Back to you in a winter in Toulouse, the pink city we love. Of course, plenty of posts on it in my blog and this one too. However, always a stop for us while visiting the city or area! And we keep coming back and always glorious cooking as the cassoulet! Hope you enjoy the post as we!
In my continuing saga with the pink city of Toulouse I bring you to eating out. And you are in for a good one here in my belle France of course. The culinary experts here is the cassoulet dish and even if imitators and competitors this one remains the only one unique, me think. OF course, came here first with my dear late wife Martine as her father was from the area and the tradition continues even if missing a large part of our lives. The dish even has a page in the tourist office of Toulouse! We love it and I die for it; each time here must have one and where better than in our ritual place at Place Victor Hugo right above the market of same name, the restaurant Le Loubechem! A family tradition for years…
Of course, there are others, but this one is a family tradition of many years going back to the founders of the restaurant and my wife’s father’s family from the area. We have been coming to Le Louchebem since 1994 when it opened and keep coming back!! The word Louchebem is the result of the deformation by jargon of the word butcher attested for the first time in 1876 in the form luchebem, was then used to indicate the jargon of louchébems or the butchers’ talk, in other words the slang of butchers from second half of the 19C. Louchébem remains known and used today in this professional universe.
The Le Louchebem restaurant opened its doors in 1994, above the marché Victor Hugo market at Place Victor Hugo square. This traditional establishment is a family home that serves a restaurant and a butcher. It holds the title of Maître Restaurateur. The cuisine concocted here is prepared from fresh and carefully chosen products. The setting is picturesque, the atmosphere friendly, the service as professional as smiling. In other words, it is a good address for Toulouse residents as well as for passing visitors. You must absolutely taste the house specialties, as plentiful as delicious. An institution warmly recommended to all!
The official webpage of Le Louchebem resto: https://www.lelouchebem-toulouse.fr/
The cassoulet is of occitan origins and is a specialty based on dry beans, generally white, and meat. Originally it was made from beans. The cassoulet takes its name from the enamelled terracotta casserole made in Issel. It is usually told that the place the origin is in the city of Castelnaudary, during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). During the siege of Castelnaudary by the English, the hungry besieged would have gathered all the food available (beans and meat), to make a gigantic stew or estofat, to reinvigorate the combatants. These could then drive out the English and liberate the city. The question became nationalized around 1900 when the food critic Edmond Richardin launched a debate on this subject in the Parisian Gazette. Everyone then took sides for a region such as Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, and Toulouse, while by passing the existence of local versions like Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Narbonne, Montauban, Pau or Pamiers. To mediate this rivalry, Prosper Montagné ; a Languedocien gourmet who became a cook in Toulouse, uses a metaphor : “Cassoulet is the God of Occitan cuisine. A God in three people: God the Father who is the cassoulet of Castelnaudary, God the Son who is that of Carcassonne and the Holy Spirit, that of Toulouse. ” We of course, side with the version of Toulouse!!
The Toulouse cassoulet contains duck confit and a Toulouse sausage, carrot and an onion spiked with cloves. It is sometimes covered with breadcrumbs, before going to the oven. The number of times it is necessary, during baking, to break the crust that forms on the surface of the dish, is the subject of great quarrels of experts told between six and eight times depending on the versions and the chef. The tourist office of Toulouse on the cassoulet in English : https://www.toulouse-visit.com/cassoulet
Hope you can visit Toulouse and enjoy this institution by a wonderful picturesque quant neighborhood of Victor Hugo! at the Place Victor Hugo inside the marché or market of Victor Hugo!! Enjoy the Le Loubechem!!
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 