Two versions of cassoulet

Long version!


I've cooked this twice, it's hard work (like all day) but I think it's worth it if you want a 'real' cassoulet. YMMV

It's proper French, and it goes on a bit

First cooking:

1kg haricot beans

1 bulb garlic

500g belly pork

2 carrots cut into chunks

1 onion, stuck with 6 cloves

Bunch of parsley, thyme, rosemary and a bay leaf

half teaspoon cracked black peppercorns

Second cooking:

1 joint of goose or duck confit

500g of pork, cut into bite size chunks

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 onion, chopped

can of tomatoes (bugger all that skinning, deseeding and pulping. Who do you think I am, Heston bleedin' Blumenthal?)

500g Toulouse sausage

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also

4tbsp goose fat, melted

salt and pepper

4tbsp breadcrumbs


Right...here we go

Soak the beans overnight in cold water.

Get your first cooking ingredients:

Remove the skin from the belly pork, roll it up and tie it neatly . Dice the pork

Put the roll of skin, the diced belly pork and the beans into a large pot along with the other ingredients for the first cooking. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Boil for 10 min, skimming off the scum that floats to the top, then turn down the heat and simmer for an hour, or until the beans are tender. add more boiling water if needed

Now the second cooking ingredients:

Warm the duck or goose in a frying pan until the fat runs

Remove the duck/goose and fry the pork with the garlic in the fat until browned. Remove and then fry the chopped onion until soft and coloured

Did I say preheat the oven? To 150C/Gas 2

Start assembling the cassoulet in a large casserole/pot. Untie the pork skin and put it in the bottom of the pot, fat down. Drain the beans, sling the onion, garlic, and herbs, keep the liquid. Put half of the beans in the pot, then the meats, onion, tomatoes and sausage, then the rest of the beans. Pour the cooking liquid over, add boiling water if needed to cover the ingredients

Open a bottle of beer

Cover the pot and stick it in the oven. Turn the heat down a bit and cook for 2 hours. If it looks as if it's drying out add more boiling water

Drink beer. Then another

After the 2 hours uncover and drizzle a tablespoon of the melted goose fat over the beans. Return to the oven and cook, uncovered, at 160C/Gas 3 for 30 min

If a crust has formed, break it and stir it into the beans. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and drizzle with another tablespoon of goose fat

Give it another 30 min, repeat the above (apart from the breadcrumbs), and then cook for another 30 min

It's ready. Serve to your grateful guests. Receive their praises. Collapse into beer induced coma

Bon apetit


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...and a quicker one

This is my mother's recipe (apart from the garlic), it's a sort of cassoulet lite, but I grew up with it so there

Another thing is you can't make a small amount of cassoulet, it doesn't work. This should feed 4-6 easily

1lb haricot beans, soaked overnight in cold water, then rinsed and drained

1.5lb of sausage

1.25lb each of boneless lamb and pork shoulder, cut into 2in chunks

1 large onion, chopped

can of tomatoes

half pint of chicken stock

4 garlic cloves

bouquet garni

salt and black pepper

4tbsp fresh breadcrumbs (whack some 2 day old bread in your food processor/blender)

Put the beans in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Boil for 10 min. and drain. Return to a clean saucepan, with more water to cover and bring back to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the beans are tender. Then remove from heat, add a bit of salt and leave to soak in the cooking water

Preheat your oven to 180C/Gas 4. Fry the sausages in a large pan over a medium heat until browned. Keep any fat from them

Turn the heat up to medium high. Season the lamb and pork and fry until browned - you may need to cook it in batches. Transfer to a dish

Now cook the onions and garlic in the same pan until soft, then stir in the tomatoes and cook for a couple more minutes. Remove from the heat

Spoon about a quarter of the beans into a casserole, put a quarter of the sausage, meat and veg on top add the bouquet garni and continue layering the ingredients

Boil the stock in the frying pan that you cooked the bangers, meat and veg in and pour it over, adding some of the bean cooking water to just cover everything

Cover the casserole and cook for 2 hours in the middle of the oven. Add some boiling water if it looks dry

Uncover, sprinkle over the breadcrumbs. Return to the oven for about 20 min until browned