Easy French Cassoulet Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the main ingredient of the French dish cassoulet? ›

The basic cassoulet from the town of Castelnaudary adds to the beans fresh pork and ham plus tomatoes, garlic, onions, herbs, and stock; that of Carcassonne contains in addition mutton and partridges in season, while in Toulouse to the basic cassoulet are added duck or confit d'oie (pieces of goose poached and ...

You can serve cassoulet on its own with a salad and bread on the side, but it's traditional to accompany it with something colorful . . . usually greens of some sort.

Usually Toulouse sausage is most commonly used in traditional french cassoulet, a sausage made from a blend of pork and duck meat. Chicken breast – I used boneless and skinless chicken breast but thighs can be substituted if that's all you have. Salt & pepper – To taste.

According to his book French Regional Food, co-authored by historian Loïc Bienassis, Castelnaudary cassoulet generally contains confit goose or duck, Carcassonne's has pork chops, and the Toulouse version uses mutton and the city's famous sausage.

There are three types of cassoulet – the Holy Trinity. There's the 'Father' (pork and goose), the 'Son' (mutton and partridge), and the 'Holy Ghost' (sausage, mutton, and duck).

cassoulet in American English

(ˌkæsəˈlei, French kasuːˈle) noun. a white-bean stew of French origin, often containing pork, mutton, garlic sausage, and preserved goose or duck.

Castelnaudary is widely regarded as France's capital of cassoulet, and it's the only place in the world that can claim to hold the official recipe.

All the ingredients for a good cassoulet can be found in most grocery stores. Purists will argue that you need to find real tarbais beans but I have found white kidney beans work just as well. They will mention that there are 3 versions of true cassoulets (Castelnaudary, Carcassone, and Toulouse).

A proper cassoulet is loaded with fatty sausage, pork, duck fat, garlic, onion and salty-silky duck confit. The dish takes a full day to prepare, as the flavors are layered in and cooked low and slow. All of which is to say, cassoulet is no health food.

The cassoulet needs to bake uncovered to develop a crisp crust. Baking sheets All of the ingredients for a cassoulet are cooked before being combined and baked again. The meat can be cooked in any number of ways; here, the pork and lamb stew meat is roasted on rimmed baking sheets so that it browns.

What vegetables to serve with cassoulet? ›

It's a traditional one pot meal. If someone wants an accompaniment, I would go with lightly dressed salad greens to balance the heavy fatty goodness of the cassoulet.

Conran suggests Polish kielbasa as a Toulouse substitute, but the smoky sort I use makes everything taste like a frankfurter, so I'd steer clear – basically, you need something with a very high meat content, and preferably a hefty whack of garlic.

In 1929, Proposer Montagné, the famous chef from Carcassonne, acknowledged the supremacy of Castelnaudary Cassoulet in his book 'Le Festin Occitan' saying, "Cassoulet is the king of Occitan cuisine."

Cozy up with this rich, smoky stew brimming with chorizo and buttery white beans from Asturias—any night of the week. Spain is bean country. In Castile, whole meals revolve around giant judiones, butter beans cooked in thick, bacon-scented stock.

A Dish of History

The first cassoulet is claimed by the city of Castelnaudary, which was under siege by the British during the Hundred Years War. The beleaguered townspeople gathered up the ingredients they could find and made a large stew to nourish and bolster their defenders.

In Castelnaudary, cassoulet is prepared with duck confit, pork shoulder, and sausage. In Carcassonne, a cassoulet will typically have mutton, and the Toulouse version includes duck confit, Toulouse sausage, and a blanket of crumbs on top.

Mirepoix consists of onions, carrots and celery (either common Pascal celery or celeriac). Mirepoix is used in many dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces. It is used either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter. Mirepoix is known as the holy trinity of French cooking.

Butter, with its golden hue and velvety texture, is a staple in French cuisine. Its richness and ability to enhance flavors make it an indispensable ingredient in sauces, pastries, and cooking techniques.