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Active Time
1 1/4 hr
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Total Time
12 hr
Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 12 hr (includes soaking beans)
Ingredients
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Special Equipment
Soak and cook beans:
Step 1
Cover beans with cold water by 2 inches in a large bowl and soak 8 to 12 hours. Drain in a colander.
Step 2
Transfer beans to a 6- to 8-quart pot and bring to a boil with 8 cups cold water, broth, tomato paste, onion, and 2 tablespoons garlic. Put celery, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, parsley sprigs, and peppercorns in cheesecloth and tie into a bundle with string to make a bouquet garni. Add bouquet garni to beans, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until beans are almost tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir in tomatoes with juice and simmer until beans are just tender, about 15 minutes more.
Prepare duck and sausage while beans simmer:
Step 3
删除所有的皮肤和脂肪鸭腿和滑雪n and fat into 1/2-inch pieces. Separate duck meat from bones, leaving it in large pieces, and transfer meat to a bowl. Add bones to bean pot.
Step 4
煮鸭皮和脂肪和剩下的1/4杯冷water in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until water is evaporated and fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until skin is crisp, 3 to 6 minutes more. Transfer cracklings with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, leaving fat in skillet. (You should have about 1/4 cup fat; if not, add olive oil.)
Step 5
Brown sausage in batches in fat in skillet, then transfer to bowl with duck meat, reserving skillet.
Step 6
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Make bread crumb topping:
Step 7
Add remaining tablespoon garlic to fat in skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in bread crumbs and cook, stirring, until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chopped parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cracklings.
Assemble casserole:
Step 8
Remove bouquet garni and duck bones from beans and discard, then stir in kielbasa, duck meat, remaining teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Step 9
Ladle cassoulet into casserole dish, distributing meat and beans evenly. (Meat and beans should be level with liquid; if they are submerged, ladle excess liquid back into pot and boil until reduced, then pour back into casserole dish.) Spread bread crumb topping evenly over cassoulet and bake, uncovered, in lower third of oven, until bubbling and crust is golden, about 1 hour.
Step 10
- Available at some butcher shops and D'Artagnan (800-327-8246).
• Cassoulet can be assembled (but not baked) 1 day ahead. Cool casserole before adding topping, then top and chill, loosely covered. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before baking.
Leave a Review
Reviews (44)
Back to TopI made this recipe over the weekend and absolutely loved it! I followed several people's advice on here to make several changes: -cooked the beans in about 5 cups of water, though I might use 6 next time because the cassoulet came out a little bit dryer than expected -Bought duck confit at Dean and Deluca, which came out great -Added half a tsp instead of a whole before assembling In all, it came out great! I cooked the beans in a large pot and used my Le Creuset french oven for everything else, including baking the assembled cassoulet.
francescasherman6701
NYC
3/26/2018
The recipe sounds meltingly delicious but I came across a non-fat vegan version, which I think is better. The taste of the vegetables, herbs and beans and the bread you serve it with is heaven. I got the vegan recipe in my head which I'll be making in a mental health facility kitchen.
Deathridge
Australia
11/11/2017
Wow. I agree with Wezzie, 8.25 cups of water was too much. Used D'Artagnin duck comfit and garlic sausage. Wonderful. When removing skin and fat from duck leg remember to cut away from yourself, especially if your knife is sharp.
Assos
Louisville, KY
11/11/2013
A great recipe, with one caveat. 8.25 cups of water is WAY TOO MUCH. Start with 3 cups, and if necessary add more to just cover the beans. For more flavor, use all broth instead. I used lamb broth, and lamb sausage, and it's great (a good substitute for pork, if you don't eat pork.) Fresh duck legs work fine. I love the idea of rendering the duck fat, and using that to fry the bread topping. So delicious!
