Flavors of France

Flavors of France >  Midi-Pyrénées Region > Tarn > A culinary journey to Albi

Like all of southwestern France, Albi is renowned for its excellent cuisine that brings together traditional savoir-faire and quality products. The area is known for its abundant game, charcuterie, wine and dessert specialties. Among them: “bougnettes,” large pork sausages, eaten cold; “melsat,” a kind of white sausage; tripe with saffron; duck or goose liver pâtés; beef stew à l’Albigeoise; preserved goose; radishes with salted liver; and lamb from the local limestone plateaus which brings its distinct flavor to leg of lamb with juniper.

When it comes to poultry, favorite dishes include cockerel in Gaillac wine; guinea fowl “salmis” (a kind of stew); duck à l’Albigeoise and goose “en daube.” Game is represented by larks with foie gras, hare stew with Cunac wine; thrushes with juniper, a local specialty; and venison from the Grésigne forest.

On the menu
Tripe, Albi-Style
Flavored with saffron, this juicy, deeply-colored tripe is enhanced with capers and accompanied by potatoes and onions from Lescure.

Albi-Style Pot-au-Feu
with sausage and dried beans

Radishes with Salted Liver
Made with radish slices and pork liver cooked together with a dash of vinegar. The acidity enhances the flavor of the liver and provides a contrast to the neutral flavor of the radishes, creating a very original and flavorful first course.

Respountjous
The name given to the tops of shoots from a variety of ivy. Made into a salad with hard-boiled eggs (which tame the plant’s bitterness), they are also sometimes used in more elaborate recipes prepared only in the spring.

Albi-Style Croustade
A flaky tart covered with apples or pears, prunes or even raisins.

Gimblette
A little dough ring, sweetened and flavored with orange flower water, boiled, then baked.

Navette
Very sweet short pastry covered with flaked almonds.

Échaude or Petit Jano
Boiled pastry flavored with anise

Fouace
A very ancient traditional cake. It is thought that its name comes from the popular Latin “focaccia,” from “focus,” hearth.

The original ancient recipe has been lost or altered over the centuries. It varies in its composition and richness depending on the region. With industrialization, it has gradually become more like a sweet, very light brioche, though true fouace is denser.

It is one of the oldest pastries to be found on French holiday tables, whether welcoming the three kings at Epiphany or heralding the arrival of springtime at Easter.