Cassoulet · Chef John

The night before: soak the 450g of dried beans in a large bowl of water.

Drain the beans and tip them into a large soup pot. Push the whole clove into one onion half and add it, then stir in the 4 smashed garlic cloves, the bay leaf, 1 tsp thyme, ½ tsp rosemary and the 2.4L of water.

Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat for about 1 hour, until the beans have STARTED to soften — not until they are done.

💡 Half-cooked is the target and it matters. These beans have almost two more hours in the oven ahead of them; cook them through now and you will serve bean purée with a crust on it.

Drain the beans, RESERVING all the cooking liquid. Fish out the clove-studded onion and the bay leaf and throw them away. Tip the beans into a large mixing bowl.

💡 Guard that bean liquid with your life — it is the only thing you will use to keep the cassoulet wet through two hours of baking, and it is full of starch and aromatics. Plain water will not do the job.

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F).

Cook the chopped bacon in a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned but still limp — not crisp.

Stir the diced celery, carrots and the remaining diced onion half into the bacon, season with salt, and cook about 10 minutes in the bacon fat until tender.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat and brown the halved sausages and the duck confit, about 5 minutes per side.

Season the bacon-vegetable mixture with 1½ tsp salt, 1 tsp cracked pepper and 1 tsp herbes de Provence, then pour in the tomatoes. Cook about 5 minutes over medium heat, until the tomato juice has nearly evaporated and the browned bits have lifted off the bottom of the pot. Stir all of this into the beans.

Spread half the bean mixture into the Dutch oven, lay the duck and sausage over it, then spread the remaining beans on top. Pour in just enough of the reserved bean liquid to come barely to the top of the beans — keep the rest. Bring it to a simmer on the stovetop and put the lid on.

💡 Bury the meat in the middle rather than perching it on top. Down there it stays moist and gives its fat to the beans for two hours; sitting on the surface it just dries out under the crumbs.

Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile make the crumb: melt the 55g of butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the 4 crushed garlic cloves, the 100g of panko and the chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle over 1 tbsp olive oil, and stir until evenly combined.

Uncover and check the liquid — there should still be plenty, several centimetres of it. If the beans look dry, add more of the reserved liquid. Spread half the crumb mixture evenly over the top and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

💡 Check the liquid every time you open the oven. A dry cassoulet is a pot of chalky beans, and once they have gone chalky no amount of liquid brings them back. Err on the wet side — it reduces anyway.

Check the liquid once more, topping up if needed, then scatter the remaining crumb mixture over the top.

💡 The crumb goes on in two stages for a reason: the first half sinks in and thickens the beans underneath, and the second half stays on top and turns into the crust you actually crack through.

Turn the oven up to 190°C (375°F) and bake, uncovered, for another 20–25 minutes, until the crumb is crisp, the edges are bubbling and the bubbles have gone slow and sticky. Serve each plate with a piece of duck and several pieces of sausage.

💡 Watch the bubbles, not the clock. Fast, watery bubbles mean it needs longer; slow, thick, sticky ones mean the beans have finally given up their starch and it is ready.