On the Cassoulet Trail…

On the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving, I was contemplating the past couple of meals I’ve had. We have just completed eating three meals of cassoulet, in three different restaurants, in three different towns, in just under a day and a half.

Tuesday night dinner in Carcassonne was Cassoulet…



Wednesday afternoon lunch in Castelnaudary (the home of cassoulet) was Cassoulet…





And Wednesday night dinner in Toulouse was also … well … Cassoulet (sorry but I don’t have any pictures of the Cassoulet from Toulouse).

The one in Carcassonne was by far the largest and arguably the best. Neither one of us was able to complete it, but we had both had appetizers beforehand. My appetizer was a big slab of foie gras. So take it from me kids, if you are sitting down to have a meal of cassoulet, you can skip the appetizers (and any side dishes for that matter).

Lessons Learned.

Thursday is Thanksgiving, and right now I think I’d give thanks to someone who passed me a salad and didn’t ask me if I wanted anything else.

The French wines have been good, the food has been great, and the weather has been colder than expected. However, cassoulet is a good cold weather meal. It’s a real “stick to your ribs” (or in my case – “stick to the region right below the ribs”) kind of meal. If you google it I’m sure you can find a decent recipe. It is by no means fast food; however, if you take the time I’m sure you’ll find it worth your while.

I purchased 3 cassoulet bowls for under 20 euros in Castelnaudary as well as a couple of other goodies that you will have to wait to see. I am out of town right now and don’t know how much I’ll be able to update this before the weekend. I took a lot of photos so I’ll try to post a few later on this week.