Optional analytics

Google Analytics helps us understand visits and improve our recipes. It is optional.

Cassoulet

By · Published · Mains

↓ Jump to Recipe
An earthenware dish of cassoulet with white beans, a duck leg, sausage and pork belly under a browned crust.

White beans slow-baked with duck confit, pork and Toulouse-style pork sausage under a browned crust. The great dish of the French southwest, made with Canadian white beans and ready-made confit duck legs.

I make cassoulet here, but the proper ingredients are hard to find. In France, confit duck legs and Toulouse sausage are ordinary supermarket buys; here I piece the dish together, and some of it is never quite the same.

Ready-made confit is the closest thing, but it isn't in every store outside Quebec, and when I can't find it, I make my own confit the night before, salted duck legs cooked slowly in lard. The beans are easier: white navy or kidney beans come out creamy and hold up in the long bake. And when nothing fennel-free is in the sausage case, I'd rather make it with pork and confit alone than pull the dish toward Italy.

Cassoulet is white beans baked for hours with pork, sausage and usually duck confit, until the beans turn creamy under a dark crust. The crust is broken and pushed back in several times, so the whole dish takes on its flavour. It comes from the southwest of France, and it's a weekend dish for a crowd.

Read the sausage label

Toulouse sausage is coarse pork, salt and pepper, with no fennel. Outside Quebec, a sausage labelled "mild" is usually mild Italian, which has fennel, so read the label.

Plan the timeline

Soak the beans the night before. On the day, count about 4½ hours from the first pot to the table, most of it unattended in the oven.

Keeping the beans creamy, not dry

The beans should be soft and whole in a thick sauce, never dry. If the top looks dry between crusts, pour a ladle of hot bean liquid or broth down the side of the dish so you don't wash the crust away. Salt the beans only at the end of their first simmer, because the belly and the confit add their own.

Making it in Canada

The 3 French ingredients, and what to buy for them in Canada.

  • Haricots lingots ou tarbais→Dried white navy beans, or white kidney beans (cannellini) if you find them

    Compliments navy beans are the easy find: check them after 45 minutes of simmering and take 30 minutes off the bake. Cannellini are creamier and hold their shape better if your store has them.

    Compliments White Navy Beans, 900 g, at Sobeys, Safeway and IGA. If you find dried white kidney beans (cannellini), they hold their shape better.

  • Saucisse de Toulouse→Toulouse sausage, or a coarse plain pork sausage with no fennel

    Toulouse is coarse pork seasoned with salt and pepper, so it tastes of pork, not herbs. Fennel or Italian seasoning takes the dish toward Italy. Fresh (raw) sausage, not smoked: it's browned, then cooks through in the oven.

    Metro sells Toulouse sausages from Furca, Plaisirs Gastronomiques and DuBreton (organic, 4 × 100 g). Real Canadian Superstore sells a Dalisa pork sausage combo (900 g) that is half Toulouse, half mild Italian: use the Toulouse and freeze the rest.

    French Charcuterie in Canada: Sausages, Saucisson and Pâté »

  • Confit de canard→Ready-made confit duck legs

    They're already salted and slow-cooked in their fat, so they only need browning. Scrape off the fat to brown the other meats, and keep the rest for roast potatoes.

    IGA sells Canards du Lac Brome confit duck legs (280 g); Maxi and Metro sell Plaisirs Gastronomiques (500 g). Costco.ca sells a box of 24 fully cooked confit legs online; freeze what you don't use.

Good to know: If you can't find duck confit, cassoulet with pork and sausage alone is still very good. Confit belongs to the Castelnaudary and Toulouse versions.

Ready to cook?
An earthenware dish of cassoulet with white beans, a duck leg, sausage and pork belly under a browned crust.

Cassoulet

White beans slow-baked with duck confit, pork and Toulouse-style pork sausage under a browned crust. The great dish of the French southwest, made with Canadian white beans and ready-made confit duck legs.

Prep time
1 hr
Cook time
4 hr 15 min
Resting time
12 hr
Total time
17 hr 15 min
Servings
8

Soak the beans overnight, about 12 hours.

Ingredients

Original recipe: 8 servings.

Instructions

  1. Blanch the rind. If using pork rind, put it in cold water, bring to a boil, simmer 5 minutes and drain.
  2. Cook the beans. Drain the beans and cover with fresh water. Add the pork belly, rind, onion, carrot, bouquet garni and half the garlic. Simmer gently about 1 hour, until the beans are tender but still hold their shape. Navy beans cook faster: start checking at 45 minutes. Salt in the last 10 minutes. Keep the cooking liquid.
  3. Brown the meats. Scrape the fat from the duck legs and melt 3 tbsp of it in a large frying pan. Brown the pork shoulder, then the sausages, then the duck legs, skin side down, until golden. Cut the sausages in pieces and the pork belly in thick slices.
  4. Make the sauce. In the same pan, cook the rest of the garlic and the tomato paste for 1 minute, then add 250 mL of broth and scrape up the brown bits.
  5. Assemble. Heat the oven to 160°C (325°F). In a deep ovenproof dish or cocotte of at least 5.5 L, layer a third of the beans with the rind, then the pork, sausage and belly, then more beans, the duck legs and the rest of the beans. Pour over the sauce and enough bean liquid and broth to just cover.
  6. Bake. Bake uncovered 2½ to 3 hours. When a brown crust forms, push it into the beans with a spoon and add a little hot liquid down the side if the beans look dry. Repeat two or three times. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over in the last hour if you like. It's ready when the beans are creamy and the top has a deep brown crust.
  7. Rest. Let it rest 15 minutes before serving straight from the dish.

Equipment

  • Staub 5.5 L round cocotte: A 5.5 L cocotte is the minimum size for this recipe; a wider 6 L dish gives more surface for the crust.

Amazon links are affiliate links: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

Notes

  • Better the next day. Reheat at 160°C (325°F) with a little broth until bubbling in the centre. Health Canada's safe minimum for reheated leftovers is 74°C (165°F).
  • Freezes well for 3 months.
  • Canned white kidney beans work in a pinch: about five 540 mL cans, drained and rinsed. Simmer the pork belly with the onion, carrot and bouquet garni in 1.5 L of water for an hour to make the cooking liquid, then assemble as written and bake 1½ hours, because canned beans fall apart in a longer bake.
  • To make your own confit, rub 4 raw duck legs with 2 tbsp coarse salt and refrigerate overnight. Rinse, pat dry and cook them in enough melted lard or duck fat to cover, about 1.5 L (one 1.36 kg pack of Tenderflake Pure Lard), at 120°C (250°F) for about 3 hours, until the meat comes away from the bone.
  • Serve with a green salad and a red wine from the southwest.

Course: Mains · Cuisine: French · Adapted for Canadian kitchens

Made this? Send it to whoever you're cooking for next, or pin it for later.

Canadian guides

French ingredients and what to buy in Canada »

You might also like