Traditional Cassoulet
Cassoulet is a hearty, slow cooked dish of beans and meat. It’s a project that is worth your time. The recipe calls for 5 – 6 duck legs. Duck confit normally comes in a large can with 5 or 6 legs, depending on size.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Beans: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: One Dish Dinners
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups dried white beans (14oz, 400gr), lingots, cannellini, Great Northern
- 1 whole onion, halved, studded with 2 whole cloves
- 3oz (90gr) bacon, chopped
- 2oz (60gr) dry-cured ham, such as Bayonne, Prosciutto, chopped
- 2 medium leeks, thinly slice, white and green
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 bouquet garni
- 2 tbs duck fat
- 3 cups (24oz, 750ml) chicken broth
- 2 cups (16oz, 500ml) water
- 5 – 6 duck legs, confit
- 6 (20oz, 600gr) thick pork sausages
- 1 cup peeled, chopped tomatoes
- 10 cloves garlic, crushed
Instructions
- Instant Pot:
- Put 1 tbs fat, bacon, ham, chopped onion, leeks, 1 clove garlic in the Instant Pot.
- Set it to Sauté for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add broth, water, and stir well to scrape up any cooked-on bits.
- Add beans and stir.
- Add studded onion halves, bay leaves, bouquet garni, put the lid on, and set the Instant Pot to Pressure, (high pressure) for 40 minutes.
- Let release naturally.
- Discard bay leaves, studded onion, bouquet garni.
- Cook top:
- Soak beans for four hours or overnight. Drain.
- Sauté bacon, ham, chopped onion, leeks in fat until bacon is cooked.
- Add garlic and sauté briefly.
- Add broth, and stir well to scrape up any cooked-on bits.
- Add beans, studded onion halves, bay leaves, bouquet garni, and enough additional water (if needed) to cover the beans by 2 – 3 inches.
- Cover and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer until beans are tender, 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
- When done discard bay leaves. bouquet garni, studded onion.
- Combine the remaining 9 cloves garlic and the tomatoes.
- Wipe the fat off of the duck legs.
- Heat remaining t tbs duck fat in a large skillet.
- Add the sausages and brown them, 7 – 8 minutes. Do not cook completely.
- Assembling the Cassoulet
- Put a layer of the beans in the bottom of a heavy pot.
- Arrange the sausages on the beans
- Add another layer of beans
- Layer the tomatoes on the beans.
- Lay the duck legs on the tomatoes.
- Top with remaining beans.
- Add enough bean liquid / chicken broth / water to almost cover the beans.
- Bake, uncovered, at 350F (175C) until you see the top bubbling, about an hour.
- Reduce the heat to 250F (125C) and continue baking for 3 hours.
- When the top gets dry and crusty, take the back of a spoon and push it gently into the liquid.
- If it starts to dry out, add more liquid.
Notes
The duck confit comes packed in duck fat – which is great for frying potatoes and keeps a long time (several weeks) in the fridge. Wipe most of it off the duck legs before putting them in the cassoulet.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 998
- Sugar: 4.4 g
- Sodium: 1536 mg
- Fat: 62 g
- Saturated Fat: 20.6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 49.9 g
- Fiber: 11.4 g
- Protein: 60.1 g
- Cholesterol: 210.3 mg
Keywords: cassoulet, white beans, duck confit
Find it online: https://thymeforcookingblog.com/2023/01/traditional-cassoulet/
