Gastronomy, specialties and local products of the Tarn & Garonne

It is lovely to meet someone and share a good meal ! Enjoy local products and regional specialities of this area. Eating is also one of the pleasures of a holiday... Let’s be honest, we can enjoy looking at beautiful scenery, but we also enjoy all these new flavours at lunch and dinner times, whether at the restaurant or cooking with products from the local market !

During your holiday in the Tarn, the Tarn & Garonne and the Aveyron, you are spoiled for choice ! This may be the reason you came here... Let’s have a tour of all the delicacies of these three departments with which to tempt you !

Specialities and local products in the Tarn & Garonne

In the Tarn & Garonne, they celebrate fruit. In these lands full of sun, sometimes rich in silt from the rivers and streams, or arid on the Causses du Quercy, orchards thrive and the farmers are kept busy ! Here there are quality products to be tried. As in the main part of the southwest, poultry is popular, as well as the savoury meat from various breeds, but above all fruit is king...

Le Chasselas de Moissac

Here table-grapes are popular. It's not grapes for wine making which are important. The Chasselas de Moissac is a white grape AOP, with a thin skin. Its flavour is sweet with honey aromas. It is very juicy, has a golden colour and is exclusively harvested by hand by the chasselatiers, who must then 'chisel' it, ie. remove the damaged or very small berries from the clusters before selling them to the demanding consumers that we are ! They can be eaten as they are, for the pleasure of their flavour. This is a grape that has various uses : for juice, for aperitifs (such as the Quercy des îles, with rum, vanilla and spice, yum), and for jams and jellies. It is best served with oysters, with quail, in desserts and tarts, Nages de fruits! It is up to you to eat it as you wish.

The Quercy Melon

This sweet melon benefits from the limestone and mixed clay soils of the region. Thanks to the water supply lying in the clay soil, the melon benefits from the sun's heat while its roots stay cool in the soil. The Quercy melon has a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) and provides a living for small producers. Choose it with care in the markets, hold it in your hands and to choose a ripe, sweet melon, check the stalk, which must be slightly crackled. The skin is green, turning yellowish. It has a sweet and fruity smell. To enjoy it simply slice it. You can also make small balls of melon and serve them with a dry white wine (local!), yum, it is delicious !

Garlic of Lomage

Lomagne is a region stretching across the Gers and the Tarn & Garonne. Its capital is Lectoure, in the Gers. Big, fleshy white garlic comes from Lomagne. It has a strong rich flavour. In the markets it can be found in the second half of the year. It is sold either as a garlic braid, individually or in a net. It is a condiment that can be cooked in many ways. Did you know that garlic is known for its antiseptic properties ? Legends saying that it keeps away vampires were not only based on stories for disobedient children. In southwestern cuisine, garlic is often crushed and emulsified to make sauces like garlic cream, preserving all its properties.

Saffron of the Tarn & Garonne

Although the name of this spice evokes rich flavours and exotic pictures, it grows perfectly in the climate of the southwest. Safranières can be found in Tarn & Garonne. Besides, since the middle ages bulbs of saffron have been planted in the Quercy ! They are planted in July, they bloom in October and the flowers are delicately picked by hand to harvest the precious stigmas. The saffron is in fact the stigma of the flower, present in small quantities in each flower. This explains why it is the most expensive spice in the world. We use saffron in very small quantities (because it is expensive but also because it has a strong flavour) to flavour sweet and savoury dishes. It is added to delicate dishes, such as foie-gras, scallops... It is added to pasta water when cooking “Tagliatelles aux Coques” for example. It can be found in tajines, couscous, paëlla. In sweet food, it is used in syrups, jams, jellies. It can be added to scrambled eggs, creams, and brioches... Saffron is everywhere !

Pears, apples and plums

The Tarn & Garonne is the orchard of the Occitanie. With its three large rivers (the Tarn, the Garonne and the Aveyron), the alluvial basin is large and orchards enjoy the sun and super nutrients in the soil to grow ! Here, they produce more than 80% of pears, apples and plums in the region. The Tarn & Garonne is the premier French department for apple production. You can try some delicious apple juice and cider ! There is also the kiwi, table grape, melon, apricot and peach. It is a cornucopia of fresh fruit during the season. In summer, going to the market and being faced with such choices can be overwhelming ! Indulge yourself with fruit salads, each more delicious than the last !

Foie gras in the Tarn & Garonne

An ancestral tradition, a typical dish of the southwest, the Tarn & Garonne is also a land of foie-fras, goose or duck. Foie gras is often found on the tables of the great chefs.

The black hen of Caussade and poultry of the Quercy

The black hen is an ancient breed of poultry with a beautiful black and white zebra style feather. Its meat is not plump but thin and fleshy. The black hen is farmed for its eggs and its unusual taste. Originating in the commune of Caussade, you will mainly find it there. Poultry in Quercy dates back to the middle ages. Here chickens always peck the soil as they are free range and cereal fed. They have a “Label Rouge” (a red label is a quality assurance indicator in France).

