Ingredients:

• 500g white kidney beans,
• 1 pork trotter, cut into two lengthwise,
• 1 ham bone,
• 250g pig skin with fat,
• 500g sausages (Toulouse style),
• 150g salt pork,
• 3 duck breast confits,
• 100g duck fat,
• 500g lean pork cubes,
• 5 medium onions,
• 3 medium carrots,
• 1 leek,
• 1 celery stick with leaves,
• 5 medium garlic cloves,
• 5 cloves,
• 10 black peppercorns,
• 1 bunch parsley,
• 2 sprigs thyme,
• 2 bay leaves,
• salt and pepper to taste.

Method: 

1. Soak the white kidney beans overnight in 3 litres of cold water.

2. Prepare a bouillon in a large pot with 4 litres of cold water, with the pork trotter halves, ham bone, the pork skin with fat rolled and tied up, 3 onions (one onion spiked with the cloves), 10 black peppercorns and one bouquet garni consisting of parsley, bay leaf, celery leaf, thyme sprigs and half of the green part of the leek-tied together. Bring to boil and simmer for 2 hours over low heat.

3. Peel the carrots and finely cut into small cubes. Finely chop half the celery stick and the remaining green leek. Finely chop the garlic cloves. Set aside.

4. Cut the lean pork into 2 cm cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside for 15 minutes.  Cut salt pork into strips. Brown the pork cubes and salt pork in half the duck fat. Add the finely cut carrots, chopped celery, green leek and finely chopped garlic cloves. Mix well with the browned pork cubes and allow to stew over low heat. Add some of the stock from 2. Allow to cook until the pork is tender. Stir at intervals to prevent the pork from burning. Add some more stock if necessary. Remove the cooked pork from the saucepan.

5. Deglaze the saucepan with some of the stock from 2. Pour the rich sauce from the saucepan back into the stock.

6. In the remaining duck fat, brown the sausages. Put the browned sausages aside and deglaze the frying pan. Return the sauce into the stock.

7. In another frying pan without any fat, gently heat up the duck breast confits. Turn over and allow the duck breast confits to sweat off some fat. Set the duck breast confits aside and deglaze the frying pan with some more stock. Pour the sauce back into the stock.

8. Filter the stock into another stock pot and retrieve the rolled up pork skin and trotters.

9. Drain the white kidney beans and blanch in boiling water until a scum starts forming. Remove scum and transfer the white kidney beans into the filtered stock. Bring to the boil and simmer over low heat for 2 hours until beans are tender but still whole.

10. Meanwhile, debone the pork trotters and cut pork meat into small bite size pieces. Unroll the cooked pork skin and cut into small bite size strips. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

11. Heat up the oven to 150°C. When white kidney beans are cooked but still whole, remove from stock with a strainer sieve and set aside. Keep stock. Lightly season the cooked white kidney beans with salt and pepper to taste. Do not crush the beans. 

12. Allow the filtered stock to simmer and reduce by half into a concentrate over low heat.

13. In a cassole (or similar oven safe earthenware or stoneware bowl), line up the bowl with the cooked pork skin, place a layer of the white kidney beans, add a layer of the cooked meats (except the sausages and duck breast confits), add another layer of the white kidney beans with the sausages and duck breast confits in between. Add the remaining white kidney beans. Add the stock concentrate until the beans, sausage and duck breast confits are just covered.

14. Place cassole into oven in mid position and allow to cook for 1 hour or longer until the cassoulet starts simmering. Push down any meat that shows through and add a little stock to keep the white kidney beans and meats immersed.

15. When cassoulet starts simmering, increase oven temperature to 175°C and continue cooking. A crust will start forming. Carefully push down the crust just before it starts to burn. Continue cooking until the topmost layer of beans, sausages and duck breast confits are well cooked and to your taste.

16. Enjoy with crusty baguette and a lettuce salad. Bon Appetit.