Cassoulet

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 8 people, you will need:

• 1 1 kg 500 g white beans
• 2 3 carrots
• 3 1 leek
• 4 2 cloves garlic
• 5 1 Bouquet garni
• 6 2 onions
• 7 50 g goose fat
• 8 2 litres water
• 9 2 chicken stock cubes
• 10 50 g tomato paste
• 11 1 Morteau sausage
• 12 500 g belly (streaky) bacon
• 13 600 g duck confit
• 14 salt
• 15 pepper
• Total weight: 6,135 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
12 hours 60 min.	3 hours 15 min.	16 hours 9 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Beans Leave 1 kg 500 g white beans to soak overnight in cold water.
2	The next day, drain and blanch for 3 minutes in salted boiling water.
3	Drain the beans again.
4	Prepare the carrots and cut into small pieces. Prepare the leek and chop finely. Peel the garlic cloves and chop finely.
5	Peel and chop the onions.
6	Melt 50 g goose fat in a large pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, salt and perpper and cook without colouring.
7	Add the carrots, leek, garlic and bouquet garni. Stir well and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
8	Pour in 2 litres water, add 2 chicken stock cubes and bring to the boil.
9	Leave uncovered to simmer for 30 minutes.
10	Remove and discard the bouquet garni. Add 50 g tomato paste, mix and then add the beans. Leave to simmer uncovered for around 30 minutes until the beans are just tender. Drain the beans and set aside the stock.
11	The cassoulet Put the pan or casserole you are going to use for the cassoulet on high heat and fry the duck confit until browned on all sides. Remove the duck pieces and set aside.
12	Leave the duck fat in the pan and use this to fry the bacon and sausage, cut into pieces. Set aside.
13	Prepare to cook the cassoulet: put a first layer of beans in the bottom of the pan.
14	Cover with a layer of meat.
15	Cover the meat with a second layer of beans.
16	Add stock (from stage 10) to cover with about 1 cm (1/2 inch) over the top of the beans. Cover and cook in the oven at 360°F (180°C) for around 2 hours.
17	Serve each guest with a generous mix of beans and the different meats.

Remarks

The proportions of this recipe are not rigid, so you can add a little more or a little less of something, according to your taste.
For the dried beans, use whatever fairly large white beans you can get. A good French variety is 'lingot du nord'.
For the duck confit, if you are using legs, allow 2 per person.
For the sausage, use a good variety that is available where you live (I prefer using smoked sausage, but this is a matter of taste).
Cassoulet is one of those dishes that just gets better each time you reheat it, so don't hesitate to make a large quantity for reheating on another day or for freezing.

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