Make no mistake about it, we are in the deep freeze, the darkest part of winter. There are no holiday parties and bell ringing in this month, only day after day of single digit temperatures, and snow days we will be making up well into June.
It’s times like these that food becomes more than just sustenance, more than just a way to pack on a few pounds to ward off the weather.
If you’re adventurous, it can be a way to fill the time with a bit of research, some new ingredients and still put up a memorable meal to cap off a snow day. Of course, it will take some work to gather ingredients, especially for the recipe I’m writing about today. There may have been a time when you had dried beans, cured sausage, confit of duck or chicken, canned tomatoes and some buttered bread crumbs all at your disposal, but that was because you had to have those to survive a winter like this one!
But fear not, you can find most of the ingredients for a cassoulet at your local grocery store, and then all you need is some time to cook it.
A cassoulet
Yes, cassoulet, the mysterious French dish from the Toulouse region, the dish that we all look at and decide that it’s too much work. If I told you that most of that work is at the beginning and the work is actually assembling, then you might feel differently, especially when you taste the end results.
Cassoulet is named for the dish in which it is traditionally cooked called a cassole. It is a wide, earthenware dish, designed so it seems to maximize the wonderful crust that forms when we cook the cassoulet.
Earthenware is important as well as it eliminates hot spots that other dishes may have, and it absorbs the flavors of previous stews. You might actually have a bean pot that was a favorite of your grandmother, that would be the pot to use. If you’re lucky enough to have a grand mere then she might actually have passed down her cassole to you and after reading this article you’ll be duty bound to make your first cassoulet.
Aside from the strict adherence to French technique, the cassoulet can be regional or even personal in its make-up. This may be sacrilegious, but I’ve even made a vegetarian cassoulet, filled with beans and herbs and mushrooms, both fresh and in a confit of olive oil, garlic and herbs. Smoked onions mimicked the cured meats, and olive oiled bread crumbs formed the crust.
For the traditional recipe, you will need to do some shopping, some prep work, and some finishing work, all of which will introduce you to the concept of patience. There is no fast food equivalent of cassoulet. There are shortcuts, ingredients you can sub to save you some time, but remember, you have time, and the satisfaction of the meal involves the process of cooking it as well.
Bean pot
Dried beans are the better alternative, soaked at least 24 hours and simmered until the skins blister a bit. I favor cannellini beans for their meatiness, and their ability to hold up to a long cook times.
Tarbais beans are the preferred bean, hard to find, and like the cannellin, meaty and long cooking. A bit of pork shoulder, heavily seasoned. Confit of duck leg is also a stretch unless you’re a fan of the process. It takes at least a week to get a flavorful confit, as the cooking of the legs usually takes several long hours at a low temperature. Once again you can substitute chicken thighs roasted at 200 degrees in olive oil, thyme, oregano and rosemary, garlic and shallot.
Cook them until the meat falls easily from the bone and chill before adding them to the cassole. An alternative is to cook them in the cassole, and add the reaming aromatics to the pot. The cassoulet will cook long enough to accomplish your goals without sacrificing too much flavor. Sausage is next, a good firm garlic sausage, which if you choose to make yourself will take a day at least to do. Better to hunt one down at a gourmet grocery store, and don’t skimp, you’ll need one with lots of garlic and black pepper. Bacon and/or pancetta (I love pancetta, but bacon will give you the smoke) cut into thick lardons. You will need the fat to start the cassoulet, and the meat to finish it. Onions and garlic, carrots and celery, fresh thyme, oregano and rosemary, canned tomatoes, preferably from your garden, and if not buy the good plum tomatoes and gently break them up with your hands. Bread crumbs, either fresh dried or panko.
There are some variations you can personalize your cassoulet with, items you can add, substitute, but not necessarily subtract.
If you have a cassole, by all means use it. The wide opening at the top provides you with ample space to set your crust. If a bean pot is all you have, that would be the next choice. If you’re down to a Dutch oven, lower your initial temperature after you put the finished dish in to cook, otherwise it could burn on the edges. Your oven should be set at 325-350 depending on the cooking vessel, and your cook time will vary from 3-5 hours.
2 lbs. of dried beans, soaked overnight and then simmered until the skins start to blister, save the bean liquor
2 carrots diced
2 ribs of celery diced
1 large onion diced
6 cloves of garlic crushed
6 slices of thick cut bacon, sliced across the strip
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 springs of fresh oregano
2 stems of fresh rosemary
4 cups plum tomatoes with juice
2 lbs. pork shoulder
2 lbs. garlic sausage sliced into ½ rounds
4 large chicken thighs, boneless
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Bread crumbs to cover at least three times
Butter or olive oil for the bread crumbs
There are several ways to start this dish and it depends on your cooking vessel as to how you proceed. If you’re using a Dutch oven it can all be done in a single pot. The beans should already be cooked, so you can layer them in the bottom of the cassole. If you’re using a cassole then the rest of the ingredients need to be cooked in a sauté pan and transferred over to the cassole. Start with the bacon and a little olive oil, sweat the aromatics, including the herbs for up to 15 minutes. Add the beans and then start layering the meats, starting with the chicken thighs first.
Cassoulet
Once all the meat is layered, cover the entire dish with the tomato and its juices. The mix will be wet, and that’s okay, you will need that liquid to help you finish the beans and cook the rest of the ingredients.
Place the dish in the oven covered for now and start cooking. For the first hour and a half, resist the temptation to uncover the dish and look at it. Once you reach that time, uncover and assess you textures, try not to mix things up too much, add some bean liquor if it looks dry. Butter or oil some bread crumbs and spread the first layer on. Leave the lid off and go back in the oven.
The next time you check, it will be when the bread crumbs are dark brown. Break open the crust, check the textures, add more liquid and then stir the crumbs through. Taste for seasoning, but beware you don’t over season as the dish will continue to cook. Repeat the crust as many times as you need to thicken the stew while getting everything to a rich, soft texture. The last crust can remain in place for presentation, just make sure you have some liquid left so that the cassoulet still has a sauce.
Enjoy with a glass of red wine and a green salad, just to make you feel better. The cassoulet is even better day two, but might need some stock to reheat it.
John Foster is an executive chef who heads the culinary program at Sullivan University’s Lexington campus. A New York native, Foster has been active in the Lexington culinary scene and a promoter of local and seasonal foods for more than 20 years. The French Culinary Institute-trained chef has been the executive chef of his former restaurant, Harvest, and now his Chevy Chase eatery, The Sage Rabbit.
To read more from Chef John Foster, including his recipes, click here.