In Tarn & Garonne, there are also cep mushrooms, Gascony beef, goats' cheese, lavender, honey, lamb... Find all the producers of the region in our section !

Gastronomy of Tarn-et-Garonne, some emblematic dishes of the region

Typical recipes from Tarn-et-Garonne

The typical traditional dishes are delicious in Tarn & Garonne. They come from a mix of various culinary cultures Gascony, the Quercy, the Rouergue, the Pays Toulousain and the Aubrac. One can find poultry based dishes, mushrooms sauces, hearty dishes, confits...fruit desserts... most things...

• Nut bread and cakes. There are walnut trees in Quercy and to make life better, the farmers used to sprinkle cakes and bread with walnuts. They are delicious with a good Cabécou goats' cheese, for example.
• Cassoulet is a Toulousain dish that can also be found in Montauban and in the Tarn & Garonne. Made with tarbais beans, pork rind, tomato puree, sausages of course, it provides a hearty meal.
• Foie-gras, prepared in mousse, pate...pan fried, “mi-cuit” (cooked at a temperature between 70 to 85 degrees), it can be eaten in various ways; as a starter, sometimes in risottos, in nuggets in a tart or served with a jelly of saffron...
• Confit and duck magret are two dishes that can often be found on restaurant menus in the region.

Unmissable Tarn-et-Garonne delights

Get your taste buds ready, we're taking you on a Tarn-et-Garonnais gustatory journey, through its fine local produce, including duck, truffles and Lomagne garlic.

• Friton de canard (duck friton), grillon (duck cricket), graton (duck graton) is a pâté made from the remains of duck. Scrape the carcass to recover the bits, add duck fat and pork fat, season and you're done! Spread on toast or generous slices of farmhouse bread, it's the king of aperitifs and picnics! But it's also a sublime accompaniment to fresh salads in traditional restaurants.

• Omelette with Quercy black truffle, the region's diamond. To savor this gift of nature, this exceptional mushroom, you don't need complicated ingredients. It's self-sufficient. Eggs, a little seasoning and you've got a dish like no other. Want to know all about the famous Quercy black truffle?

• Saffron scrambled eggs are a simple recipe, but a real treat for the taste buds! You'll need eggs, crème fraiche and saffron pistils, of course. In fact, this local product from the Tarn-et-Garonne region is little-known. Yet this is a region where saffron and woad have been grown on the same soil since the Middle Ages!

• Tourin à l'ail de Lomagne is a garlic soup. The recipe is rustic: chicken stock, eggs and Lomagne garlic! As for the rest, every family has its own preferences, and no two are alike. You can add stale bread or vermicelli. It's part of the culinary tradition of Tarn-et-Garonne, and a competition is held for it during the Garlic Festival.

• Montauban cassoulet, an emblematic dish of the South-West! The Montauban recipe includes beans, duck confit, sausages and garlic sausage, smoked bacon, carrots and onions. This hearty dish originated in the Lauragais region of France. In medieval times, it was a bean-and-meat stew, simmered for long hours. Since Columbus discovered new vegetables on the other side of the world, it's been cooked with beans.

• Curbelets de Montauban are rolled wafers, like “Russian cigarettes”. The dough is very easy to make. However, you'll need a waffle maker to give them their proper shape, and a good helping hand to roll them... They keep for a long time and are easy to transport, making them an ideal accompaniment to children's snacks, picnics on the grass or a good cup of coffee at the end of a meal!

• The Mountalbane is named after its town of origin. This cake, created in Montauban, is a delicious cross between a cake and a pound cake, with a touch of brioche! It's flavored with orange blossom, vanilla and rum. You can also add candied fruit for a touch of gourmandise! You'll find them in all the good bakeries and patisseries in and around Montauban.

• Apple crumble is a very simple tart to make! You'll need filo pastry, which you'll fill with apples. Then make a cream with butter and sugar, flavored with Armagnac. Tarn-et-Garonne is not the only region to make this dessert, as you'll find them all over the South-West, particularly in the Gers and Ariège.

• Coque Quercynoise is a fairly compact brioche. Its name comes from the Occitan word “coco”, which simply means cake. It is often delicately flavored with rum and orange blossom. Some patisseries add candied fruit or sugar cubes. It is eaten during the religious festivals of Easter and Epiphany.

• How could we end this article on the gourmet delights of Tarn-et-Garonne without mentioning an unusual beverage: Vin du Tsar de Thézac and its Cuvée du Millénaire! It's in the heart of the Tarn-et-Garonne wine-growing region, in a vineyard near Fumel, that you'll discover this beverage that has seduced the most famous people in the world...

Here's our discovery of the Tarn-et-Garonne's gastronomy, which ends here but begins on your plates. We wish you bon appétit!

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