The historical past of Cassoulet – The Good Life France | EUROtoday

Discover the historical past of cassoulet – a bean and meat dish that’s an obsession in France, and a scrumptious and engaging story…

As conflict was raging across the city of Castelnaudary, the townspeople confronted hunger. The English surrounded them, the city’s troopers have been dwindling quick, and it seemed like this southwestern commune could be simply one other notch on English belts in what would develop into the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453). But the individuals rallied. Gathering all they might discover – beans, bacon, sausages – every little thing was chucked right into a cauldron and simmered. This communal effort was rewarded, and the southwest’s most well-known dish was born. Thanks to this newly invented cassoulet, their revived power smells of the English packing! Defeat might wait one other day.

This is all in keeping with legend anyway.

And is it any marvel {that a} dish of such extraordinary fortifying impact, a lot in order that it someway prevented occupation, has gone down as the enduring style of southwest France? Little does it matter that this siege in all probability by no means occurred – the Black Prince (son of English King Edward III) led a bloodbath of Castelnaudary in 1355 – however legends have a sneaky manner of changing into truth. Especially relating to cultural identification.

For a meal that was apparently made throughout battle, the cassoulet is understandably modest; made in a conical clay pot known as a cassole, therefore the identify cassoulet, stuffed with white beans and sure compulsory meats that should quantity to 30% of the elements. This is in accordance with the 1966 ruling of the Estates General of French Gastronomy, a high quality recognition board for French delicacies that clearly would not take ldl cholesterol under consideration. These pivotal elements outline the terroir, however the cassoulet means way more than a bowl of stodgy consolation meals.

The cult of Cassoulet

Within the partitions of Carcassonne, red-robed and hatted congregants meet, watching their latest initiates take their vows earlier than formally marking them as members by slipping ribboned amulets over their heads. We have not stumbled right into a witches’ coven, no, that is the Académie Universelle du Cassoulet. And that amulet is a miniature cassole.

Founded by chef Jean-Claude Rodriguez in 1998, the Académie’s function is to honor and promote ‘true’ cassoulet around the globe. To the Académie, canned ‘industrial’ cassoulet is sacrilegious, and the members have taken on a mission to uphold requirements and respect French custom. The 70 members costume in sweeping robes, have their very own cassoulet hymn, and their scripture is the work of French culinary grasp, Prosper Montagné.

His 1929 e-book “Le Festin Occitan” celebrates his Carcassonne roots and it was he who declared “God the father is the cassoulet of Castelnaudary, God the Son that of Carcassonne, and the Holy Spirit that of Toulouse,” confirming the three contenders of the unofficial cassoulet competitors, doctrine that the Académie nonetheless preaches.

Yet this holy trinity could also be a cause why cassoulet has gone down in historical past. As the chef André Daguin as soon as stated, “Cassoulet is not really a recipe, it’s a way to argue among neighboring villages”.

The historical past of cassoulet

The ‘true’ cassoulet is continually up for debate, as every city has a special recipe of their possession. For instance, in Castelnaudary, the triumvirate of meat is duck confit, pork shoulder and sausage, whereas in Toulouse, it’s tweaked in order that town’s personal Toulouse sausage is well known. In Carcassonne, it consists of mutton or partridge relying on who you ask, and in the meantime every little thing you have simply learn is unsure as a result of no two sources can agree!

Different eating places inside metropolis partitions take their very own artistic inspiration. Some swear by a crumb topping whereas others declare it as heresy, and even the kind of beans could cause battle about whether or not it’s the Tarbais or flageolet bean. Knowing that different native cities declare it as their very own injects a way of possessiveness – normally the distinction of the cassoulet’s origins is bestowed on Castelnaudary, allegedly as a result of the city has little else to supply compared to its rivals, but it’s clear that this hasn’t ‘t put the argument to relaxation. Castelnaudary’s La Grande Confrérie du Cassoulet – one other cassoulet brotherhood – has admitted how tough it’s to hint its origins “given the inflamed passions it provokes”.

Even so, clues have been traced – medical treatises, historic artifacts, and recipe books – again to the 14th century. The cooking tome “Le Viandier” by royal cook dinner of 60 years Guillaume Tirel honors stews and casseroles, together with one particularly that was of pork and beans. La Grande Confrérie suspects the affect of a medieval culinary work by Mohamed of Baghdad who created a spiced mutton and vegetable stew, that means that the cassoulet may very well be Arabic.

However, whichever greens have been used are now not celebrated within the trendy cassoulet as at present’s white beans have been shipped to Europe from the Americas by Christopher Colombus within the sixteenth century. The Queen of France, Catherine Medici, then launched this new ingredient and inspired its cultivation which was carried out within the southwest of France.

The seventeenth century was the Belle Epoque of French delicacies, but cassoulet (at the moment often known as ‘estouffat’) was the style of residence with housewives simmering the stew over the hearth for hours at a time, slowly softening the beans so they might absorb the meats’ fatty flavors. Soon it was named after the pot it was cooked in, formally changing into the cassoulet. In 1836, the primary cassoulet manufacturing facility was opened: Maison Bouissou was established in Castelnaudary, making the city the epicenter of cassoulet manufacturing.

Occitanie could also be fractured due to the sheer number of ‘genuine’ cassoulets, however a matter every metropolis can agree on is that cassoulet is an event for a very good previous knees up. Toulouse’s Place du Capitole transforms right into a cassoulet banqueting venue each September for aficionados to feast and Castelnaudary celebrates with an annual Fête du Cassoulet – “five days of cassoulet and music”, a cause to occasion if ever there was one. As Jean-Claude Rodriguez says, “Cassoulet has such a religion… because it’s the sharing dish… it’s Communion around a dish.”

Ally Mitchell is a blogger and freelance author, specializing in meals and recipes. Ally left the UK to stay in Toulouse in 2021 and now writes about her new life in France on her meals weblog NigellaEatsEverything.

Recipe for Castelnaudary cassoulet
Recipe for Carcassonne cassoulet

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