Even to-day the nature of the Languedoc country
is expressed in Cassoulet, where haricot beans are
delicately mixed together with duck confit, Toulouse
sausage with pork shin, sausage with pork rind.
The cassoulet tradition and its recipe have been
kept on for over 150 years.
A serious selection of products together with the
know-how of a professional team make Le Colombier
a house proud of its local reputation in Toulouse.
The south-west of France, with its strong gastronomic
tradition, is the birth place of the cassoulet.
It first appeared in the course of the 16th century,
at a time when the first haricot beans then called
"white beans" came from the New World and were grown
in the south of France.
There is nothing to allow us to say whether cassoulet
existed under the same form but made with broad beans
at this time.
Cassoulet is a typical rural dish, it was served
during the winter months after the traditional pork
feast and the preparation of goose and duck meat.
It seems Castelnaudary was the birthplace of this
speciality, for it lies half-way between Languedoc,
the region whence "lou cassoul" originates, and Gascony,
the privileged region for farming geese and ducks.
The beans will come either from the Lauraguais or the
Ariège Pyrenees.
Originally, farmers' wives would cook the famous
speciality in the beginning of the week and let
"lou cassoul" (a typical Languedoc word, meaning the
earthenware pot on the picture) cook in the heart of
the fireplace.
The bottom of the pot was covered with rind and filled
up wit herbs and vegetable and herbs, the whole
generously greased with lard or duck or goose fat.
A ham bone often rancid, would give the dish its subtle
taste, abundantly spiced.
This dish would be the farmers food all over the week.
Thus cassoulet spared the housewife the chore of daily
cooking: everyday, after "breaking the crust" that
daily formed on the surface, missing ingredients were
replaced so that cassoulet might be always full. On
Sundays, to feast, after breaking the crust for the
seventh time, sausages and confit were added.
Maybe the familiar French expression "casser la croûte"
(literally breaking the crust, = to have something
to eat) comes from this practise, though other regions
and usages claim it as theirs. In the course of time,
each region has added up its subtleties in the
elaboration of the dish.
