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The recipe is all together now after various trials & tribulations. Hopefully it is clear and easy to follow. Any questions please feel free to contact me.

OK, here goes. I'm doing my Cassoulet for 12 next Wednesday. This post will be in three or more parts.

Now: Background & Ingredients List.

Next: Any shopping notes & advice.

Monday: Preparation

Tuesday: Assembly & first cooking

Wednesday: Final cooking & serving.

Back ground: Linda & I drove down to Castelnaudary to buy our cassole. (as you will see our big green pot

won't hold Cassoulet for 12). The first shop I went into didn't sell cassoles although it looked like they

should have. Anyway, they directed me to M. Vigoule's shop which I'd find down the hill on the right side

of the square. I couldn't miss it as it was the one with flowers out front. Sure enough there it was; he sells

potted plants, animal food, tropical fish, parrots and, yes, cassoles as well as lingots de Tarbias. I chose his

largest model of cassole which is very workmanlike but not nearly as beautiful as the one Chris Amirault

of eGullet recently got. Here are pictures of my faithful green pot (nearly 20 years old), the new cassole &

the two together.

The Green pot!

New cassole!

Pots together!

While I was there I bought a kilo of lingot de Tarbias which he was selling in bulk. He was insistent that I

couldn't make a proper Cassoulet without them. I'm not sure about that, but the price was right.

There seems to be a lot of controversy in the states about which beans to use in Cassoulet. There the Tarbias beans sell for a lot of money via specialist suppliers. I wouldn't pay it as past experience of making Cassoulet in both the UK, the USA & France tells me that in the states plain old Great Northern beans work just fine. In fact they're what the late Julia Child recommends. What better recommendation?

There is also a lot of controversy in France about what makes a 'perfect' Cassoulet. In this area of France it would be dangerous to ask a group of four local people how to make a proper Cassoulet. You would probably have started a fight as they argue the merits.
My recipe below is based upon my own experience over more years than I care to admit to. I like it & so do those who eat it. In fact one of my proudest moments was when a local French lady asked for my recipe. Whatever, suffice it to say that its good tasting & anyone who eats it will leave the table full & happy.

Before I get too far with this I'd better give you a 'proper' recipe. Here it is:

Ingredients:

Vegetables

-1 Large yellow onion

-3-4 stalks of celery

-3-4 medium size carrots

Dry & canned goods

-1-2 tubes of tomato puree

-500- 750g of white (lingot) beans (Great Northern beans work well.)

-1-2 cans (4 cuisse to the can) of comfit de canard. (if you can't buy it then you'll just have to make it, sorry.)

Meats

-500-750g fresh Toulouse sausage. ( If you can't get Toulouse sausage then any good pork sausage will

work well. Mild Italian sausage did the job when we last lived in the states. OR you can make your own.

(Email me for directions if you don't have a sausage stuffer or skins.)

-A 500-750 g pork roast (Loin does nicely) .

-4 or more Lamb shanks. If no shanks use bone in Lamb cutlets or a shoulder roast

Herbs

-1+ head of garlic

-Thyme to taste

-Herbs de Provence to taste

-10+ crushed juniper berries

-Salt & Pepper

Misc.

-Duck fat or if not available don't bother. (If you buy cans of comfit de Canard you'll get plenty. Save every iota!)

-Freshly made bread crumbs

-Chopped parsley

-Walnut oil (about 2 Tbs)

NOTES:

Using the smaller quantities of ingredients this recipe will make a large Cassoulet filling my big green pot.

If, however, you would like to make more then up the quantities as you wish. (The green crock feeds 8

happily) The Cassoulet freezes perfectly.

I'm going shopping tomorrow & will report on any problems or wrinkles. There are a few ingredients that I know I have to buy, but most things I already have.

A demain!

Cassoulet 2

Still colder than the proverbial witches you know what. Not much going on with the Cassoulet today.

Yesterday I went to Villefranche to pick up the ingredients that I needed, but didn't have on hand. What a zoo!! It seemed as if every French person in the county was out shopping. The super Market had virtually run out of lamb. I had to buy a frozen leg of lamb from New Zealand. That's Ok as we're having about a third of it roasted for dinner tonight.

Today I brought the meats that I had in the freezer out so they'll be defrosted for tomorrow. Tomorrow is meat cooking day. The lamb, the sausage and the pork all get cooked tomorrow. Also, the beans get soaked overnight.

