Cassoulet de Toulouse

Toulouse, Haute-Garonne — the urban elaboration of the cassoulet, made by the merchants and butchers of the Saint-Cyprien quartier: duck confit from the Gers, Saucisse de Toulouse from the abattoirs of the Capitole, and haricots de Pamiers. The Toulouse version travelled first to the bourgeois brasseries of the city and then to Paris, where it became the archetype of hearty southwest French cooking, displacing the more austere Castelnaudary original in the popular imagination.

Anas platyrhynchos canard gras (fattened duck) legs are confited in their own fat — the preparation requires a minimum of 24 hours salt cure followed by a slow cook at 85°C in duck fat. The confit legs are stored in the fat until needed. Saucisse de Toulouse — coarser-ground and more garlic-forward than the Castelnaudary version — is browned in rendered duck fat. Haricots de Pamiers (or Tarbais AOP) are parboiled. The cassole is assembled: beans first, confit duck legs placed skin-side up, sausage between the legs, braising liquid (duck stock plus Gaillac blanc) added to just cover. The oven cook and crust-breaking ritual is identical to Castelnaudary, but the duck fat that bastes the surface with each crust-break gives the Toulouse cassoulet its characteristic richness. Minimum three crustes.

• Périgord confit preparations (duck fat tradition)
• Gascony magret and bean
• Spanish fabada asturiana (bean and fat-rich charcuterie)

Duck confit fat is richer and more aromatic than pork fat — it carries the hay, herbs, and grain of the Gers fattening season into the beans. The Gaillac blanc used in the braising contributes a lightly oxidised stone-fruit note that rounds the sausage's garlicky sharpness. This is the most luxurious of the three cassoulets — the one that earned the dish its Parisian reputation.