Cassoulet is a traditional French dish that thrives in the region between Toulouse and Carcassonne where we once had a ramshackle old farmhouse. It is not for the faint-hearted, being high in fat and calories, but on a cold winter’s day it is hard to beat.

Salted belly pork is unfortunately not always available on our butcher's counter and you may have to use the straight forward belly pork, which we always have there - and though the real thing would require Toulouse sausage I think some of our French Country sausages will do very nicely thank you. It is also traditional to include goose or duck confit, which is easy to make, but easier to use from a jar - a good deli or even supermarket will probably stock it. Goose fat is also available in cans. If you can’t lay your hands on that then simply stick to pork and sausage, it will still produce a decent poor man’s cassoulet.

Ingredients - serves 4

400g salted belly pork, soaked overnight
50g duck or goose fat
6 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced
1 onion, peeled & chopped
500g dried white haricot beans, soaked overnight
4-6 Riverford French Country sausages
2 legs of duck confit, chopped at the joint (optional)
bouquet garni of thyme, bay leaves & parsley - tied together
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Set the oven to 180°C
Rinse and drain the beans. Melt the duck or goose fat in a large casserole and gentle fry the onion and garlic to soft over a low heat, do not brown. Drain the salt pork and cut into generous cubes or 4 thick slices.

Now add the beans and salt pork to the pot, lay the bouquet garni amongst them and add sufficient water to cover. Bring to the boil and remove scum from the surface with a slotted spoon. Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven for an hour or until the beans are tender - don’t allow the cassoulet to dry out. Remove from the oven and turn up the heat to 220°C. Taste the beans and season as required - it may be salty enough from the pork.

Heat a little duck or goose fat in a frying pan and brown the sausages all over then slice each of them diagonally into 3 pieces. Joint the duck legs - if you have them. Now push both sausage and duck down into the cassoulet amongst the beans and return to the oven without the lid and bake for a further 30-45 minutes when the surface will be a golden crust and most of the liquid will have been absorbed.

Serve from the pot at the table.