Cassoulet originated in the 100 years at the time of the siege of Castelnauday. To invigorate the exhausted battle weary men of the town before their final battle against the English, the women prepared a huge meal using up the last of their stocks of food since they felt, quite rightly, that without victory, they would all die anyway. If one takes into account how cruel the English were at the time, they were probably quite right.  The cassoulet of Castelnaudary consists of haricot beans, sausage of Toulouse, goose or duck confit, a pork, pork rinds and the duck or goose fat.

The name is derived from the cassole, a terracotta dish that gave it’s name to the cassoulet. Today the cassoulet is a officially made from haricot beans, goose, herbs and  golden crumb crust that’s probably the most important thing about the thing. The cassoulet from the Languedoc is the official one and is made with 70% Spanish haricot beans,  30% pork or mutton with  preserved goose , but never smoked meat.  The Etat Generaux de la Gastronomie Francais issued a decree regulating the proportions, the recipe and the ingredients  required for the dish. The simplest version that I know has been inspired by Louis Cazals, an expert on the food of Toulouse.

CLASSICAL CASSOULET

Ingredients

• 500 g dried white Spanish Haricot beans
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced thickly
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 bouquet garnis
• 1 thick Toulouse sausage
• 300 g thick round pancetta, cut into rounds (unsmoked)
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled and de-seeded
• 1 – 2 large goose quarters
• 100 g goose livers

Method

• Soak white haricot beans for 12 hours, drain, wash and then boil in salted water for about an hour.
• They must not be soft.
• Wash and return them to a pot of boiling water.
• Add blanched and rolled up unsmoked bacon rounds, sliced carrot, garlic cloves and a bouquet garnis.
• Now add a good Toulouse sausage and cook.
• On the side, brown a goose quarter (s) and the livers lightly with two peeled and de-seeded tomatoes.
• When done, add this to the bean mixture and cook for a further two hours, give or take.
• You’ll know when it’s done and put into a glazed earthenware dish (strictly speaking you should use a cassole) but for today, the earthenware dish will do .
• Slice the sausage that you used and mix into the beans.
• Place a round of fresh sausage on top and press in lightly.
• Cover with grated breadcrumbs and bake in a slow oven.
• During the baking process, break the crust a few times and continue baking.
• There are a number of wines to have with this all over the world – to my mind, hearty and red and not too complicated should do the trick.
• Traditionally a Corbieres is served with cassoulet.

This next recipe is from a little place outside Perpignan where I had the good fortune to eat on my second visit. It has been adapted over the years to suit a largely meat eating country, but it’s worth a try but I’ll name it for them since that’s where I tasted it the first time.

L’ARAGO CASSOULET

Ingredients

• 1 kg  dried haricot beans  or tarbais beans.
• 1 onion, spiked with 3 cloves
• 1 bouquet garni (thyme, laurel, parsley)
• 1 large pork rind, sliced into 2 halves
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 x thick chunks of lamb neck
• 8 x 100 g lamb shoulder chunks
• 8 x 100 g chunks pork loin
• 8 x preserved duck thighs
• 8 x 5 cm of Toulouse sausage, roasted
• 200 g carrots
• 200 g onions, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bouquet garni
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 150 g goose fat
• 220 g bread crumbs

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 C

• Soak the dry beans overnight in unsalted water.
• Place the beans in a large pot and cover them with fresh water, add the carrots and the onion with the cloves, the bay leaves, the bouquet garni and the pork rinds.
• Season with pepper and do not salt.
• Simmer and skim the froth that forms on the surface.
• Fry the carrots, garlic, onions and the bouquet garni in a little goose fat for about 10 minutes, covering on low heat and set aside.
• Brown the meat in goose fat until everything is golden brown, drain and set aside.
• Stir the tomato paste into the vegetables and simmer for about 2 minutes and then add the meat, covering everything with cold water.
• Bring to the boil and check and correct season for both pepper and salt.
• Place in the oven, covered, for two hours.
• As soon as the beans are cooked, add salt, drain and stir into everything else in the oven.
• As soon as the meat is ready (and you’ll have to check when it is soft), use a fork retrieve bones and the bouquet garni.
• If you have fussy eaters, don’t  leave any small bones at the bottom of the dish.
• Remove excess fat from the remaining vegetables using a spoon.
• *Optional and not traditional: mix the vegetables in a blender  to obtain a delicious vegetable puree and check and adjust the seasoning.
• Turn the heat up to 210 C.
• Put the meat, the beans, the sausage and the pork rinds (cut into 8 pieces) in the cassole or a large terracotta dish and cover with bread crumbs.
• Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven to break the crust and return.
• Bake for another 10 – 15 minutes and remove again, break the crust and return.
• Now bake for 15 minutes and the dish should be ready.