What is Cassoulet

Cassoulet from Occitan caçolet [kasu?let]) is a rich, slow-cooked casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, goose, duck and sometimes mutton), pork skin (couennes) and white haricot beans.

Cassoulet is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides.

Numerous regional variations exist, the best-known being the cassoulet from Castelnaudary, the self-proclaimed “Capital of Cassoulet”, Toulouse, and Carcassonne. All are made with white beans (haricots blancs or lingots), which have replaced the medieval broad bean Vicia fava, and duck or goose confit, meat and sausages. In the cassoulet of Toulouse, the meats are pork and mutton, the latter frequently a cold roast shoulder. The Carcassonne version is similar but doubles the portion of mutton and sometimes replaces the duck with partridge. The cassoulet of Castelnaudary uses a duck confitinstead of mutton. Cassoulet is traditionally topped by fried bread cubes and cracklings.

Cassoulet is also sold in France as a commercial product in cans and can be found in supermarkets and grocery stores across the country. These cassoulets vary in price and quality. The cheapest ones contain only beans, tomato sauce, sausages, and bacon — duck and goose are expensive and thus are absent from such preparations. More expensive versions are likely to be cooked with goose fat and to include Toulouse sausages, lamb, goose, or duck confit.

Haute cuisine versions require mixing pre-cooked roasted meats with beans that have been simmered separately with aromatic vegetables, but this runs counter to cassoulet’s peasant origins. In the process of preparing the dish it is traditional to deglaze the pot from the previous cassoulet in order to give a base for the next one. This has led to stories of a single original cassoulet being extended for years or even decades.

In American restaurants, the term “cassoulet” is often applied to any hearty bean-based casserole, with innovations such as salmon cassoulet.

Many culinary traditions have similar techniques for slow cooking beans in a covered vessel. Examples include Feijoada, Fabada Asturiana, and baked beans. The Hungarian-Jewish solet and Eastern European cholent are similar bean dishes, and are also frequently cooked in combination with smoked poultry, especially goose leg, but a definitive relationship has not been established.

Recipe for Cassoulet

1 lb/450 g dried haricot beans
8 oz/225 g piece smoked bacon, rind removed
2 small carrots, peeled
1 small onion, peeled and studded with 2-3 cloves
8 medium tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 parsley sprig
2 thyme sprigs
1 Ib/450 g boneless lamb, such as fillet
2 oz/50 g lard or white vegetable fat
1 medium onion
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp freshly chopped thyme
2 large pork sausages, quartered
6 oz/175 g garlic sausage, thickly sliced
4 oz/ 100 g white breadcrumbs
flat-leaved parsley to garnish

Preheat the oven to Gas 3, 325°F,160°C, 10 minutes before baking the Cassoulet. Wash the beans, then cover in cold water and leave to soak overnight. Drain beans, then place in a large pan with the bacon, carrots and studded onion. Peel and chop 4 tomatoes, then crush 2 garlic cloves and add to the pan. Tie the bay leaf parsley and thyme sprigs together to make a bouquet garni, then add to the pan with 3 pints/ 1 .7 litres water. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 1-1 ½ hrs, or until the beans are tender.

Meanwhile, trim lamb, discarding fat, and cut into cubes. Melt 1 oz/25 g fat in another large pan, add lamb and brown. Peel and slice the onion, finely chop1 of the remaining garlic cloves, then add to the pan and cook for 3-4 mins. Add 1/2pint/300 ml water.

Peel and chop the remaining tomatoes, then add to the pan with seasoning and thyme. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 1 ½ hrs.

Melt the remaining fat in a pan and brown the quartered sausages. Drain, then add to the lamb with the garlic sausage for the last 10 mins of cooking time. Remove beans from the heat, discard herbs, carrots and onion. Remove the bacon joint and cut into chunks. Rub the inside of a 4 pint/2.25 litre oven-proof casserole with the remaining peeled garlic clove. Place half of the beans in the base of the casserole. Top with lamb mixture and the bacon, then cover with the remaining beans.

Sprinkle 2 oz/50 g breadcrumbs over and bake, uncovered, for 1 ½ hrs, stirring occasionally to prevent a crust forming, sprinkling each time with more breadcrumbs. When all the bread-crumbs have been used, increase oven temperature to Gas 4, 350°F, 180°C, 25 mins before end of cooking time, so that the top turns golden. Garnish and serve with salad.

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