Whole Dry-Aged Duck Confit Cassoulet with THC-Infused Duck Fat Garlic Crumb and Winter Black Truffle

Whole Dry-Aged Duck Confit Cassoulet with THC-Infused Duck Fat Garlic Crumb and Winter Black Truffle

This is the dish that makes French grandmothers weep and stoners book flights. A whole dry-aged duck is broken down, legs cured and confit’d for days in its own fat, breast roasted crisp, carcass turned into a bean-soaking stock that tastes like liquid umami. Tarbes beans (or the best white beans you can find) cook low and slow with house-made garlic sausage, smoked pork belly, and a bouquet garni until they surrender. Everything gets layered in a massive earthenware pot, crowned with a cannabis-infused duck-fat breadcrumb that’s been toasted until mahogany, then finished with a reckless shower of fresh winter black truffle. One spoonful and you’ll understand why cassoulet is worth going to war over.

Serves 10 very happy people  
Active time: 4 hours spread over 5 days | Total time: 6 days + 10-day infusion  
Dosage: 18 mg THC per portion (180 mg total in the garlic crumb)

Infusion (start 10 days ahead)  
Decarboxylation  
5.15 g cannabis flower testing 22 % THC  
240 °F for 40 minutes, cool in oven.

Infused duck-fat garlic crumb (makes 3 cups, exactly 180 mg usable THC)  
2 cups panko  
1 cup rendered duck fat  
10 cloves garlic, confit’d soft  
5.15 g decarbed flower  
1 tsp sunflower lecithin  
1 tbsp kosher salt

Pulse garlic with duck fat, weed, and lecithin until smooth. Toss with panko and salt. Spread on a sheet tray, toast low (275 °F) for 45–60 minutes until deep golden, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely—it should be crunchy as hell.

Duck confit (make 4–5 days ahead)  
1 whole 5–6 lb duck, dry-aged 7–10 days if possible  
¼ cup kosher salt  
10 cloves garlic, smashed  
10 sprigs thyme  
2 bay leaves  
1 tbsp black peppercorns  
1 tsp pink curing salt #1 (optional but classic)  
4–5 lb rendered duck fat (enough to submerge)

Cure legs and wings 48 hours in the salt mix. Rinse, pat dry, submerge in duck fat, cook 200 °F for 10–12 hours until the meat falls off the bone with a whisper. Cool in the fat.

Beans & assembly  
2 lb dried Tarbais or cannellini beans, soaked overnight  
Duck carcass + wings for stock  
1 lb garlic sausage, sliced  
1 lb smoked pork belly or ventrèche, cubed  
2 onions, 4 carrots, 4 celery (mirepoix)  
Bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, bay, peppercorns in cheesecloth)  
Reserved duck confit legs  
Roasted duck breasts (seasoned and seared hard, finished at 400 °F to 130 °F internal)

Cook beans gently in the stock with sausage, pork belly, mirepoix, and bouquet until creamy but intact (3–4 hours). Taste obsessively for salt.

Layer in a huge cassole or Dutch oven: beans, confit legs torn into chunks, sausage, pork belly, more beans. Top with a solid ½-inch blanket of infused garlic crumb.

Bake uncovered 300 °F for 2–2½ hours until the top is a dark, crackling crust and the beans are bubbling around the edges.

Rest 20 minutes. Carve the roasted duck breasts, lay slices over the top. Shave fresh winter black truffle (½ oz per person if you’re living right) directly over the whole pot at the table.

Serve in wide bowls with crusty bread and a bottle of Madiran that won’t quit.

18 mg THC per portion.  
You’ll need a nap, a blanket, and zero plans for the rest of the day.