Cheese soup

Cheese soup (a recipe from the Haut Languedoc Regional Natural Park):

Its story:
Cheese soup is a traditional and peasant dish from the south territories of the Massif Central (Tarn, Aveyron, Cantal). Also known as a post-party soup, it was brought to the newlyweds in their room on their wedding night. The type of cheese used may vary depending on the region it is made in.

Ingredients (for 6 people):
1kg of foraged cabbage, 1kg of grated Gruyere cheese, 1kg of stale or toasted country bread, salt, pepper, olive oil, (bacon, belly, pork rind for the cooking water).

Recipe:
1/Preheat your oven to 120°C. 2/Blanch the cabbage leaves for a few minutes. 3/ Cook the cabbage leaves in water for 1 hour. Add your piece of bacon, belly or rind to flavor the cooking water. 4/Drain and keep the cooking water. 5/Cut the country bread into pieces, thick slices. 6/In a baking dish, pour a drizzle of olive oil. 7/Cheese soup is a story of layers. Place a layer of cabbage, then a layer of bread. Cover the layers with a cap of grated Gruyere cheese and sprinkle everything with the cooking water. 8/ And so on, make layers until the food (or the dish) is used up, always finishing with grated gruyere. Bake in your oven for at least 1 hour at 120°C until the soup is golden brown.

The fresinat:

Its story:
It is a mountain pork stew that is prepared when the pig is slaughtered to eat at the first meal, using the pieces that are not used to make cold meats.

Ingredients:
pork, neck, ribs, spleen, loin, pink garlic, onions, duck fat, bouquet garni, brandy, salt, pepper.

Recipe:
Peel the garlic and onions and chop them finely. Cut the meats into large pieces. In a casserole dish, melt the fat and brown the meat, remove it.
In the same fat, melt the chopped onions and garlic. Return the meat. Salt and pepper. Sprinkle with brandy and 20 cl of water. Add the bouquet garni and cook covered and over a very low heat for 40 to 45 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the meat is well browned.

This dish is generally eaten with beans or potatoes with duck fat and parsley.

Mesturet (recipe from the Tourism Departmental Commitee of the Tarn)

Ingredients (for 8 people):
1 rectangular dish no more than 3 cm high, 1.5 kg pumpkin, 300 g corn flour, 300 g sugar, 5 eggs, 10 g salt, 1 orange zest and 1 lemon zest, 1 glass of rum, 100 g of butter.

Recipe :
Cut the pumpkin into cubes and melt it slowly in a saucepan in a splash of water. Then, stir and add salt. When the pumpkin is cooked, add the flour, sugar, grated orange and lemon zest, well-beaten eggs and rum. Mix well. Generously butter a mold, flour the dough and put everything in the oven thermostat 4/5 at 130°C (approximately 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking.) After the first half hour, brush melted butter onto the surface of the mold. cake to obtain a soft and very colorful crust.

The Muzzle breaker (modern and simplified recipe from Mr. Carayon de Brassac)

Its short story:
This centuries-old cake, very popular in the Middle Ages, is difficult to find today because few producers are still capable of mastering its manufacture. Traditionally from Biot (neighboring town of Brassac), it was said that elderly men when they gathered for their weekly Esperti (vespertin, snack, snack after Vespers), they cooked these “snout breaks” under the ashes while drinking large pints of wine.
It seems that these joyful feasts gave them back a youthful ardor…

Recipe :
Curdle 6 liters of sheep’s milk with a teaspoon of rennet, drain it well in a cloth, work in a basin 8 eggs with 150 g of flour, 1 grated lemon zest, 5 g of powdered yeast, the sheep’s curd.
Mix everything well, weigh the 350 g pieces of dough, roll them into a ball, place them on buttered paper and bake in the oven at 250°.
As soon as they take on color, split them over with scissors and finish them in a low oven for around 20 minutes and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Buy some from producers Mr. Galinier and Mr. Bénazech