Cassoulet, the ultimate in French comfort food, is essentially a humble stew of beans and meat made by French peasants with whatever ingredients were at hand. Today the basic cassoulet consists of white beans, pork, Toulouse sausages and duck confit, all cooked together for a very long time. Debate rages in cassoulet circles as to whether bread crumbs are added as a topping, as a cassoulet newbie I went with the breadcrumbs and personally I say “Le breadcrumbs? Mais oui!”
As you have probably gathered by now, it is cold, and it is wet here at the moment, so I thought I would venture once more into the world of French fare in order to warm the heart if not the body!
(A word of warning before I continue, the following contains graphic pictures of duck fat, lots of duck fat!)
Step 1 Sauté roughly chopped vegetables (don’t you love recipes that say roughly chopped, as opposed to finely diced) in duck fat.

Just a hint of garlic!

Let the sous-chef stir the veges while peeling more garlic and chopping tomatoes you forgot to chop previously

Step 2 Add the white beans and chopped pork belly that has been previously simmered for 15 minutes and had scum removed

Step 3 Admire the wonderfully garlicky Toulouse sausages, say “I wish we could get these in Australia” then chop into 1″ (2.5cm) slices and add to pot.

Step 4 Add water. Spend half an hour trying to work out how to turn on the oven, make a guess and turn knob to icon of roast chook, and simmer in slow oven for 2 hours

Step 5 Refrigerate overnight, next day remove from fridge and be amazed at the amount of fat that has solidified on top. Remove fat. (Who remembers eating bread and dripping as a child? Duck fat on baguette, delicious! Yes, I know the fat police will come and get me, but it was worth it)

Step 6 Open the tin of confit duck

Be amazed at the amount of fat in the tin

Dig two legs out of the fat and add to pot

Step 7 Add dried breadcrumbs and finely chopped garlic ( a bit more garlic, why not!) to top and return to oven. Cook on slow heat for another two hours until a crusty top has formed.
Quote from A History of Cassoulet (www.dartagnan.com) “Don’t hesitate to cut open the upper crust to check if the cassoulet is drying out too much inside as it cooks. If so, add some liquid, like stock or demi-glace. The idea is to form a crusty top on the cassoulet, while maintaining a moist center, so breaking the film that forms as the beans cook is a good thing. Some cookbooks claim that it must be broken seven times to get the perfect cassoulet”
I didn’t do any breaking, but thank goodness it was still moist inside.

Step 8 Cassoulet is served with mustard and cornichons. Pour wine, serve and enjoy!