Cassoulet Masterclass, Toulouse

The Cassoulet Masterclass in Toulouse is a four-hour hands-on cooking course teaching Occitanie's most iconic dish — cassoulet de Toulouse — under the guidance of a Toulousain chef with deep roots in the south-west French gastronomic tradition. The class begins at the Marché Victor Hugo, the city's magnificent 19th-century covered market in the Capitole neighbourhood, before moving to a professional kitchen for the cooking and eating portions. At Victor Hugo market, the chef guides participants through the selection of every ingredient specific to the Toulouse cassoulet canon: Lingot du Languedoc white haricot beans, fresh saucisse de Toulouse — a large-calibre pork sausage seasoned with salt and pepper only, bound to a 19th-century specification — duck confit legs from Gascon ducks raised on maize in the Gers department, and salt-pork rind. The chef explains how the quality of each component determines the final result, and why the Toulouse cassoulet differs from the Castelnaudary version. Back in the teaching kitchen — typically located in the Capitole or Saint-Étienne quarter of Toulouse — participants work in pairs or small groups of three to prepare each element: soaking and pre-cooking the beans, browning the meats, and assembling the cassoulet in an earthenware cassole. The chef teaches the critical gratin crust technique — the characteristic pale crust broken and pushed down multiple times during oven cooking — that distinguishes authentic cassoulet from a simple bean stew. The cooking portion lasts approximately two hours. The class concludes with lunch: participants eat the cassoulet they have prepared alongside a glass of Côtes du Frontonnais red wine from the Fronton AOC north of Toulouse. A digital recipe sheet is distributed after the class and the chef takes questions about the wider south-west French kitchen. Groups are limited to a maximum of eight participants. Classes run in English and French. Dietary restrictions must be declared at booking; full substitution of pork components is not possible within this cassoulet format.