The solution: Every version of cassoulet we tracked down contained white beans, but the agreement ended there. Some recipes called for pork loin, others for a shoulder of lamb. Mutton, duck, pheasant, garlic sausage, and even fish can be found in the different variations. Perhaps the best known and most often replicated type of cassoulet begins with the preparation of confit. This involves placing meat or poultry (often goose legs, but duck legs are also popular) in a large container, sprinkling heavily with salt, and curing for 24 to 48 hours. The meat is then slowly simmered in its own fat so that the flavor of the fat penetrates the spaces previously occupied by the juices (rendered during salting and curing). We figured that if we could eliminate the preparation of confit from the recipe, we would eliminate the biggest obstacle to making cassoulet.
Ready-made confit can be purchased, and the cassoulet we made with it was very good. Unfortunately, prepared confit is not readily available, so we wanted to develop a recipe that wouldn’t rely on it. To develop flavor quickly in an easily had ingredient—chicken—we tried brining and bacon fat. Letting the chicken legs sit for an hour in a brine of sugar, salt, and water made the chicken legs more moist, flavorful, and tender, while sautéing the meat in bacon fat gave it a smoky flavor. The sum of these qualities produced a fair representation of confit that served our working recipe for cassoulet well.
With our mock confit in place, we made short work of the balance of the recipe: the meat to use for stewing (we decided on the flavorful blade-end pork roast or thick lamb shoulder chops), canned versus dried beans (the canned beans were out because they fell apart during cooking), and the type of sausage (the classically correct French sausage being too hard to find, we substituted kielbasa or andouille sausages; we liked them for their smoky flavor).

SIMPLIFIED CASSOULET WITH PORK AND KIELBASA
Serves 8

To ensure the most time-efficient preparation of the cassoulet, while the chicken is brining and the beans are simmering, prepare the remaining ingredients. Look for dried flageolet beans in specialty food stores (or see Resources, page 32). If you can’t find a boneless blade-end pork loin roast, a boneless Boston butt makes a fine substitution. Additional salt is not necessary because the brined chicken adds a good deal of it.

Chicken
1 cup kosher salt or ½ cup table salt
1 cup sugar
10 bone-in chicken thighs (about 3½ pounds), skin removed

Topping
6 slices good-quality white sandwich bread, cut into ½-inch dice (about 3 cups)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

4 slices bacon (about 4 ounces)
1 pound dried flageolet or great Northern beans, picked over and rinsed
1 medium onion, peeled and left whole, plus1 small onion, chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, 2 peeled and left whole, 2 peeled and minced
Vegetable oil
1 pound boneless blade-end pork loin roast, trimmed of excess fat and silver skin and cut into1-inch pieces
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Ground black pepper
1 ¾ cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine
½ pound kielbasa, halved lengthwise and cut into¼ -inch slices

1. Brining the chicken: In gallon-sized zipper-lock plastic bag, dissolve salt and sugar in 1 quart cold water. Add chicken, pressing out as much air as possible; seal and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 1 hour. Remove chicken from brine, rinse thoroughly under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Preparing the topping: While chicken is brining, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix bread crumbs and butter in small baking dish. Bake, tossing occasionally, until light golden brown and crisp, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool to room temperature; set aside.
3. In heavy-bottomed, 8-quart Dutch oven, cook bacon slices over medium heat until just beginning to crisp and most fat has rendered, 5 to 6 minutes. Leaving bacon slices in pan, pour off bacon grease into heatproof measuring cup and reserve. Return pan to heat; add beans, 10 cups water, whole onion, and whole garlic cloves to pan with bacon. Bring to boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low, cover partially, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are partially cooked and almost tender, 40 to 50 minutes. Reserving 1½ cups cooking liquid, drain beans. Discard onion, garlic, and bacon.
3. Add vegetable oil to reserved bacon grease to equal ¼ cup. In now-empty Dutch oven, heat bacon grease and vegetable oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half of chicken thighs, fleshy-side down; cook until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Using tongs, turn chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned on second side, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to large plate; repeat with remaining thighs and set aside. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot. Return pot to medium heat; add pork pieces and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add chopped onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add minced garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, and pepper to taste; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in chicken stock, wine, and 1 cup of reserved bean cooking liquid; increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil, scraping up browned bits off bottom of pot with wooden spoon. Add chicken and beans; if liquid does not fully cover chicken and beans, add remaining ½ cup reserved bean cooking liquid. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until chicken is cooked through and beans are tender, about 40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Off heat, gently stir in kielbasa and sprinkle surface with bread crumbs. Bake uncovered until topping is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes and serve.

SIMPLIFIED CASSOULET WITH LAMB AND ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE

Lamb, with its robust, earthy flavor, makes an excellent substitute for the pork. Andouille sausage adds a peppery sweetness that tasters loved.

Follow recipe for Simplified Cassoulet with Pork and Kielbasa, substituting 2 pounds lamb shoulder chops, trimmed, boned, and cut into 1-inch pieces, for pork, and substituting 8 ounces andouille sausage for kielbasa.

January, 2000
Original article and recipes by Bridget Lancaster

 
SEE ALSO: