Chef John's Cassoulet

This was wonderful! Served for a French wine tasting dinner. Expensive and time consuming, but so worth it! Wish I could have found more authentic sausages, but found Aidell's garlic and gruyere, which seemed fine. Great company dinner, as it is hands off towards the end. I added a bit of garlic to the duck fat/cracklings to add to the bread crumb mixture. After simmering the bacon in the stock, I removed it and did not add to the dish, as all flavor had been cooked out. Had extra duck stock and pork stock from the freezer to add to the bean cooking liquid. Can't go wrong with extra flavor. Not too salty at all.

It took a couple of attempts to dial this in. I made the duck confit as a separate event and had it in the freezer so that helped but it was still a lot of steps but worth it.

This is a complex recipe and I learned a lot! I used flageolet beans which are smaller than Tarbais, so I kept an eye on them and reduced cooking time. Substituted browned boneless chicken thigh chunks for duck confit (sadly), but used the bones from chicken and pork chop in the cooking broth. The crumb topping is amazing, but baking the cassoulet uncovered left mine a bit on the dry side despite ladling in more liquid at the halfway point. (I did halve the recipe so mine wasn't as deep). Next time I might cover for the first half of baking, then uncover to finish because the carmelization of the crust is just sensational. Thank you again, Chef John!

Rock star recipe and yes i used every pan in the kitchen. The local butcher/sausage maker provided the sausage on request. It makes a huge difference. Make the stock in advance, it will save you time and it's always good to have a good stock in the pantry.

I loved everything about this recipe! What I loved the most is that it extracts and utilizes every bit of flavor from every ingredient and method possible. Bones from the confit? Fat and skin from the confit? Juice from the beans? All utilized to bring every bit of flavor into this dish. Is this a simple preparation? Not even close! But the challenge of it yields such amazing results. This recipe is something every budding home cook should try and then do their best to master. Bravo, Chef John ...this is a masterpiece!

This was my first time making cassoulet and I was very nervous. The ingredients are expensive and the process is time consuming. That being said, it was worth it! I doubled the recipe and served it to 12 friends (who don’t mind being my test subjects for new recipes) and it was a huge hit. I made the recipe pretty much as it was written. I did borrow a few ideas from a recipe provided by Dartagnan, I made the confit of duck legs per a recipe from Dartagnan. They were fantastic, plus the process provided me with an abundance of duck fat to be saved and used for other purposes. I used Tarbais beans (which were so creamy and delicious). When I cooked the beans, in addition to the seasonings, pork butt and pancetta I added the duck leg bones. Grab every little bit of flavor where you can, right. That recipe had me put the pork butt and pancetta in with the beans. The meat was distributed well throughout the dish. The dinner was on a Friday evening so I started the recipe early (Sunday for the duck legs, Tuesday for the beans and ragu, Wednesday to construct the cassoulet). I do think the additional time to let the flavors meld was a positive with the flavor of the dish. In addition, it gave me a good opportunity to skim off any fat that collected on the top of the dish. The crumb topping was great. I did use the duck skin to make “duck bacon bits” created by crisping it. OMG – what a pop of flavor. I think the recipe is absolutely great as is. I will make it

Absolutely delicious! As he says, it’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun to make. Truly a great cooking project and well worth the effort - I will certainly make it again. Thanks Chef John!

Wow. What an ambitious recipe! Couldn't find duck confit, so I substituted sautéed chicken thighs, but I also used Rancho Gordo cassoulet beans, which I believe really helped make up the ingredient quality differential. This dish is truly a labor of love, but it's worth it because all your care is returned once it's done. This is something I'll add to my forever repertoire for sure—it's the perfect way to warm up after a chilly day.

This is an amazing recipe...it does take time, but the results are fantastic. Thank you Chef John....you make me look like an amazing chef every time!

Wow! Incredible flavor.

We went to the south of France this summer and when we tried the cassoulet I knew I had to make it at home. I'm so glad I tried chef John's version because it was AMAZING. The only substitution I had to use was turkey legs in place of the duck confit as I could not find duck legs anywhere. I made the turkey confit using duck fat and it turned out really well so if you can't find duck try the turkey. Be sure to follow the steps closely and monitor the salt levels as you go. This took me a long time to make the first time but I anticipate a shorter prep time next time since I won't have to read the recipe and steps so many times! Make this if you're up for a challenge! Bon appétit!

This is perfect! Don't change a thing! I've made this many times before I knew about Chef John, but this is the best and the simplest, well, sort of.