I'll try to take pictures as I go.

Today has mainly been spend getting used to & getting contact data into our new mobile phones. That's been partly fun, partly frustrating & partly boring.

Such is life.

Cassoulet 3

Today I started serious work on cooking the Cassoulet. I prepared the meats & started soaking the beans.

Here are the three meats. A pork roast (bottom left); the sausage (bottom right) & the lamb at the back.

NOTE: Here I use Toulouse sausage. Elsewhere any high quality pure pork sausage will do. Mild Italian worked well when I was in the states.

The first thing to do was to get the pork roast into the oven. I preheated the oven to 185C.

When the water runs dry put a couple of tablespoons of duck fat into the pan. This will help brown the skin of the sausage.

NOTE: if you don't have duck fat then olive oil or vegetable oil will do. Or if you have a tin of comfit de canard open that up, there's always plenty of duck fat in there.

When the lamb is finished remove it to a plate put the onion & garlic straight into the pot.
Turn the heat down, cover and cook until the onions & garlic are soft. Turn occasionally.

Once the garlic & onions have softened nicely you need to add the ingredients
for the stew.

As you can see there is: white wine, beef stock (I used an Oxo cube), a tube of tomato concentrate, a couple of bay leaves and some thyme.

meat you are using. Since beans are cheap its easier to make sure that you have plenty.

In any case put the beans in a large pot & cover them with lots of water. They'll soak overnight.

Turn the lamb stew off, cover it and keep it in a cool place until the next day.

First the beans need to be cooked.

You just put them into a pot with the mirapoix.

As you can see its the magical combination of celery, carrots & onion. In this case I've put in a bit of garlic as well.

The picture of the mirapoix in the pot at left turned out very well what with the reflections. Linda took it & was very pleased with it.

In any case you want to sweat the mirapoix in a bit of duck fat, butter or oil, whichever is handier, for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Once that is done add all the beans that have been soaking with their water and bring to the boil.

Turn them down to a simmer & let them cook for about 11/2 hours. Skim off any foam that forms on the top.

Once the beans are done you're ready to assemble the Cassoulet. First drain the lamb, but keep it's cooking liquid.

In the cassole if you have one or the oven proof container you're using place a layer of the beans on the bottom. (use a slotted spoon to left them so as not to add bean juice)

It doesn't matter which goes first as you are going to cover that layer with beans then add the next layer of meat.

Add all the cooking juices from the lamb. If the liquid level doesn't reach to just come up to the top layer of beans add some bean cooking juice until it does. (if you still don't have enough liquid then use some boiling water.)

Now put the Cassoulet in an oven at about 190 degrees C. When it comes to the boil turn the heat down to 170-180 degrees and let it cook for 2-3 hours.

After cooking turn the oven off & when the Cassoulet is cool enough put it in a cool place to rest overnight.

The last for today is to get ready to make bread crumbs for the top of the Cassoulet.

That's it! You are now ready for the final cooking. Well, its more of a warming than anything else. Because the Cassoulet is so large make sure you give it plenty of time. Not less than 1 hour, closer to 2 is better.

Depending upon your preference you can, once the bread crumbs have browned, push them gently down into the Cassoulet and add a final layer. Some people do several layers this way, but I think two is plenty.

At last, we're ready to roll. The guests are all here (all except one; he couldn't come because his sheep were lambing like mad, mostly twins, so he had to stay with them to assist with any problems.) Thus, there were twelve of us. All hungry.

Since, however, this was our wine group we did a little bit of tasting before we sat down. The wine of the evening was Fronton. Very appropriate as it comes from an area between here and Toulouse. This area is also the heart of Cassoulet country. One can assume that many a Cassoulet has been chased down with Fronton wine. We talked a bit about the Fronton wine characteristics and each group member talked about their particular wine, where they bought it and how much it cost. All of the wines were under $10.00 a bottle.

At last we were ready to sit down. Here's the table before the candles were lit. Note the lack of wine glasses. That's because everybody had their glass in hand for our first tasting. The one wine glass you can see is mine.

There it is, the finished Cassoulet. Pretty isn't it? Almost, but not quite too nice to spoil by breaking it up.

We all enjoyed our Cassoulet very much. Many people had seconds. The Fronton worked very well with the Cassoulet. There were a couple of the bottles that were outstanding

A good time for everybody. I thoroughly enjoyed making and documenting this Cassoulet.

