A Bucket-List Dish at Home: J. Kenji López-Alt’s French Cassoulet

For this month’s recipe challenge celebrating 10 years of the account, I made J. Kenji López-Alt’s Traditional French Cassoulet – a dish I’ve dreamed about but never actually eaten!

I’ve wanted to make a cassoulet since the very beginning of the project, but the intimidating ingredient list and pages-long instructions always gave me pause. But this is the year to tackle these bucket list dishes. 

I originally planned to make a very traditional Food & Wine version that clocks in at roughly 2 days, 5 hours, and 15 minutes. But after reading Kenji’s article on Serious Eats, I was fully convinced: with a few smart shortcuts, you can make a deeply satisfying cassoulet that stays true to its roots as a French peasant dish (made with what’s available) in one (long) afternoon.

Kenji makes his version with fresh chicken or duck rather than duck confit – I used duck legs but I frenched them as I like the look!  

Along with the duck, the pot gets layers of flavor from seared salt pork, pork shoulder, and garlic sausages. Although I lost a few layers after burning the fond and switching pots. 

The beans (cannellini, standing in for harder-to-find Tarbais) are simmered with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, and bay. The sausages and pork go back in, everything roasts for about 90 minutes, then the duck joins the party for another long, slow bake.

Kenji suggests adding gelatin to store-bought stock to help build body and encourage that classic cassoulet crust. But I never quite got the crust I wanted, so I finished it under the broiler for the last 10 minutes.

And, OMG, was this perfection! It’s VERY rich, but oh so dreamy. The meat was fall-apart tender with those unbelievably creamy beans soaking up all that meaty deliciousness. They barely held together and fully mashed into themselves for leftovers.

I’d absolutely recommend serving this with a simple, punchy green salad and an acidic vinaigrette to cut through the richness. In the end, this was far simpler than I expected – the secret ingredient just being time!

Rating: 5/5 
How Easy Is That – Skill Level: Intermediate
How Easy Is That – Time Involved: 12 hours, 40 minutes
Store-Bought Is Fine: unflavored gelatin

Recipe on SeriousEats.com