Cassoulet, one of the most popular French dishes, is a specialty of the southwestern region of Languedoc. Dried white beans are boiled until tender, infused with garlic, and cooked in a slow oven with various meats: sausages, bacon, duck or goose confit, and sometimes pork or lamb. This is French comfort food at its best. It’s a festive dish for a crowd that might be fun to make around the holidays. Preparation takes time, but it’s worth it.
Cassouleto / Cassouleto
The peasant origins and local roots of cassoulet make it a good example terroira word that conveys the character of a dish coming from a particular strip of land. This terroir Quality is key to cassoulet’s popularity – I’ll come back to this later – but just because the dish is popular doesn’t mean it isn’t controversial. Ask someone from the region what meats to include in cassoulet and a discussion is sure to ensue. What kind of sausages? Duck or goose? With or without pork or lamb? With or without tomato? Breadcrumbs or not? The quantities of the various elements are also controversial.
In an attempt to resolve the issue, the General Assembly of French Gastronomy (this body actually exists) established in 1966 that the correct proportions of a cassoulet should be 70% beans and 30% meat. But the argument didn’t end there. The southwestern cities of Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse sponsor rival Cassoulet brotherhoods that compete to promote their different versions of the dish. Their robed members recite songs in honor of the cassoulet in the local Occitan dialect and organize events such as the competition of the best cassoulet eaters in Castelnaudary (last won by a 24-year-old named Jérémy who downed two kilos – four and a half pounds! – of cassoulet in 15 minutes).
This rivalry is so intense that cities even argue about how many times to break the crust that forms on the cassoulet during cooking (seven times according to Castelnaudary, eight according to Toulouse). But the proof of the cassoulet is in the eating, and indeed I highly doubt that any diner in history, even in southwestern France, has ever noticed how many times the chef pierced the crust.
So let’s get to the heart of the matter: how to prepare cassoulet. Despite all the magic, the preparation is simple. Soak the beans, cook them over a low heat with onion, carrot, garlic, aromatic herbs, bay leaves and a slice of bacon, brown the meat you prefer, arrange the beans and meat in a baking dish (preferably terracotta) and bake for 90 minutes. This process took me four hours from start to finish, but I actually only spent about an hour in the kitchen.
Cassoulet is one of the few great classics of French cuisine that I had not yet published on this site, the main reason being the difficulty of obtaining the ingredients if you do not live in France. But I think I’ve found a way to make cassoulet accessible to home cooks around the world, thanks in part to the availability of French products online these days.
The recipe I am publishing today contains all the various meats – you can choose which to include or not – and is the closest to the Toulouse version. A key ingredient is Toulouse sausagewhich resembles Italian sausage without the fennel and spices. The closest American equivalent is probably the Wisconsin-style bratwurst. Chipolata sausages, although thinner, also resemble them Toulouse sausage.
Another key ingredient is duck confit (pronounced cone-FEE). Widely available in France, it can be purchased online elsewhere or you can make the confit yourself, using this recipe. (You’ll need to plan ahead, however, as preparing the confit is a two-day process.)
An advantage of including the confit in the cassoulet is that the smooth, white fat attached to the preserved duck will melt as it browns, providing a source of duck fat for browning other meats and for pouring onto the dish just before it goes into the oven . . You can also buy duck fat online or substitute olive oil if needed.
Some non-French food writers propose more extreme substitutes, such as chicken instead of duck. My advice? Don’t go there. It wouldn’t be authentic. Julia Child, whose cassoulet recipe (disparagingly titled “French Baked Beans”) spans seven pages Master the art of French cuisinehe avoids the question of ingredients by leaving out the confit and sausage altogether, although he mentions them in his section on regional variations.
In summary, making cassoulet takes time, can be difficult to source ingredients and is not exactly a diet food. So why worry? Given all of the above, what explains the popularity of this dish in France, where it regularly features in lists of the country’s top ten favorite foods?
I think part of its appeal is the terroir I wait. Like Proust’s madeleine, the cassoulet evokes memories of the past, a nostalgia for simpler times, when peasant families worked the local land and brought its fruits to the table. It’s a dish that seems to say, this is the real France, deep France (deep France), where each region has its own distinct cuisine, untouched by globalization and far superior to supermarket food.
But there is another reason for the enormous popularity of cassoulet: it is simply delicious.
It’s true that making cassoulet is a bit of a production. Think of it as an adventure, with a pot full of golden beans at the end. With the holidays approaching, it’s a good time to try the recipe and gather the ingredients. You’ll be ready to head into the kitchen, put on your apron, and create a beautiful festive dish for Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year’s Eve.
Good cooking.