I only hope that it will inspire you to have a go at making your own Cassoulet. As you can see its not at all difficult; it just takes time and some planning. The time is best spread over several days. Its a great party dish because there's no last minute preparation and Cassoulet is very forgiving as to serving time.

Please let me know if you have questions or if you'd like to describe your own adventures in Cassoulet making.

FRENCH FOOD FOCUS Latest Post Other Posts Recent Older Truffles Cassoulet Index of Recipes L inks House Sitters FiFi About me About 'My' France Comments to: yankinparisot@gmail.com Archives		Life in rural France - Food - Friends - Wine - Cheese - Comments Welcome to French Food Focus. The name describes the intent of this blog. I'll focus on food and because I live in rural France the stress will be upon French food. There are numerous posts concerning life in France and, certainly, opinions about anything that strikes my fancy. If you have some good recipes or if you want to rave about any great French restaurants this is the place to do it. I hope you enjoy my ramblings about rural France! Click Here to send me a comment
		This is our village. Our house is the white one at the top right.
	NOTE: This is a multipart post so just keep scrolling down. Cassoulet Its been cold. colder, coldest her in sunny France. Yes, it has been sunny, but temperature haven't been above freezing for the past ten days. We even had snow a week ago which has stayed with us due to the cold temperatures. I've even got my 'Chicago' coat out for the first time since we mover to France. Its bulky, but warm. Its the perfect time to make a Cassoulet. I haven't made one so far this winter so now's the time. In addition next Wednesday is the last time we'll host the wine tasting group. (THE Boss is back for the March tasting) We're going to be tasting the local Fronton wine which is a perfect wine to go with Cassoulet. So its to be Cassoulet as my swan song. I'm going to share the recipe over the next few days so that anyone who wants can follow along & make their own cassoulet at the same time I do. Most of the pictures will be from a series of post I did few years back, but I've updated where necessary. Here's the first episode: Cassoulet Recipe The recipe is all together now after various trials & tribulations. Hopefully it is clear and easy to follow. Any questions please feel free to contact me. OK, here goes. I'm doing my Cassoulet for 12 next Wednesday. This post will be in three or more parts. Now: Background & Ingredients List. Next: Any shopping notes & advice. Monday: Preparation Tuesday: Assembly & first cooking Wednesday: Final cooking & serving. Back ground: Linda & I drove down to Castelnaudary to buy our cassole. (as you will see our big green pot won't hold Cassoulet for 12). The first shop I went into didn't sell cassoles although it looked like they should have. Anyway, they directed me to M. Vigoule's shop which I'd find down the hill on the right side of the square. I couldn't miss it as it was the one with flowers out front. Sure enough there it was; he sells potted plants, animal food, tropical fish, parrots and, yes, cassoles as well as lingots de Tarbias. I chose his largest model of cassole which is very workmanlike but not nearly as beautiful as the one Chris Amirault of eGullet recently got. Here are pictures of my faithful green pot (nearly 20 years old), the new cassole & the two together. The Green pot! New cassole! Pots together! While I was there I bought a kilo of lingot de Tarbias which he was selling in bulk. He was insistent that I couldn't make a proper Cassoulet without them. I'm not sure about that, but the price was right. There seems to be a lot of controversy in the states about which beans to use in Cassoulet. There the Tarbias beans sell for a lot of money via specialist suppliers. I wouldn't pay it as past experience of making Cassoulet in both the UK, the USA & France tells me that in the states plain old Great Northern beans work just fine. In fact they're what the late Julia Child recommends. What better recommendation? There is also a lot of controversy in France about what makes a 'perfect' Cassoulet. In this area of France it would be dangerous to ask a group of four local people how to make a proper Cassoulet. You would probably have started a fight as they argue the merits. My recipe below is based upon my own experience over more years than I care to admit to. I like it & so do those who eat it. In fact one of my proudest moments was when a local French lady asked for my recipe. Whatever, suffice it to say that its good tasting & anyone who eats it will leave the table full & happy. Before I get too far with this I'd better give you a 'proper' recipe. Here it is: Ingredients: Vegetables -1 Large yellow onion -3-4 stalks of celery -3-4 medium size carrots Dry & canned goods -1-2 tubes of tomato puree -500- 750g of white (lingot) beans (Great Northern beans work well.) -1-2 cans (4 cuisse to the can) of comfit de