Local Dishes

1. lo caçolet

   Cassoulet (white-bean and meat stew)

   Usage

   A heavy south-western speciality of white beans with pork, sausage and duck or goose confit, baked slowly in an earthenware pot. Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse each claim the best version

   Grammar Note

   Masculine, hence lo. The ç sounds /s/ before a, o, u.

2. l'aligòt

   Aligot (potato and fresh cheese purée)

   Usage

   A dish from the Aubrac plateau: mashed potatoes beaten with fresh tome cheese and garlic until they stretch in long ribbons. Often served with sausage

   Grammar Note

   Before a vowel lo becomes l'. The ending is -òt.

3. l'alhòli

   Aioli (garlic and olive-oil sauce)

   Usage

   A thick sauce of garlic emulsified with olive oil. In Provence it is served with boiled fish and vegetables (the "grand aïoli"). Very garlicky

   Grammar Note

   Unlike French aïoli, the Occitan spelling is alhòli, with lh.

4. la brandada

   Brandade (salt-cod purée)

   Usage

   A Languedoc dish of salt cod worked with olive oil and milk or potato. The Nîmes version is the best known; it can be spread on bread

   Grammar Note

   Feminine, hence la. The ending is -ada.

5. lo crespèl

   Crêpe

   Usage

   A thin pancake. Pescajon is another word for it in Languedoc. Sweet fillings are sugar or jam; savoury ones ham or cheese

   Grammar Note

   Masculine in Occitan, unlike French feminine crêpe.

6. la ratatolha

   Ratatouille (summer-vegetable stew)

   Usage

   A Provençal vegetable stew of aubergine, courgette, peppers and tomato in olive oil, eaten warm or cold

   Grammar Note

   Feminine. The ending -lha contains the digraph lh (a palatal l).

7. la tapenada

   Tapenade (olive paste)

   Usage

   A paste of ground olives, capers and anchovies, spread on bread. Quite salty

   Grammar Note

   Feminine, ending in -ada.

8. la pissaladiera

   Pissaladière (onion and anchovy tart)

   Usage

   A flat bread-dough tart from the Nice area, topped with thickly caramelised onions, anchovies and black olives. Often sold by the slice at bakeries

   Grammar Note

   Spelled without an accent (-ladiera). Feminine.

9. la fogassa

   Fougasse / fouace (flat bread)

   Usage

   A flat bread or cake, savoury or sweet depending on the region: in Provence usually savoury with olives, in Aveyron an orange-scented sweet fouace

   Grammar Note

   The same word names different foods by region; spelled fogassa.

10. l'anchoiada

    Anchoïade (anchovy dip)

    Usage

    A Provençal starter: anchovies, garlic and olive oil pounded into a dip for raw vegetables and bread

    Grammar Note

    Feminine; la becomes l' before a vowel.

11. la bolhabaissa

    Bouillabaisse (Marseille fish soup)

    Usage

    The fish soup of the port of Marseille: several kinds of rockfish, served with bread and rouille (a chilli-garlic sauce). An expensive dish

    Grammar Note

    Feminine. Often explained as bolh- (boil) + baissa (lower the heat).

12. la salada niçarda

    Niçoise salad

    Usage

    A cold salad of Nice with tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, tuna or anchovies and black olives. Locals say it should have no cooked vegetables

    Grammar Note

    niçarda is the feminine adjective from Niça, agreeing with feminine salada.

13. la salsissa de Tolosa

    Toulouse sausage

    Usage

    A fresh coarse-cut pork sausage, usually grilled; also served with cassoulet or aligot

    Grammar Note

    salsissa is "sausage"; de Tolosa gives the origin.

14. lo fetge gras

    Foie gras

    Usage

    Fattened duck or goose liver, a south-western speciality served as a cold starter with bread or fig jam. Some people avoid it for animal-welfare reasons

    Grammar Note

    fetge is "liver" (masculine); gras is "fat".

15. la trufa negra

    Black truffle

    Usage

    A prized winter fungus, famous in the south-west (for example the Quercy area), sliced over egg dishes and pasta. In some places trufa alone means potato

    Grammar Note

    The adjective negra agrees with feminine trufa. Alone, trufa can also mean potato.

16. lo milhàs

    Millas (cornmeal porridge or cake)

    Usage

    A south-western home dish of cornmeal cooked and set; baked as a sweet cake or, in some places, fried savoury beside meat

    Grammar Note

    milhàs can also mean maize. Mind the accent: -às.

17. lo pan banhat

    Pan bagnat (Niçois sandwich)

    Usage

    A round roll filled with the ingredients of a salade niçoise (tomato, tuna, egg, olive oil); the juices soak the bread, hence "wet bread"

    Grammar Note

    pan is bread; banhat is the participle of banhar, "to wet".

18. lo Ròcamador

    Rocamadour (goat cheese)

    Usage

    A small round soft goat cheese from the Quercy area, named after the pilgrimage village of the same name

    Grammar Note

    Cheese names take lo here. Mind the accent: Ròcamador.

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