French Cassoulet Recipe with Pork Belly

A traditional French cassoulet with delicious pork belly and navy beans.

Everyone should know a good cassoulet recipe.

Not because we all need to know traditional French cuisine, but because stewed meat and beans are awesome.

At its simplest, cassoulet is a casserole of beans, meat and herbs from southwestern France.

It originated during the medieval times as a peasant dish and has gained iconic status in France and around the world.

Now you can find it everywhere, it’s a popular food in Paris.

The French are very serious about cassoulet, there’s an Académie Universelle du Cassoulet and an official Cassoulet Trail.

This classic French cassoulet recipe is part four of a four-part series on classic French cooking in partnership with All-Clad Canada

I use the 3 qt All Clad Cassoulet pot which is big enough to make 4-6 servings.

Don’t miss:

• Red Wine Braised Short Ribs recipe
• How to Cook Duck Breast
• Ratatouille recipe which is perfect for those on a gluten-free diet

We tend to think of the classic cassoulet recipe being pork and white beans, but it may also include duck, goose or mutton.

In fact, white beans aren’t the original ingredient either.

They were brought over from Latin America in the 16th century by Christopher Colombus, before then fava beans were used.

As for the name?

Not surprisingly it’s derived from the deep earthenware cassole baking dish it’s traditionally cooked in.

But don’t worry about buying expensive earthenware, to make this recipe at home you simply need oven safe pots.
 

The History of Cassoulet

Like most legendary dishes, there’s a lot of fact and fiction. The world capital of cassoulet is Castelnaudary…according to Castelnaudary.

Many would like to believe that cassoulet became famous in Castelnaudary during the Hundred Years War as villagers gave all their food to create one dish that would give soldiers sustenance to fight their enemy.

Yet the truth is not as combative. The rise of the peasant dish was for economic reasons.

Women left the farm to become cooks and servants in city homes, bringing the dish with them and incorporating more expensive meat.

And although the French are credited with the invention of the dish, the origin of cassoulet is Arabic.

Historians have found record of a cookbook with a form of cassoulet and it’s believed it was brought to France in the 7th century.

Cassoulet in France

There is no one cassoulet recipe in France, even in the Languedoc region where it is from the three main cities have different recipe:

• the Castelnaudary cassoulet recipe uses duck confit, pork shoulder and sausage
• the Toulouse cassoulet recipe uses duck confit and sausage with a bread crust,
• and the Auch cassoulet uses only duck and goose.

For this reason alone the Cassoulet Trail was needed.

While this is a low and slow kind of dish it’s so popular in France that you can also buy it canned in a grocery store.

Prices range from cheap beans and sausage to more decadent options with duck confit and lamb.
 

Cassoulet Around the World

Not surprisingly there are many meat and bean stews found around the world:

• fabada in Spain
• l’ollada in Catalonia 
• pasulj in Balkan countries
• feijoada in Brazil
• and many more!

Classic French Cassoulet Recipe

Pin it: Pork Belly Cassoulet

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