Farmer David’s Chicken Cassoulet

Every chicken comes with two drumsticks, and for thirteen years the drums have been the last thing left in Wishbone's freezer.

This cassoulet started as Farmer David's answer to that problem and became something more. The Braised Beef Chili was the first braise he built his own diet around. This was the second. It is one pot holding chicken, real bone broth, white beans, and three pounds of root vegetables. That is more variety than chicken usually gets, and a complete meal in a single bowl. He makes it two crockpots at a time, freezes it in generous portions, and eats it as fast as it warms in a pot.

36 grams of protein, 12 grams of fiber, 450 calories. Hearty enough for January, light enough for July.

Every bird has two drumsticks

Americans buy chicken by the breast. At Perdue, breast meat accounts for roughly 60 percent of chicken sales. Even a midsize producer like Springer Mountain Farms sends an estimated 65 to 70 percent of its drumsticks to export or to non-food uses like pet treats, because the domestic market will not take them (TASTE, 2020).

A small farm has no export market. When Dos Lobos Ranch stopped raising pastured chicken in 2025, it said customers bought breasts and tenders, while drums and the rest of the bird went unsold and mostly got given away to clear freezer space (Dos Lobos Ranch).

Farmer David has faced the same choice every season for thirteen years. He can sell the drums whole and fight to move every pack. Or he can pay the packer to debone them, then pay a second time to grind them into ground chicken and sausage. Neither is a great answer.

This pot is the third option.

A pot built from what was left

Cassoulet comes from the Languedoc in southwest France, around the town of Castelnaudary. The town's favorite story says it was invented during a fourteenth-century English siege, when residents pooled whatever they had into one pot to feed the defenders. The founder of the Académie Universelle du Cassoulet admits there is no written record of any of it (Connexion France).

What the record does show is a dish that was never one recipe. The medieval version was broad beans cooked with a little pork or poultry fat. White beans arrived later, from the Americas. Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, and Toulouse each claim their own cassoulet, and the chef Prosper Montagné famously ranked them as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The meat changed with whatever the household had: pork, sausage, duck, goose, mutton, even partridge (Wikipedia).

That is the tradition this pot belongs to: beans, a long braise, and the cut there is too much of.

Let the oven do the browning

Season the drums, lay them skin side up on a sheet pan, and put them in a 400°F oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes. The skin browns and renders, and the fat stays on the pan. That fat is what the onions cook in.

Meanwhile you have about twenty minutes free. Dice the onions, cut the roots, mince the garlic, and blend the tomato paste, chipotle, and a pouch of broth. By the time the chicken comes out, everything else is ready to go in the pot.

Ingredients

This is the eight quart version: one crockpot, half of what Farmer David makes when he runs two side by side.

From Wishbone Farms in our Sunday Braise Bundle

3 packs Chicken for Stew (boneless skin-on drums)
3 pouches (14 oz) chicken bone broth, thawed

Everything else

4 cans (15.5 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomato
2 large yellow onions, diced
3 lb root vegetables, cut in 1 inch chunks. Potatoes and carrots are the base; add parsnip, turnip, or rutabaga when they are fresh and in season, if you like
1 can (7 oz) chipotle in adobo
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 cup dry wine, red or white
3 T minced garlic
2 T smoked paprika
2 T fresh oregano, minced (or 2 tsp dried)
1 T apple cider vinegar
Your best salt and ground black pepper to season the chicken

A note on the wine. Red or white, it does not matter here. Anything dry and drinkable you have on hand works. Pour yourself a glass while you are at it.

The Chicken for Stew and chicken bone broth are both in the Sunday Braise Bundle. Order for Pickup on Thursday or Saturday, or have Farmer David deliver to you.

Method

Season and roast the chicken. Pat it dry and season it heavily with salt and pepper. Lay it skin side up in a single layer on a sheet pan and roast at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the skin is browned. Keep the drippings.
Blend the wet base. In a blender, combine the tomato paste, the whole can of chipotle in adobo, and one pouch of broth. Blend until smooth.
Start the onions. Pour the sheet pan drippings into a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sweat until softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
Bloom the garlic and paprika. Add the garlic and smoked paprika and stir for one minute, until fragrant. This step is where most of the flavor comes from, so do not skip it.
Deglaze. Pour in the wine and scrape up everything stuck to the pan. Simmer for two minutes.
Build the pot. Put the roots in the bottom of an 8 quart crockpot, since they need the most heat. Add the chicken, the onion mixture, the blended base, the crushed tomato, and the remaining two pouches of broth. If you are using dried oregano, add it now.
High, lid on, until the pot comes to a boil, about an hour.
High, lid off, for about an hour, until the level drops about an inch. That is the room the beans will need.
Low, lid back on, for 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken shreds under a fork and the roots are tender. Shred the chicken in the pot with two forks.
Thicken and finish. Press a few pieces of potato against the side of the pot and stir them back in. That is the thickener: no flour, no cornstarch. Add the beans, the fresh oregano, and the vinegar. Heat through, about 15 minutes, then taste and season.

What you might add

Depending on your chipotle, the salt on your chicken, and how you like your heat, you may want some of the following.

Cayenne, if it needs more bite
Another tablespoon of smoked paprika, for deeper smoke
Half a pound of our bacon or Chourico, roasted on the pan with the chicken
Fresh parsley, at the table
Toasted breadcrumbs on top, a nod to the classic crust

Two pots, one Sunday

One crockpot yields about 12 generous portions. Let it cool, portion it, and freeze it. It holds for a year. Farmer David now runs two crockpots side by side, which takes about the same work as running one. You may only need one. Either way, it is weeks worth of dinners from a single afternoon, and the best use for the drums that no one else was smart enough to pick up.