Cooking Cassoulet in Paris

A Trip to Paris

The last time I made Cassoulet was in 2012 when I was a student at the Cordon Bleu school in Paris. I remember it as being a hearty stew with white beans and at least four different kinds of meat. With a recent 4-week trip to Paris lined up, I was excited to try making this dish again Toulouse-style, with access to authentic ingredients such as confit duck, Toulouse sausages, and thick-cut bacon!

Cassoulet originates from the Languedoc area of Southwestern France, named after its cooking pot, le cassole. Although various regions differ in what constitutes an authentic cassoulet, all agree that enough time should be given to making this dish to allow the various flavors to shine through. Although lamb and duck are standard ingredients, you could also use pork or goose in this dish. Below is my recipe for Toulousian-style Cassoulet along with some tips on how to make this dish in Paris.

What sort if beans to use?

It’s recommended to use white beans that hold their shape during cooking, such as French flageolet beans, Great Northern beans, cannellini, or navy beans. You can used canned beans, however I believe it’s best to cook dried beans from scratch. This way, there is less risk from over-cooking the beans and you can also use the the cooking liquids to later flavor your Cassoulet.

What sort of Sausage and Bacon to use?

Toulouse Sausages and thick-cut French Bacon

One of the most exciting things about making Cassoulet in Paris was having easy access to Toulouse Sausages, which are made of pork, garlic, and white wine. Most butchers (boucheries) in Paris sell these saucisses de Toulouse, in fact I even saw them for sale at the department store Monoprix. However, if they are not available in your area, you can substitute using a mild Italian Pork Sausage or a Polish kielbasa; try and avoid sausages that use strong flavors such as fennel or chiles.

The Bacon: In France, thick-cut poitrine demi-sel, or unsmoked, lightly salted bacon is traditionally used in order to support a mild flavor in Cassoulet. However, if this type of bacon is difficult to find, then most types of thick-cut bacon (smoked or unsmoked) can be used.

Do I really need to use Duck Confit?

Duck confit are duck thighs that have been slow-cooked in duck fat. This gives the duck a tender, melt-in-your mouth texture that makes your guests begging for more! As an alternative, you can use plain duck thighs that are slow-cooked without the fat, but it won’t be quite the same. In Paris, you can buy duck confit already cooked in cans (see photo below) and you will see fresh duck confit sold by many Paris butchers.

If you don’t have easy access to duck confit, you can buy it online or make it yourself. This involves first marinating the duck thighs with various herbs and spices, then slow-cooking them in duck fat for at least four hours until the meat becomes very tender (see bottom of post for more details).

Duck Confit sold in cans in Paris; Tender, fall-off-the bone Duck Confit

Assembling the Cassoulet

There is no set formula for layering your Cassoulet, other than placing the beans on the bottom and sprinkling the bread crumbs on top before baking. However, I’ve placed the smaller cuts of meat (lamb) toward the bottom of the Cassoulet and the larger cuts (i.e. duck confit and sausages) on top. (Yes, there is ‘method to the madness’ after all)!

After cooking the lamb and bacon, strain the liquid from the meat. The cooking juices will then be used to flavor the beans and remainder of the cassoulet.

Mix the cooking juices into the cooked beans.

Next, layer the slow-cooked lamb and carrots on top, followed by the duck confit and cut sausages.

Finally, add the pieces of bacon on top, then finish with bread crumbs.

Yum, I think I’ll have seconds!

A brief word about making your own Duck Confit

First, rub the raw duck thighs with a little salt and a combination of garlic cloves, black peppercorns, fresh thyme, rosemary, chopped shallots, coriander seeds, cloves (you don’t need to use them all)! Place them in a shallow pan, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 6-8 hours or overnight.

Remove all the rub ingredients and pat dry with a piece of damp paper towel. Place the thighs snugly into a metal or ceramic pan, then pour over enough melted duck fat to cover the duck. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 210 F. for 3-4 hours until the meat is very tender and ‘falls off the bone.’ Alternatively, you can cook them in a slow-cooker for 4-5 hours or longer. (For a detailed recipe for Duck Confit, refer to Nagi Maehashi’s blog Recipe Tin Eats: https://www.recipetineats.com/duck-confit/