Cassoulet in his book 'Le Festin Occitan' saying, "Cassoulet is the king of Occitan cuisine."

What is an interesting fact about cassoulet? ›

A Dish of History

The first cassoulet is claimed by the city of Castelnaudary, which was under siege by the British during the Hundred Years War. The beleaguered townspeople gathered up the ingredients they could find and made a large stew to nourish and bolster their defenders.

What to serve with cassoulet? ›

Madiran or Malbec make perfect pairing choices with hearty cassoulet. Look for the appellation Cahors, which is an area of Southwest France that produces such dark wines that they are often called "black wine." If you cannot find Cahors, settle on a fine Argentine Malbec.

What kind of sausages are in France? ›

**** Try four types of our traditional French sausages: Boudin Blanc, Boudin Noir, Andouillette, and Saucisse de Toulouse. Boudin Blanc is a traditional French sausage made with chicken & pork, milk and a touch of Cognac.

What is the best sausage cut? ›

Pork. Butt/Shoulder: Boneless pork butt is very common for making sausages. It contains 20-30% fat so is perfect for sausages as this is the perfect fat to meat ratio (or you can add another 5% fat for extra tenderness and juiciness). If buying from the butcher, request 'boneless shoulder/butt'.

What is the Flavour of Toulouse sausage? ›

It is a rich, strong flavour with a distinctive aroma of Garlic and Red Wine. The most famous recipe for Toulouse sausage is the Cassoulet.

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