You can also order a newer, California model in the French tradition from Crockett Pottery, where ceramicist Kathy Kearns has been making them in her studio down the road in Crockett, for many years.įor a cassoulet, there are four main steps: cooking the beans preparing the meat building the cassoulet cooking and serving the cassoulet. Poterie Not Frères, near the village of Mas-Saintes-Puelles in the Carcassonne district, is still making them the traditional way. Paula Wolfert’s book, “The Cooking of Southwest France” (2005 edition) has the information. If you can’t go to France to get a real one, try mail ordering one from France. I don’t have the beautiful traditional clay vessel for cooking, the “ cassole,” however, my enameled 5½-quart Le Creuset Dutch oven worked fine. Rancho Gordo sells them in separate gift packs with packages of beans. After researching many recipes, I recommend either Hill’s book, or “French Beans: Exploring the Bean Cuisine of France “ (Rancho Gordo Press, 2018) by Georgeanne Brennan. Hill’s recipe is in the Toulouse style, the city where her cooking school resides. I chose a recipe from Kate Hill’s book, “Cassoulet, A French Obsession” (Rancho Gordo New World Specialty Food – 2015). Long eager to make a cassoulet - I recently did. It’s easy and the flavor is deep and foresty, which is what makes cassoulet a much-beloved French classic.

If you are eager to make a cassoulet, give this slow one a try.

There are fast cassoulets (1½ hours) and slow cassoulets (five hours). Cassoulet is a French bean-and-meat farmhouse dish perfect for a winter meal.

Cassoulet by Kate Hill