Cassoulet only beans, tomato sauce, sausages, and bacon. More expensive versions are likely to be cooked with goose fat and to include Toulouse sausages, lamb, goose, or duck confit. Haute cuisine versions require mixing pre-cooked roasted meats with beans that have been simmered separately with aromatic vegetables, but this runs counter to cassoulet's peasant origins. In the process of preparing the dish it is traditional to deglaze the pot from the previous cassoulet in order to give a base for the next one. This has led to stories, such as the one given by Elizabeth David, citing Anatole France, of a
Toad in the hole Dishes like toad in the hole appeared in print as early as 1762, where it was described as a 'vulgar' name for a 'small piece of beef baked in a large pudding'. Toad in the hole was originally created as a way to stretch out meat in poor households. Chefs therefore suggested using the cheapest meats in this dish. In 1747, for example, Hannah Glasse's "The Art of Cookery" listed a recipe for 'pigeon in a hole', calling for pigeon rather than the contemporary sausages. In 1861, Isabella Beeton listed a similar recipe using rump steak and lamb's kidney, while