Captures the flavors of true cassoulet without the hassel of making it the authetic way. I used tomato paste instead of a fresh tomato to get closer to authetic flavor. Do take the time to put it in the oven with the bread crumbs it really gives the dish a beautiful finish.
A beautiful dish! I used a Dutch oven to cook this as is customary with most cassoulets. It worked wonderfully! I also added bread crumbs and agree they are worth the extra few minutes in the oven. Thank you for this great recipe!
To the cook who asked about cooking it in the oven yes you can. The "high" setting usually corresponds to 300F and the "low" setting is usually around 200F. Use the same cooking times as in the recipe. HTH!
I had roast duckling for New Year's eve and I wanted to use the leftover duck. I chose this recipe as a base but I used a dutch oven and cooked it 1 hr at 450 and then 4 hrs at 300. Also I used the quick soak method for preparing the beans -- put them in boiling water shut off heat & leave them an hour or longer like 2 till they double in size. I read a lot about cassoulet which I'd never made before. Julia says the flavor of the liquid is the key. (Everything else especially beans absorbs it). So I used my duck carcass and two turkey thigh bones plus carrots celery & onion (studded w/ clove) to make a broth while the beans were soaking. My duck when fat cut off etc was only 5 oz so I used 2 turkey thighs skinned boned & cut up to make up. I used Kielbasa. I'm not sure I like the extra spice but my son did. Next time rather than just slicing I'd slice & half the slices so the spicey bites were smaller. I realized half way through that I didn't have anything for salad so I took out the very studded onion (odd that) and replaced it with cut up celery onion & 2 more carrots. I also increased to 2 tomatoes at end. I highly recommend making a broth of something & using it instead of water. You could use turkey chicken goose duck pheasant or whatever. The important thing is to be sure the broth is good since everything else takes on the flavor. Don't know how this would work in a slow cooker but mine got done in about 7 hours total.
Thank you Syd for sharing your recipe. It was nice to come home to smell of cassoulet! As other reviewers had stated it is a bit watery but I was not expecting miracles from my crockpot (its old and well loved). So I decided when finishing off with bread crumbs in the oven. I would put it in for about an hour at 325 then top with the breadcrumbs and stick the oven on broil to toast them up quickly. It worked out well. Next time I may try using goose breast and vension sausage (as my husband is a hunter so we have these lying around) and use tomato paste rather than a whole tomato. Lastly as other reviewers had mentioned a mixture of chicken and beef stock as well as red wine would make a nice broth instead of just water.
I used liquid from cooked beans some beef stock and white wine rather than water. Excellent!
Amazing! I made this in the crock pot (1 hour on high then slow the remaining 5 hours) I followed the recipe to A t. The cloves really give a special flavour. Yum! I had to strain the meat out as it is watery in the crock pot. I am thinking that in the oven thee would be less liquid and it would be thicker. I will try the oven next time. Great french dish.
Something went way wrong here. This cassoulet was not good. The water never cooked off in the crock pot and consequently all flavour from the bacon sausages etc. was washed out. Really unfortunate and expensive dish.
it doesnt say the time it takes if i want it to cook it in the oven? does anybody knows how many hours and what temp. thanx
