Cassoulet

Ingredients

• 450 g white navy beans
• 4 chicken legs
• 4 garlic sausages
• 1 cup cubed fanciable or salt pork or bacon
• 3 medium carrots (cut into thirds)
• 3 celery stalks (cut into thirds)
• 2 cups onions diced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp duck fat or lard
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 1 litre water
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs or panko

For the Bouquet Garni

6 stalks parsley
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp whole peppercorns

Soak Your Beans

1. Put beans into a container with salt and water and soak overnight.
2. Before cooking, drain beans.

Browning

1. Heat duck fat in dutch oven and render guanciale/salted pork until golden brown.
2. Remove guanciale from oil and reserve in a bowl.
3. Generously coat skin of chicken with black pepper.
4. Place chicken skin side down in dutch oven and cook for about 8 mins (until skin is deep golden brown). Flip chicken and cook for another 3 – 4 min. Remove chicken and place in a bowl.
5. Place sausage in pot (yup with that same liquid fat) and brown on all sides. Once a deep golden brown, remove from pot and place it in bowl.

Cooking Beans

1. Throw diced onions and minced garlic into your pot of liquid fat and cook on medium heat until onions are soft and translucent.
2. Once onions are translucent, stir in the drained beans, ensuring everything gets evenly coated.
3. Combine carrots, celery, and bouquet garni, chicken stock and Water
4. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer on medium-low heat.
5. Simmer for about 1 hr until the beans are soft.
6. Once beans are cooked, remove carrots, celery, bouquet grain and discard.
7. Combine guanciale with beans and stir. Next, place sausage and finally chicken on top (skin side up). The chicken should pretty much cover all the beans.
8. Bake in oven at 300º for approximately 2-3 hours. It will start to form a crust on top (this is a good thing).
9. Check occasionally to see if you need to add water. If so, slowly run water down the side of the pot as not to disturb the crust.
10. The consistency should be like baked beans. It shouldn’t be watery.
11. During the last hour to hour and a half of cooking — as the fat rises — sprinkle bread crumbs on top and incorporate into liquid layer of fat. As breadcrumbs brown, press down with a spoon and add a new layer of breadcrumbs. Repeat until no more fat rises. During this process, a deep crust should form.
12. Once the top is the color of mahogany brown, remove from oven and serve.

(NOTE: If you need instruction on how to make the Bouquet Garni, just search for a video online.)