niki rothman shares a method for a sort-of cheater’s cassoulet made with the trimmings from a leftover roast duck: Put the duck, including all skin, fat, and bones, in a pot with water and bay leaves, and let simmer a while to make a stock. Then take the duck out and add dry white beans, such as flageolet or canellini, to the stock to cook. Meanwhile, discard all but the meat from the duck, and set meat aside. When the beans are halfway cooked, add some red wine, the duck meat, and a mirepoix of chopped onions, carrots, celery with leaves, and garlic. Half an hour before the beans are fully cooked, throw in some chopped garlicky sausage. When the cassoulet is done cooking, add chopped flat leaf parsley, spread breadcrumbs over the top, and pop it in the oven until they brown. If you use leftover Chinese roast duck, be sure it’s not too heavy on five-spice flavor. You can use the same method with leftover roast goose.
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‘Instant’ Cassoulet–Perfect Use for Roast Duck Trimmings
You forgot to state that one should, of course, re-add the meat after everything else is done cooking on the stovetop and you are ready to top it with the (buttered) breadcrumbs and top-brown in the oven. The reason you remove the meat earlier is to prevent overcooking it, which would destroy the flavor. Also, as i’m not convinced of the great diffreence in flavor between one type dried bean and another, and because this little dish was a triumph in seat of the pants making something delish from what’s on hand, I used a combo of kidney and lima beans rather than the traditional cassoulet beans which you mentioned.