isithalal.food

Halal-conscious recipe

Halal cassoulet

A lighter French bean and meat bake of haricot beans, Halal lamb shoulder, smoked Halal beef and Halal sausages with garlic, herbs and tomato, made with bean cooking liquid instead of white wine and finished with a lemony crumb.

  • Cuisine French
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Advanced
  • Yield 1 large casserole
  • Time 5h
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
Grilled sausages on a grill
Photograph from our ingredient library: grilled sausages, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: 彩色琪子 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Why Halal checks matter here

The source cassoulet uses smoked gammon, pork shoulder and Toulouse pork sausages, with white wine poured over the meat.

Cassoulet is a French dish of slow-baked beans and meat, and the lighter version this page follows uses three kinds of pork: smoked gammon, pork shoulder and Toulouse sausages. Making it Halal means replacing all three, so this version uses smoked Halal beef, Halal lamb shoulder and Halal beef or lamb sausages.

It follows Angela Nilsen's lighter cassoulet for BBC Good Food. The source also bubbles 125 ml of white wine with the meat; this site does not treat wine cooked into food as Halal, so the same amount of the beans' own cooking liquid goes in instead. Lamb shoulder is our substitution for the pork, so check it is tender before the crumb goes on.

It is a long cook: about 2 hours for the beans, 30 minutes on the hob, 1½ hours in the oven and 20 to 25 minutes for the crumb.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Gammon, pork shoulder and Toulouse sausages The published recipe uses three pork products: smoked gammon, pork shoulder and Toulouse sausages. Pork is Haram. Use smoked Halal beef, Halal lamb shoulder and Halal beef or lamb sausages, as here. See Pork and Sausage.
  • White wine The published recipe bubbles 125 ml of white wine with the meat. Wine is the khamr the Qur'an forbids, and on this site that includes wine cooked into food. Use the same amount of the beans' cooking liquid, as here. See Wine.
  • Lamb and sausages Lamb is Halal only when slaughtered to the standard you follow, and a sausage is decided by its meat, slaughter, casing and any wine or pork starter culture. Buy from a Halal butcher or in certified packs. See Lamb.

Safe substitutes

  • 200 g smoked gammon → 200 g smoked Halal beef
  • 500 g pork shoulder → 500 g Halal lamb shoulder
  • 3 Toulouse sausages → 3 Halal beef or lamb sausages
  • 125 ml white wine → 125 ml bean cooking liquid

Allergens

gluten (panko), milk (butter)

Ingredients

Beans

  • 500 g dried haricot beans, soaked overnight
  • 7 garlic cloves (3 for the beans, 4 for the meat)
  • 5 thyme sprigs
  • 3 rosemary sprigs
  • 200 g smoked Halal beef, cut into lardon-sized pieces (instead of smoked gammon)

Meat

  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 (200 g) large carrot, chopped into 1 cm pieces
  • 2 tsp butter
  • 500 g Halal lamb shoulder, diced into 4–5 cm pieces, excess fat trimmed (instead of pork shoulder)
  • 125 ml bean cooking liquid (instead of 125 ml white wine)
  • 230 g can plum tomatoes
  • 3 Halal beef or lamb sausages (instead of Toulouse sausages)

Crumb

  • 25 g panko or coarse dried breadcrumbs
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
  • 2 tsp rapeseed oil

Method

  1. Cook the beans. Drain the soaked beans, put them in a large deep pan and cover with about 2 litres of fresh cold water, so it is about 3 cm above the beans. Add 3 garlic cloves, 2 thyme sprigs and 1 rosemary sprig, bring to the boil, half cover and simmer very gently for 1½ hours, checking the water. Add the smoked Halal beef pieces, keeping everything covered with water, and simmer 30 minutes more.
  2. Start the meat. Wrap the remaining thyme and rosemary in the bay leaf and tie it into a bouquet garni. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof sauté pan or flameproof casserole and fry the onion and carrot gently for 5 minutes. Finely chop the remaining 4 garlic cloves, melt the butter in the pan and fry the garlic for 2 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the Halal lamb and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
  3. Make it saucy. Ladle 125 ml of the bean cooking liquid over the lamb and let it bubble for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, tuck in the bouquet garni and simmer for 3 minutes. Season with pepper and 2 pinches of salt and set aside.
  4. Combine. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Drain the beans over a large bowl to keep the cooking liquid. Discard the herb stems, squash the soft garlic and stir it through the beans and beef. Tip them into the pan with the lamb, pour in 600 ml of the reserved liquid and simmer gently, uncovered, for 30 minutes until moist and soupy.
  5. Bake. Meanwhile roast the Halal sausages on a small tray for 20 minutes, turning halfway, then slice them diagonally 1 cm thick and lower the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Tuck the sausage into the beans and bake uncovered for 1½ hours, adding more of the cooking liquid if it looks dry.
  6. Crumb and finish. Check the lamb is tender; it is our substitution for the source's pork shoulder, so give it longer if needed. Mix the panko, garlic, lemon zest, oil and some pepper, scatter over and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Lighter cassoulet' by Angela Nilsen (serves 6: 500 g dried haricot beans soaked overnight, then simmered about 2 litres of water with garlic, thyme and rosemary 1½ hours; 200 g smoked gammon in lardons added for 30 minutes more; onion and carrot fried 5 minutes, garlic in butter 2 minutes, 500 g diced pork shoulder 2 to 3 minutes; 125 ml white wine bubbled 1 minute; a 230 g can of plum tomatoes and a bouquet garni for 3 minutes; the beans and 600 ml of their cooking liquid simmered 30 minutes; 3 Toulouse sausages roasted 20 minutes, sliced and tucked in; baked uncovered at 160C/140C fan/gas 3 for 1½ hours; topped with panko, garlic, lemon zest and oil and baked 20 to 25 minutes more). We replaced the gammon with smoked Halal beef, the pork shoulder with Halal lamb shoulder, the Toulouse sausages with Halal beef or lamb sausages, and the wine with the same amount of the beans' own cooking liquid. Lamb shoulder is our substitution, so check it is tender before adding the crumb. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Lighter cassoulet — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By Angela Nilsen. Serves 6, prep 30 minutes plus overnight soaking, cook 4 hours 30 minutes: haricot beans simmered with herbs and smoked gammon; pork shoulder with onion, carrot, garlic, 125 ml white wine and tomatoes; Toulouse sausages; baked 1½ hours, then a panko and lemon crumb. We replaced the gammon, pork, sausages and wine.

  2. Sausage analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Meat, slaughter, casing and fermentation: the four things that decide a sausage.

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