The world capital of cassoulet: a visit to Castelnaudary

Castelnaudary from Le Grand Bassin

A conversation with Martie some months ago about meeting up for cassoulet ended up with our visiting the town of Castelnaudary in the heart of the southwest of France, unfortunately not with Martie as she and the gang are on the Canal du Midi and too far away at this point. 

To highlight the importance of this dish to the French it has a grand old brotherhood dedicated entirely to the preservation and dissemination of this one dish - the cassoulet. I have one of Jan's Journals - our South African Michelin Star chef in Nice - where he features the dish and its recipe, its been on my to do list for some time to attempt. So much excitement to get to do a tasting first.

According to the article the story and legends of the dish can be traced back several centuries. It's an Italian potter who made the terra cotta flat bottomed and flaring at the top bowls which became the signature shape for the bean and meat stew. 

Jan goes to the world's best cassoulet restaurant and when I  googled, it is closed on Wednesdays, oh well, you cannot win them all, so I picked another mostly on star rating and in we went.

The cassoulet has a crust, which we broke releasing a wave of steam so heartwarming and earthy, comfort food at its best and as my friend Rosella quipped 'rib-stickingly delicious'. 

The beans are Haricots du Lauragais, beans from this part of France, they are a long, narrow white beans and so delicious as the base of the stew, by far my best part. It's not runny either, our dish had the traditional sausage, piece of roasted pork and a confit leg of duck. Fresh green leaves as a side. 

We could barely move after lunch but I still had shopping on my to-do list and to experience the amazing Maison Escudier in the old village, in operation from 1920 and  a 'member d' honneur' of the cassoulet brotherhood.

We found the delightful old shop after some driving 'squiggly' as Nate would say. And I made my first purchase, Maison Escudier  are well known for the ready to heat and eat cassoulet bought in a glass jar. I am keeping it for a dinner with Nikki and Jan when we are back in the Netherlands. 

My second purchase was a huge sack of the dried Lauragais beans, what a treasure. My plan is to challenge our foodie group back in South Africa to cook the recipe from Jan's Journal and from Rosella's French cooking lesson and to treat ourselves to cassoulet one cold winter Sunday. 

We stretched our legs and walked along the Grand Bassin with its views across the town and the four ancient locks Saint Roche still in operation some 350 years after the Canal du Midi was built, and as it would happen the boat going through the locks had been hired  by South Africans.