Wild Boar for 4 and Cassoulet for 600

Cucugnan

After we left Peyrepertuse, it was time for lunch.  It can be a little hard finding a place to eat, because it's not tourist season and so many establishments are closed until late spring.  But in Cucugnan we were able to find an open eatery with seating for the six of us. Warm and a bit rustic, it was a house that seemingly went on forever, with multiple seating levels.  The downstairs was full of locals, it smelled like hours of cooking. 

Today's choices

The waitress led us to a table upstairs and handed us the menus.  The day's specials were coq au vin or wild boar.  Diane and Jerry opted for the coq au vin, all of the rest of us went for the boar.  I knew the one we'd just seen was safe, and I figured it may be a long time before I had the chance to get wild boar again, so I had better go for it.  

Our happy band

We started with our entree--which really is an appetizer.  Chicken gizzard salad is a regional specialty, and I love it, but I opted for warm goat cheese.  We had a pitcher of the house red, and plenty of crusty, dense baguette.  Conversation flowed easily.  It's such a joy to break bread with smart, witty, insightful companions.  

My "entree"

About midway through the meal, the chef/proprietor came up and asked, rather brusquely, I thought, for Jason to move his car.  It seemed that the TV trucks were coming.  Jason hadn't parked in any sort of forbidden spot, but he obligingly got up and moved the van.  

Mine-all mine

Then came the main dishes....they sent the boar up in containers of portions for two, so we had two bowls of pork and one bowl of coq au vin.  There was another container of noodles for the pork, and a container of haricots blancs....white beans.  The low carb concept has not reached Cucugnan.  No wonder, considering how remote it is! 

I needn't wax rhapsodic over the lunch.  It was so good; I couldn't finish my portion.  There was also a dessert to come; I opted for Creme Catalane--a somewhat lighter version of creme brulee.  We didn't linger too long over lunch; we probably spent only two hours rather than our normal three.  We had places to go; Queribus and LaGrasse weren't going to come to us.

As we were departing, Jason told us that he'd had to move his van because TV crews were indeed on their way.  There was a nationwide telethon this weekend, and Cucugnan was one of the towns selected as a broadcast site. We'd be seeing them tonight on France 2.  The owner of the shop was in the throes of preparing cassoulet for 600 people.  I swear that had to be more than the population of the whole town.  Jason reminded me that I had forgotten about the film crews....That explains the beans at lunch; the chef undoubtedly had plenty on hand. It also explains the "brusqueness."  He wasn't upset; he was stressed out. He had quite a dinner party to throw.

I turned on the TV when I got home and indeed, there was our little town of Cucugnan, complete with fire-eaters, medieval knights and---cassoulet.

The windmill peeking over the hill.