• Home
• Recipes
• French cassoulet

French cassoulet

• Raymond Blanc

Save recipe

Serves 4 - 6

More effort

Total time: 5 hrs and 30 mins

Takes about 5 hours, inc time in the oven

A star rating of 4 out of 5.20 ratingsRate

loading...

Raymond Blanc's cassoulet is rich and warming. This classic French casserole sees confit duck, white beans, pork and sausages slow cooked in a flavourful sauce

Print

Ad

Skip to ingredients

Alternatives

Complete the dish

Loading...

Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

• 140g pork

  rind

• 140g smoked streaky bacon

• 300g garlic sausage

• 600g dried haricot bean

  soaked overnight in 3 times their volume of water

• 1 celery

  stick

• 1 small onion

  preferably a white skinned mild one

• 1 large carrot

• 6 garlic cloves

• 2 ripe plum tomatoes

• 25g goose fat

  or 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 bouquet garni

• 8 pinches of sea salt

• 2 pinches of freshly ground black pepper

• 1 clove

  lightly crushed

• 2 tsp lemon juice

To finish

• 4 confit ducks

  legs

• 60g goose fat

  or 2 tbsp olive oil

• 40g dried breadcrumb

• 1 garlic clove

  finely chopped

• a handful of fresh flatleaf parsley

  coarsely chopped

Keep the screen awake with cook mode on the Good Food app.

Nutrition: per serving

• kcal0

• fat0g

• saturates0g

• carbs0g

• sugars0g

• fibre0g

• protein0g

• salt0g

  low

Ad

Method

• step 1

  To cut the meats, roll up the pork rind like a Swiss roll. With the seam underneath, use a very sharp knife to cut the roll across into thin slices, then chop the rolled-up slices across into dice. Chop the bacon into small cubes (lardons). Cut the garlic sausage into 1cm thick slices.

• step 2

  Drain the soaked beans and discard the soaking water. Tip the beans into a large saucepan, add the diced pork rind and lardons and cover with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and blanch for 15-20 minutes. Drain the beans, rind and lardons into a colander, and discard the cooking water.

• step 3

  Roughly chop the celery, onion and carrot. Peel the garlic cloves but leave them whole. Cut each tomato into eight wedges. (You never see tomatoes in a traditional cassoulet, but chef Raymond Blanc likes them for their colour and sweetness, so he puts a couple in.) Preheat the oven to 120C/fan 100C. (If cooking in a gas oven, use mark 2.)

• step 4

  Heat the goose fat or olive oil in a 26cm flameproof casserole or deep overproof sauté pan over a low heat and sweat the celery, onion, carrot and garlic for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bouquet garni and cook slowly to get a sugary caramelisation (about 5 minutes). Add the sausage, beans, pork rind and lardons and pour in 1.2 litres/2 pints water. Bring to the boil, skim off the scum, then add the salt, pepper, clove and lemon juice.

• step 5

  Transfer the casserole to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring every hour. At the end of this time, the beans will be soft and creamy in texture and the juices should have thickened. You may need to cook it for longer than 2 hours (say up to 2½ hours) to get to this stage – it depends

• step 6

  Remove the cassoulet from the oven. Bury the duck legs in the beans and sprinkle over the goose fat or olive oil, breadcrumbs and garlic. Return to the oven and cook for a further 2 hours. Serve the cassoulet in bowls, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

RECIPE TIPS

GOOD FOOD KNOW-HOW

When you serve the cassoulet, the duck meat will fall off the bones, so you can share four legs between six people if you need to. It’s best to eat it in bowls with a spoon and fork, watching out for garlic cloves and mashing them into the beans and their sauce before you eat them.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, January 2003

Ad

Comments, questions and tips

Rate this recipe

What is your star rating out of 5?1 star out of 52 stars out of 53 stars out of 54 stars out of 55 stars out of 5

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

CommentQuestionTip

Overall rating

A star rating of 4 out of 5.20 ratings

Ad

Ad

Get 3 months of Good Food All Access

Get 3 months of Good Food All Access for just £6. Find triple-tested recipes that take the stress out of deciding what to cook, spend less time planning, and more time enjoying the season.

Subscribe now

Loading...

Ad

Loading...

Loading...