Cassoulet — Castelnaudary, France

Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse have always argued over cassoulet, and Castelnaudary holds the trophy at least by name: the cassole, the flared earthenware dish fired at Issel, a few kilometres away, in which it simmers and which gave the dish its name. The Chaurienne version is the simplest: lingot beans, duck or goose confit, Toulouse sausage, pork rind, a little pork — and no lamb, unlike Carcassonne. The secret is in the time. The beans first cook in a broth of rind and aromatics, then everything is assembled in the cassole and baked for a long time, at a low oven temperature, breaking the crust that forms on the surface — seven times, according to legend — to push it back into the juices. The final crust, golden and crisp, is the dish's signature.