canard. (if you can't buy it then you'll just have to make it, sorry.) Meats -500-750g fresh Toulouse sausage. ( If you can't get Toulouse sausage then any good pork sausage will work well. Mild Italian sausage did the job when we last lived in the states. OR you can make your own. (Email me for directions if you don't have a sausage stuffer or skins.) -A 500-750 g pork roast (Loin does nicely) . -4 or more Lamb shanks. If no shanks use bone in Lamb cutlets or a shoulder roast Herbs -1+ head of garlic -Thyme to taste -Herbs de Provence to taste -10+ crushed juniper berries -Salt & Pepper Misc. -Duck fat or if not available don't bother. (If you buy cans of comfit de Canard you'll get plenty. Save every iota!) -Freshly made bread crumbs -Chopped parsley -Walnut oil (about 2 Tbs) NOTES: Using the smaller quantities of ingredients this recipe will make a large Cassoulet filling my big green pot. If, however, you would like to make more then up the quantities as you wish. (The green crock feeds 8 happily) The Cassoulet freezes perfectly. I'm going shopping tomorrow & will report on any problems or wrinkles. There are a few ingredients that I know I have to buy, but most things I already have. A demain! Cassoulet 2 Still colder than the proverbial witches you know what. Not much going on with the Cassoulet today. Yesterday I went to Villefranche to pick up the ingredients that I needed, but didn't have on hand. What a zoo!! It seemed as if every French person in the county was out shopping. The super Market had virtually run out of lamb. I had to buy a frozen leg of lamb from New Zealand. That's Ok as we're having about a third of it roasted for dinner tonight. Today I brought the meats that I had in the freezer out so they'll be defrosted for tomorrow. Tomorrow is meat cooking day. The lamb, the sausage and the pork all get cooked tomorrow. Also, the beans get soaked overnight. I'll try to take pictures as I go. Today has mainly been spend getting used to & getting contact data into our new mobile phones. That's been partly fun, partly frustrating & partly boring. Such is life. Cassoulet 3 Today I started serious work on cooking the Cassoulet. I prepared the meats & started soaking the beans. Here are the three meats. A pork roast (bottom left); the sausage (bottom right) & the lamb at the back. NOTE: Here I use Toulouse sausage. Elsewhere any high quality pure pork sausage will do. Mild Italian worked well when I was in the states. The first thing to do was to get the pork roast into the oven. I preheated the oven to 185C. As you can see I roasted the pork with salt, pepper & a bit of sage. It needs to roast until the internal temperature is between 140 & 160 C. Next I put the sausage into a frying pan with about 1/2 inch of water. This is to make sure that the sausage is thoroughly cooked. You need to turn over the sausage when about half the water has boiled off. When the water runs dry put a couple of tablespoons of duck fat into the pan. This will help brown the skin of the sausage. NOTE: if you don't have duck fat then olive oil or vegetable oil will do. Or if you have a tin of comfit de canard open that up, there's always plenty of duck fat in there. Here's the fully cooked sausage. Let it cool then cut it into bite sized lengths & store in a bag for later. Here I've cut the lamb up into bite sized pieces The next thing is to do is to brown the lamb. It needs to be put into a deep pot with some duck fat in the bottom. Put this on a high heat and brown the lamb pieces in small batches. Note that I've kept the bone for browning as well. Meanwhile, chop up the onions & the garlic. When the lamb is finished remove it to a plate put the onion & garlic straight into the pot. Turn the heat down, cover and cook until the onions & garlic are soft. Turn occasionally. Once the garlic & onions have softened nicely you need to add the ingredients for the stew. As you can see there is: white wine, beef stock (I used an Oxo cube), a tube of tomato concentrate, a couple of bay leaves and some thyme. Add all of this in at once & return the lamb to the pot. Simmer for 1-2 hours. Here are the beans. I used 1 kg of beans, but it depends upon how much meat you are using. Since beans are cheap its easier to make sure that you have plenty. In any case put the beans in a large pot & cover them with lots of water. They'll soak overnight. That's almost it for today. When the pork & sausage are cool cut them into bite sized pieces. Turn the lamb stew off, cover it and keep it in a cool place until the next day. There' none of that was very hard was it? Cassoulet #4 Today's the big day. This is the day the assembly takes place. First the beans need to be cooked. You just put them into a pot with the mirapoix. What's a mirapoix you ask? As you can see its the magical combination of celery, carrots & onion. In this case I've put in a bit of garlic as well. The picture of the mirapoix in the pot at left turned out very well what with the reflections. Linda took it & was very pleased with