Wezzie
Berkeley, CA
3/26/2012
The cassoulet should be in the oven normally 1.5-2 hours. I guess it depends on beans, you can always add more liquid and continue cooking if beans are not ready. I find using fresh duck legs makes more sense to me, confit is nice, but starting from scratch in a dish you will be cooking for 2 hours is so much better. Just brown them before vegies and they will be just as soft and falling apart at the end as a precooked confit. It is all about duck for me in this recipe anyway, I know most of cassoulet purist will not like this comment. Presoak the beans in a salty water, aka "brine" them. That will give them very soft skins, very buttery.
lauritatoo
Camden, ME
2/6/2012
There are a lot of technical mistakes in this dish. The bean soaking and cooking times are each too long. The skin-crisping instructions are murky and the results messy. There are way too many bread crumbs and the inaccuracy in the bean cooking produces entirely too much liquid. I made this on Christmas day with homemade kielbasa and locally prepared confit duck. Those two ingredients were the best thing about this dish. For the record, a cassoulet should be firm and moist, like a holiday stuffing recipe, but loaded with much more flavor and meat. This recipe produced a grayish-brown mess that had to be taken apart and re-baked for 40 minutes to get it closer to a cassoulet. Awful recipe.
newandrew
San Francisco, CA
12/25/2010
A note to VB_Cook - Take it easy! Perhaps if one is going to correct the use of terminology of others, it would be good to have one's facts right before doing so. Both a sachet d'epices and a bouquet garni are PRIMARILY herbs; not spices. Yes. I know. Now I'm guilty too.
Anonymous
2/15/2010
Delightful again. I can't understand why this ranks at 78%. Made properly, (largely) as written, this dish is awesome. My mod: rather than using dried white beans I get white navy beans in cans. I use about half of the water but the same amount of beef broth, and cook for about half the time. Aside from that, made exactly as written (except I didn't put the celery in my bouquet garni - no need; easy to fish out), and it is absolutely divine.
zepcom
Toronto, Ontario
11/15/2009
Absolutely fantastic. We were fortunate to be able to purchase fresh confit relatively cheaply, along with a Toulouse saucisson d'Armagnac and a fantastic French bacon (Oyama sausage on Granville Island has a Cassoulet 'Festival' in November, and bring in all the most perfect ingredients you could wish for). I added half a dozen strips of bacon to the beans as they cooked, then pulled the bacon out and removed the fat before assembly. It came out absolutely fantastic - easily the match for most of the Cassoulet I've had around Toulouse. enjoyed around
dhpye
Vancouver, BC
11/8/2009
I've been an Epicurious user for over 5 years but no recipe has ever motivated me as much as this one to want to write a review. I made this dish after returning from a trip to Paris. I was fortunate enough to bring home some duck confit. The rest of the ingredients I picked up from Whole Foods, use only the best. As well, I added 1 lb lamb shoulder, which I let sit before cooking with a few whole cloves, in addition to the pork kielbasa and duck. This dish took more like a half a day to execute. My partner and I had the meal with a Grand Vin de Graves&exceptional.
LSRM_Chef
NYC
10/18/2009
It's very telling when a French recipe uses French culinary terms incorrectly. Spices tied in cheesecloth are a sachet d'épices, not a bouquet garni.
VB_Cook
9/7/2009
Wow, this did not turn out well for me at all. I simmered the beans until "just tender" as directed, but an hour in the oven wasn't enough for the meltingly tender texture I hoped for. The topping with the cracklings was sooo good before it went on top of the dish (and I added it right before going in the oven), but it got soaked up by the too-thin liquid and lost all its crunchy charm. I also didn't find the flavors to be very intense or concentrated. I'm very glad I decided to test this recipe before making it for a dinner party. Sally Schneider has a version of cassoulet in A New Way to Cook that simmers the beans with browned chicken legs, which are then picked out and discarded, and the beans are drained with the liquid reserved. Caramelized aromatics and white wine are then added to the liquid and it's then reduced down to a very rich and concentrated sauce that gives you a nice thick bean base for the dish. I will be using her method for my next attempt, along with this recipe's topping. Also, I prefer no tomato in the dish, although I note that Julia Child uses tomato, so I guess it's authentic.
kmoonchef
Oakland, CA
2/19/2009
Very flavorful. A lot of work but worth it. The beans need longer cooking time than the recipe calls for though.
Sandra1
Quebec City
12/28/2008
After looking for the perfect Cassoulet recipe, I have found it. I was only able to get 3 confit duck legs, and it was plenty. Great suggestion to save bean broth. Fit nicely into a 9x13 pan. Much easier and less time consuming than Paula Wolfert's recipe which I tried earlier.
Anonymous
Dallas
10/31/2008
Forgot to mention that I did the whole thing from start to finish in my Le Creuset 5 1/2 quart - much easier than transferring.
zepcom
Toronto, ON
9/11/2008
