Cassoulet is a classic French dish made with white beans and duck or goose confit, simmered for hours and baked in an earthenware dish. It can be made with other meats and sausages, and can be topped with breadcrumbs. Making the confit can take several days, but premade versions are available. White wine and chicken stock are often used, and canned beans can be substituted for dried ones. It’s a comforting meal, especially in winter.
Cassoulet is a classic French dish and is considered one of the best in terms of comfort. The recipes for the dish originate in the south of France, particularly the southwest, but the dish is made throughout France and many other countries. While the ingredients vary slightly, cassoulet typically contains white beans and duck or goose confit, a salty, herb-based meat (usually made from the animal’s feet) that is cooked in its own fat, cooled, and preserved. Duck or goose feet made this way add flavor to cassoulet, which often also contains other types of meat, such as mutton and pork, and spicy sausages.
Traditional cassoulet is simmered for several hours on the stovetop so the beans cook properly and the flavors combine together. It is then placed in a baking dish. This dish in France is usually made of earthenware and is called cassole. The entire cassoulet is baked for an additional hour and can be topped with breadcrumbs for an extra crunch on top.
The main job in making cassoulet is creating the confit, which can take several days as the meat is chilled and stored before being used. You can buy premade confits in specialty stores, although this is a bit hard to find. Alternatively, you can simply skip the confit and add some extra fat to the dish, such as frying duck legs or adding something like bacon, to invest the dish with hearty flavour.
Cassoulet while simmering normally has white wine and lots of chicken stock, although turkey or vegetable stock can be used instead. You can omit the wine, although this will rob the dish of some of its flavor. You can add a small amount of white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar to give the food a little spice.
There are numerous recipes for cassoulet online, and books like The Joy of Cooking offer several adaptations to make cooking the dish a little easier. While it can be a little laborious to make this traditional French appetizer, the bonus is that you have one casserole to serve for the whole family. Add some crusty bread and a salad, and you have a wonderfully warming delicious meal that’s especially comforting during the cold winter months.
You can also save some cooking time if you use canned beans instead of dried ones, which don’t require pre-soaking. It’s easy enough to find white beans, but if you’re a stickler for tradition, look for French flageolet beans, which are light green in color. Again, a specialty or imported food market is probably your best bet when looking for flageolets.
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