I made Cassoulet yesterday as well. Turned out great. Used chicken confited in duck fat, two kinds of sausages, pork belly that I cured at home, and Rancho Gordo’s cassoulet beans. The chicken was excellent but in the future I doubt I’ll go through the trouble, and instead will just use fresh chicken or buy duck confit.
I highly recommend the Racho Gordo beans. Best I’ve ever used, and in the end I feel that the beans end up being the star, soaking up all the other goodness.
For the folks who have made both, would you consider chicken or duck to be the superior poultry to use for this dish?
I have easy access to chicken, regular duck, and confit duck. Not sure which I should use…
If you can make your own duck confit, do that, or if your purchased duck confit is good, that’s fine too (I found one in the SF Bay Area that was pretty bad, but the one I usually get is good). I’ve made confit chicken before and didn’t like it nearly as much as duck, but a chicken cassoulet is way better than no cassoulet.
Thanks! Just so I know, do you remember where you got the bad duck confit in the Bay Area?
I think it might have been Andronico’s that had the lousy one. Recently I’ve been buying Fabrique Delices at Lunardi’s:
Wow, I didn’t know Andronico’s had it but I’ll skip it. I like Fabrique Delices; I took a pate and rillette-making class with them once and it was a lot of fun.
Try using chicken, but browning it in duck fat. I made it this way last time and it was much better. I find using duck confit - or even chicken confit leads to stringy meat. By browning the chicken in duck fat, you get the duck fat flavor and richness, the better texture of the chicken and the meat is more flavorful. You could also use regular duck and just not confit it…
take a look at the serious eats article about it. Traditional French Cassoulet Recipe
I read the article previously and can understand the argument for using regular chicken or duck instead of duck confit. It seemed that the writer’s rationale is that it’s easier to find chicken (and cheaper) than regular duck, and using duck fat will give it that extra flavor.
Given that obtaining any of the three is not difficult for me, I wanted to get other opinions on the subject. Have you tried it with regular duck?
Just made cassoulet again, using chicken. Stock was homemade, so no gelatin required. Biggest difference for me between chicken and duck is the texture. Bigger concern is ensuring you brown off all of the meat; ain’t nobody got time for flabby poultry skin.
no, but confit is so effortless to make and the duck fat is reusable.
Chicken? No dis-respect to other’s diet restrictions, but why bother to call it Cassoulet?
I used two ducks tonight. Broke them down myself, de-boning everything but the wings/drumsticks. Personally, I enjoy both, but would probably opt for chicken, if only because it’s easier to work with, specifically when you’re browning and have to seat off the duck skin/fat. The dark meat is a little chewier, but aside from that, it’s a coin toss. Use duck/goose fat as a starter and you’re good to go. I really think the biggest differentiator is the chicken stock, which I spent a good six hours on. Man, it’s a rich dish.
Ramon,
I make an all-poultry “quick” cassoulet that is fantastic. Smoked turkey leg, uncooked Italian or Andouille chicken sausage and my “quick” duck legs confit. The quick cassoulet is done in the slow cooker 8 hours. The duck legs get a rub overnight and cooked in the oven 3 hours. And I always use the Rancho Gordo tarbais beans.
I made an expedited cassoulet yesterday, in roughly 3-4 hours by using the stove + oven + Instapot + toaster oven simultaneously. It was pretty awesome, despite being a bit of a ‘pantry/freezer assemblage’ rather than a dinner specifically shopped for. To go with it, I decanted / vinturri’d a 2010 Ch. Montus [Madiran] from Alain Brumont. These are made from a varietal called tannat, which - unsurprisingly - makes a highly structured, distinctive wine. Full bodied, 15% abv, lots of sediment, and a blackish/purplish core with no signs of visual evolution yet. But interestingly, its very balanced, the huge red berry fruit handles the structure perfectly and the acidity is hardly noticeable. The flavor is dense and I suspect the wine is still a baby, with 10-20 years more of positive development ahead of it. I had assumed it would be too young to drink, and would really need the rich cassoulet to be tolerable, but its actually a very refined wine. If I had not known what it was, and was served it blind, I would not have called out the tannins as out of line or anything. Whether its climate change, or Brumont really learning new tricks for vinifying this grape, this doesn’t seem at all like the raspy, hard Madirans I remember of a generation ago. I don’t drink this AOC much - nor do I make cassoulet often either - but maybe both of these deserve more frequency in our dinner/dining rotation. It’s been such an unusually cold May here, that I felt like I needed a cassoulet to warm the soul up little.
I’d give this wine a solid A. For those who like long lived Medocs - like Las Cases or Montrose - this is a property worth a spot/time in a cellar rack.
Thursday: roast a duck
My bad I skipped to the end. Definition of Cassoulet- a dish for which the quick versions take three or for hours. :).
Fantastic cassoulet from @bradkaplan last night for dinner with a visiting Berserker. He actually made two, one with beans from d’Artagnan and the other with beans from Rancho Gordo. The d’Artagnan beans were excellent but the creaminess of the Rancho Gordo took it to the next level. A perfect dish for a chilly night.
I’m not that much of a fan of beans but I’m with you on Rancho Gordo, they are on a different level.
So bummed I missed this! Damn Covid. Cassoulet looks great @bradkaplan
Rancho Gordo for the win! Good times, good wines last night. We had a pretty broad range of reds to go alongside the cassoulet, and I’m not actually sure what played best. I kinda lean to the wildcard rioja (though I didn’t fully register what producer/vintage it was - 1973 Vina Real?). There was also a lovely duo of 95 and 97 Chave Hermitage, a brutish 2013 Sine Qua Non with extended barrel age, a beautiful mag of 2012 Droughin Close de Beze, and a 16 CdP from a small producer (Calcernier) that was too young by a few years. Plus some whites/champagne. Oh, and 77 Fonseca for dessert … and a delicious banyuls (which I failed to capture) that was perfect with some good chocolate… and for the late night crowd a nightcap of 68 D’Oliveiras Boal!
