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The dish is named after the cassole, the distinctive oval covered earthenware pot in which cassoulet is ideally cooked. In the process of preparing the dish it is traditional to deglaze the pot from the previous cassoulet to give a base for the next one. This process leads to several (possibly apocryphal) reports of the original cassoulet being extended for years or even decades.
Cassoulet is available throughout France and cans of it are sold in all supermarkets. Castelnaudary is the location of France's largest manufacturer of canned cassoulet: Spanghero.
According to a strand of folk tradition, sailors took the recipe for cassoulet to North America and thereby inspired baked beans.
Compare: Feijoada, Fabada Asturiana
French cuisineFrench cuisine is characterized by its extreme diversity. Despite France's history of centralization ( Paris), each region has its own distinctive specialities: cuisine from North-West France uses butter and cream; Provencal cuisine (from the southeast) f