I don’t think I’ve ever made two batches that are the same. It’s beans, meat and sauce after all. So… here’s the one that we just spent the last two days eating…

• 1 x 5.5 litre slow cooker
• A huuuge number of beans. Traditionally Haricot beans but the ones we get in the UK are tiny, so…
  • 3 x tins Butter beans (Lima beans?), 260g drained
  • 2 x tins Haricot beans, 290g drained
  • 1 x tins Black beans, 260g drained
• A crapload of meat, preferably fatty. Confit of duck is traditional but expensive, so…
  • 200g paprika spiced sausages (not an air dried Chorizo, but a fresh Chorizo or Merguez type)
  • 700g pork belly rashers
  • 2 big duck breasts (gresingham duck ftw)
• Then some tomato type sauce
  • 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes
  • 4 x tbsp tomato puree
  • 1/2 litre of vegetable stock
  • couple of glasses of wine (red, white, whatever… I tend to use cheap port actually…)
  • couple of teaspoons of paprika (I heart La Chinata smoked paprika)
  • two bundles of bouquet garni
  • a couple of bay leaves

Right…

Brown the sausages. Cut them into 2 inch lengths.

Fry the belly slices fat side down ’til it crisps up a bit, then seal the sides. Cut into 2 inch lengths.

Fry the duck, fat side down ’til it crisps, then seal the sides and cut into 3/4 inch thick slices.

Throw it all into the slow cooker.

Wash all the beans in fresh water. Throw them into the slow cooker.

Take all the sauce items and throw then in too.

Go to bed.

When you wake up, go to the bathroom, get dressed, turn on the slow cooker, go to work.

Come home with a stick of French bread and eat it with hot cassoulet.