Duration
4 to 5 hours
Serves
6 to 8
French cassoulet can be a two or three-day affair, especially if you elect to include duck confit, which requires curing the legs and then slowly cooking it in fat for hours—all before you even get to preparing the main bean dish. Often, cassoulet recipes include a variety of other meats, such as several different cuts of pork, sausage, lamb, and even chicken.
The origins of cassoulet (like so many now-famous dishes) was peasant food intended to be a filling dish made with whatever meats and vegetables were on hand. But when given the choice, I shy away from preparing dishes with too many types of meat.
My recipe includes pork only: bacon, wild hog shoulder, and pork sausage. It’s a simplified recipe that doesn’t take three days to make. Wild hog is the main protein here, but you could easily sub venison or whatever else happens to be in your freezer.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dried great northern or cannellini beans
- 3 cups water
- 3 tbsp. kosher salt, plus extra
- 3½-4 lbs. bone-in wild hog shoulder
- 1 lb. andouille or kielbasa sausage, cut into 4-inch pieces
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 tbsp. duck fat, optional
- 1 large leek, white parts chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, halved
- 2 celery ribs, halved
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs parsley
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 (14 oz.) can diced tomato
- 1 qt. low-sodium chicken stock, plus extra
- 1½ cups chardonnay
- Freshly cracked pepper
Also works with
Preparation
- In a large bowl, stir dried beans, three cups of water, and three tablespoons of kosher salt, and allow the beans to soak for 8 to 24 hours on the counter. Then strain beans and rinse with water, and then set aside to drain. Season wild hog shoulder with salt and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and set the oven rack to the lower-middle position. In a 9-quart enameled cast iron pan, cook chopped bacon in duck fat over medium heat to render. Remove bacon pieces and set aside. Next, pat the hog shoulder dry with paper towels and brown in the grease until crusty all over—then remove the shoulder. Finally, brown the sausage sections and remove.
- Pour out excess grease, leaving only two tablespoons in the pot. Then add chopped leek, onion, carrot, and celery, and sweat until onion turns translucent, stirring often. Rub off the loose, papery husk on the head of garlic, and slice across the top to expose the cloves. Add the head of garlic to the pot, along with tomato paste, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and cloves. Stir for a minute.
- Next, add diced tomato with juices, cooked bacon, beans, and chardonnay, scraping the bottom of the pot to release browned bits. Nestle the browned wild hog shoulder and sausage deep into the beans. Then add enough chicken stock to fully submerge beans—it’s OK if the wild hog shoulder is slightly exposed. Bring to a simmer and skim off foam. Tightly cover the pot and bake for 2 hours in a 325°F oven. Flip the shoulder halfway through.
- After 2 hours, remove the shoulder and debone the meat, cutting it into pieces equal to or larger than the sausage. Discard the bones, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, carrot, celery, and cloves (if you can find them.) Return shoulder pieces to the pot, making sure meat and beans are covered in stock. Bake uncovered for an additional hour-and-a-half to two hours. The stock will reduce and create a dark crust on top, resulting in a thick stew-like consistency underneath, but make sure the beans and meat are still hydrated. Add more stock as needed.
- Season cassoulet to taste. I prefer to serve cassoulet with warm, crusty bread on the side. But if you like a crispy top, sprinkle seasoned, coarse breadcrumbs or croutons over the surface toward the end of cooking, and bake at 425°F uncovered until golden brown.
French cassoulet can be a two or three-day affair, especially if you elect to include duck confit, which requires curing the legs and then slowly cooking it in fat for hours—all before you even get to preparing the main bean dish. Often, cassoulet recipes include a variety of other meats, such as several different cuts of pork, sausage, lamb, and even chicken.
The origins of cassoulet (like so many now-famous dishes) was peasant food intended to be a filling dish made with whatever meats and vegetables were on hand. But when given the choice, I shy away from preparing dishes with too many types of meat.
My recipe includes pork only: bacon, wild hog shoulder, and pork sausage. It’s a simplified recipe that doesn’t take three days to make. Wild hog is the main protein here, but you could easily sub venison or whatever else happens to be in your freezer.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dried great northern or cannellini beans
- 3 cups water
- 3 tbsp. kosher salt, plus extra
- 3½-4 lbs. bone-in wild hog shoulder
- 1 lb. andouille or kielbasa sausage, cut into 4-inch pieces
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 tbsp. duck fat, optional
- 1 large leek, white parts chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, halved
- 2 celery ribs, halved
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs parsley
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 (14 oz.) can diced tomato
- 1 qt. low-sodium chicken stock, plus extra
- 1½ cups chardonnay
- Freshly cracked pepper
Also works with
Preparation
- In a large bowl, stir dried beans, three cups of water, and three tablespoons of kosher salt, and allow the beans to soak for 8 to 24 hours on the counter. Then strain beans and rinse with water, and then set aside to drain. Season wild hog shoulder with salt and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and set the oven rack to the lower-middle position. In a 9-quart enameled cast iron pan, cook chopped bacon in duck fat over medium heat to render. Remove bacon pieces and set aside. Next, pat the hog shoulder dry with paper towels and brown in the grease until crusty all over—then remove the shoulder. Finally, brown the sausage sections and remove.
- Pour out excess grease, leaving only two tablespoons in the pot. Then add chopped leek, onion, carrot, and celery, and sweat until onion turns translucent, stirring often. Rub off the loose, papery husk on the head of garlic, and slice across the top to expose the cloves. Add the head of garlic to the pot, along with tomato paste, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and cloves. Stir for a minute.
- Next, add diced tomato with juices, cooked bacon, beans, and chardonnay, scraping the bottom of the pot to release browned bits. Nestle the browned wild hog shoulder and sausage deep into the beans. Then add enough chicken stock to fully submerge beans—it’s OK if the wild hog shoulder is slightly exposed. Bring to a simmer and skim off foam. Tightly cover the pot and bake for 2 hours in a 325°F oven. Flip the shoulder halfway through.
- After 2 hours, remove the shoulder and debone the meat, cutting it into pieces equal to or larger than the sausage. Discard the bones, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, carrot, celery, and cloves (if you can find them.) Return shoulder pieces to the pot, making sure meat and beans are covered in stock. Bake uncovered for an additional hour-and-a-half to two hours. The stock will reduce and create a dark crust on top, resulting in a thick stew-like consistency underneath, but make sure the beans and meat are still hydrated. Add more stock as needed.
- Season cassoulet to taste. I prefer to serve cassoulet with warm, crusty bread on the side. But if you like a crispy top, sprinkle seasoned, coarse breadcrumbs or croutons over the surface toward the end of cooking, and bake at 425°F uncovered until golden brown.