This was a really fun meal to try when you want something delicious and slow cooking. And also really satisfying to cook and serve. It went great with fresh, crusty, bread, green beans or a salad, and in my case some Elderflower Lemonade.
There are a couple tips that I learned from the Serious Eats recipe that mine is adapted from. The first is about good stock, I had a homemade stock, I get a lot of bulk store chicken and always good them down but they don't thicken when chilled so I went ahead and added the Knox packets when I cooked mine. the second is about breaking the crust and letting it reform until it's thick and crust. It was working but then I left the house the last several hours of cooking and as you can see I did get a crust but it was mostly kinda dry on top. It was delightful and the beans underneath were meltingly tender but I didn't get the iconic look.
Some of my own changes were to use bacon drippings instead of duck fat, it's a peasant dish and to use what you have on hand. That is what I had on hand. The second is the duck. Duck confit is traditional but I had a pre-roasted, frozen, half a duck from the grocery store in the deep freeze I bought for a recipe and never used. This was a great place for it. Chicken legs and thighs also work, just sear them before putting it all in the pan and into the oven.
Cassoulet Recipe
1 leg roast duck
1 lb. dried cannellini beans
2 tbsp duck fat or bacon grease
4 garlic sausages
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 medium onion
1 carrot
2 stalks celery
1 whole head garlic
2 bay leaves
6 allspice berries
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
Add the dry beans to a pot and add enough water to cover by at least an inch. Allow to sit at least 24 hours before starting the rest of the recipe.
When ready to start cooking, preheat the oven to 300*F
Drain the beans and set aside. Chop one of the onions and then sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the chicken stock and set it aside too.
Heat the bacon grease in a large pot, add the chopped onion and saute until browned. Add the celery and carrot and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock, beans, other onion cut into quarters, carrots, whole garlic head, bay leaves, allspice berries, nutmeg, and black pepper. Simmer gently, without bringing to a rolling boil, for 45 minutes or until the beans are cooked but not overly tender.
By this point most of the chicken broth will be reduced. Taste the broth that is there and adjust salt as needed. Place the duck leg in a shallow pan and gently pour the beans over the top. Cut the sausages into thirds and add those in and around the beans.
Place the whole dish in the oven. After about 2 hours the crust will start to form on the top. Break it up slightly with the back of a spoon and keep baking. Break it up every half hour or so until it's been in the oven for 4-5 hours and a thick and golden crust has formed on top.
Remove from the oven and serve with bread and a salad.
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