Jul 3

Jul 3 La Joie de Toulouse II

Anne-Marie Minhall

Anne-Marie Minhall, Markets, Travel

There are some 80 or so stallholders at the Victor Hugo Market in Toulouse.

I think I would have liked to have shook the hand of each & every one of them during my visit there.

Last time on the blog, I believe that I'd just covered a couple of aisles.

Time to explore more then.

Things to look at and to translate the signs above them including Confit Pigs Ears & Smoked, Dried Duck Breast plus fowl with heads & feet still on which you'd rarely see in this country.

Toulouse is among those towns and cities in South West France feted for Cassoulet. This dish apparently came to be during the Hundred Years War when locals in Castelnaudary found themselves under siege by the British. They gathered up all the ingredients they could find & cooked up a hearty stew for those trying to fight off the invaders. It worked.

The variations on this traditional dish are wider than a mile (or in France a kilometre).

In some places it will be prepared with pork shoulder, duck confit & sausage or elsewhere with mutton or goose. In Toulouse it's local sausage plus duck confit & breadcrumbs. Beans are a given in every variety - though they will differ as well.

In the Toulouse market you could buy jars of Cassoulet in several sizes. Too tempting & I'm hand baggage home.

One of the hallmarks of this Cassoulet is Saucisse de Toulouse. You'll be familiar with the shape of it, just like our own Cumberland Sausage, it's usually bought in a coil. Variations on a theme once more once the basics of pork shoulder & belly, garlic & seasoning are sorted. Some butchers add red wine or duck to the mix of this much loved meaty treat which began to make a mark around 300 years ago.