it. In any case you want to sweat the mirapoix in a bit of duck fat, butter or oil, whichever is handier, for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Once that is done add all the beans that have been soaking with their water and bring to the boil. Turn them down to a simmer & let them cook for about 11/2 hours. Skim off any foam that forms on the top. Once the beans are done you're ready to assemble the Cassoulet. First drain the lamb, but keep it's cooking liquid. Here's the lamb chunks on top of a strainer. In the cassole if you have one or the oven proof container you're using place a layer of the beans on the bottom. (use a slotted spoon to left them so as not to add bean juice) Now add a layer of either roast pork or sausage. It doesn't matter which goes first as you are going to cover that layer with beans then add the next layer of meat. Top that with some more beans and add the comfit. Finally add the lamb & a last layer of beans. Add all the cooking juices from the lamb. If the liquid level doesn't reach to just come up to the top layer of beans add some bean cooking juice until it does. (if you still don't have enough liquid then use some boiling water.) Now put the Cassoulet in an oven at about 190 degrees C. When it comes to the boil turn the heat down to 170-180 degrees and let it cook for 2-3 hours. If its starting to look dry add some more bean juice or water. After cooking turn the oven off & when the Cassoulet is cool enough put it in a cool place to rest overnight. The last for today is to get ready to make bread crumbs for the top of the Cassoulet. Cut some good quality French bread into rounds & put them out to dry overnight. That's it for today. Easy wasn't it? Tomorrow's THE day! WE get to eat this wonderful concoction! See you then. Cassoulet #5 Here are a few last minute things to do &/or check. About 3-4 hours before you are going to serve the Cassoulet put it in the oven long enough for the juices to turn liquid & runny again. You want the level of juice to be just at the top of the beans. Push down with the back of a large serving spoon to see where the level is. If necessary add more liquid. (hopefully you have saved bean juice to use, but if not using a bit of water won't hurt. I had to add just a few large spoonful's of juice plus I added a few beans more for appearance than anything else. Make your bread crumbs. The easiest way is to just blitz them in a food processor. Make a good batch, its easier to throw some away than to have to make more at the last minute. Taste the Cassoulet for seasoning. Add salt if needed. Now put the first layer of crumbs on top. That's it! You are now ready for the final cooking. Well, its more of a warming than anything else. Because the Cassoulet is so large make sure you give it plenty of time. Not less than 1 hour, closer to 2 is better. Depending upon your preference you can, once the bread crumbs have browned, push them gently down into the Cassoulet and add a final layer. Some people do several layers this way, but I think two is plenty. I'll take some more pictures when the Cassoulet come out to be served. Have fun with yours. Cassoulet Final! At last, we're ready to roll. The guests are all here (all except one; he couldn't come because his sheep were lambing like mad, mostly twins, so he had to stay with them to assist with any problems.) Thus, there were twelve of us. All hungry. Since, however, this was our wine group we did a little bit of tasting before we sat down. The wine of the evening was Fronton. Very appropriate as it comes from an area between here and Toulouse. This area is also the heart of Cassoulet country. One can assume that many a Cassoulet has been chased down with Fronton wine. We talked a bit about the Fronton wine characteristics and each group member talked about their particular wine, where they bought it and how much it cost. All of the wines were under $10.00 a bottle. . At last we were ready to sit down. Here's the table before the candles were lit. Note the lack of wine glasses. That's because everybody had their glass in hand for our first tasting. The one wine glass you can see is mine. There it is, the finished Cassoulet. Pretty isn't it? Almost, but not quite too nice to spoil by breaking it up. Here's a close up of the crust: We all enjoyed our Cassoulet very much. Many people had seconds. The Fronton worked very well with the Cassoulet. There were a couple of the bottles that were outstanding Here's all that was left: A good time for everybody. I thoroughly enjoyed making and documenting this Cassoulet. I only hope that it will inspire you to have a go at making your own Cassoulet. As you can see its not at all difficult; it just takes time and some planning. The time is best spread over several days. Its a great party dish because there's no last minute preparation and Cassoulet is very forgiving as to serving time. Please let me know if you have questions or if you'd like to describe your own adventures in Cassoulet making.

Cassoulet Recipe