Trying Out Cassoulet & Gambas in Languedoc | 尝尝朗格多克特色砂锅菜

The Languedoc region of France is the birthplace of the famous dish cassoulet. As a foodie traveling here, I have to try out this local specialty. I had it before in northern France and loved it, although it's not something that I want to eat daily as it's quite heavy.

The name Cassoulet came from its cooking container, the round casserole pot. Usually, it contains duck, sausages, pork skin, white beans, and sometimes goose or mutton depending on the recipe of a certain place or cook. The ingredients are slowly cooked into a rich hearty stew. If you are also interested, here's a video of how to make cassoulet by French Cooking Academy.

I read that the town of Castelnaudary claimed to be the birthplace of cassoulet. It's said that when the town was under siege by the British during the Hundred Years War, the locals gathered all the ingredients they could find to make cassoulet to serve their defenders. And of course, the magic power of cassoulet helped them defeat the enemy... A local organization called The Grand Brotherhood of the Cassoulet of Castelnaudary even organizes annual cassoulet fairs and competitions. However, like other famed dishes, the exact origin is always under debate. We first planned to try out cassoulet in Castelnaudary, but the restaurant was closed then, so we bought a canned one from the nearby Maison du Cassoulet, where a variety of cassoulet is offered.

法国朗格多克地区是著名菜肴卡酥莱砂锅的发源地。旅行到这里自然要尝试一下这道当地特色菜。以前在法国北部吃过，觉得味道不错，但比较肥腻，不适合常吃，我每次一吃完就有想上厕所的冲动~ 写到这里惊觉这似乎不是一个很好的开头……

卡酥莱这个名字来自它的烹饪容器——圆形砂锅。主料一般包含鸭肉、香肠、猪皮、白豆等，有时还有鹅肉或羊肉，具体要看出自哪个地方或厨师。这些油腻腻的食材和香料相遇，慢慢煮成一大锅浓郁香滑的炖菜。

这一地区的Castelnaudary镇自称是卡酥莱砂锅的发源地。说是百年战争期间，该镇被英国人围攻时，当地人收集了他们能找到的所有食材，丢进大锅里煮成菜给反击的士兵吃。最后，这锅有着强大卡路里的食物帮助他们打败了敌人…… 当地还有一个“卡酥莱砂锅大兄弟会”组织一年一度的砂锅集市和比赛。然鹅，就像其他著名菜肴一样，确切的起源一直在争论中，周边很多其他城镇也觉得自己才是发源地。最初打算在Castelnaudary的一家餐厅尝试一下所谓发源地的卡酥莱砂锅，但当时餐厅关门了，所以只从附近的一家店买了罐装的，那里有卖各种主料的卡酥莱砂锅熟食。

这种砂锅菜在同一地区的其他地方也很受欢迎，比如更有名的大城图卢兹和卡尔卡松。因为开头的发音都有“卡”，我曾一度以为卡酥莱砂锅来自卡尔卡松XD（记得小时候卡卡颂的桌游还挺好玩的……）。这些地方以前去过，这次没长停留，只是在超市补了吃货，其中就包括砂锅罐头^^。到最后终于吃到卡酥莱的餐厅其实是在Lézignan-Corbières，一个离海边不远的小地方，以前从来没听说过，只是搜索餐厅时偶然看到的。

这家酒店餐厅叫Le Tournedos，从我下面的照片里可以看到。卡酥莱和烤大虾都很棒，强烈推荐！这里的砂锅炖菜是以油封鸭肉和图卢兹香肠为主料的，我以前写过油封鸭，是法国西南地区的特产。图卢兹香肠有黑胡椒调味，我觉得很好吃。谷歌地图上有人评论说这是镇上最好的砂锅菜，希望如此吧，反正也没尝试过镇上其他家的XD…… 餐厅外观虽不起眼，内饰环境却很宜人，供应的自酿红酒和咖啡品质也不错。小镇位于Corbières葡萄酒产区，有个葡萄酒博物馆。这家酒店餐厅前的小环岛上还立着一座葡萄标志的石头雕塑。

Their lovely business card says: "Don't insist, you won't get my recipe!" Haha:

Cassoulet is also popular in other towns of the same region, such as the well-known bigger ones Toulouse and Carcassonne. I once thought cassoulet is from Carcassonne for some reason XD. We also got canned cassoulet from the supermarkets in these places. While the restaurant where we had cassoulet and gambas is located in Lézignan-Corbières, a commune on the way to the coast.

The hotel restaurant is called Le Tournedos, as you can see from my photos here. We ordered gambas from their chef's suggestion menu, as well as the star stew cassoulet. Normally, you will need to wait for about half an hour before the cassoulet is ready to serve. So, we first enjoyed the huge grilled gambas. Both of them tasted divine, highly recommended! Here, the cassoulet used duck confit and Toulouse Sausage as the main meat. Someone on GoogleMap commented that this is the best cassoulet in town. I haven't tried other ones in town, but I hope so. :)

The house wine and coffee served here were also top quality. In fact, it's in the Corbières wine region and there is a Vine and Wine Museum in town. I saw a sculpture featuring grapes at the roundabout in front of this hotel restaurant.

^{All content by @itchyfeetdonica
图文 by Donica}

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