Saucisse de Toulouse at Chez Émile
There is a reason the fat, coarse-ground pork sausage called saucisse de Toulouse has its own IGP (protected geographical indication): made correctly, with lean pork shoulder, back fat and nothing but salt, pepper and a little sugar, it is a different beast entirely from anything sold under that name outside the region. Chez Émile, on the Place Saint-Georges, has been cooking it properly since 195
What makes a true Toulouse sausage
The official specification requires at least 85% pork, coarsely minced (never fine-ground), stuffed into natural casings and twisted into a continuous spiral rather than linked. The fat content sits around 20–25%, which gives it the self-basting quality that makes it so good grilled over wood or braised into a cassoulet.
At Chez Émile the sausage arrives grilled on an open fire, split and slightly charred on the outside, juicy and pink within, served with a tangle of caramelised onions and a glass of Fronton rouge — the local appellation made from the rare Négrette grape that grows only a few kilometres north of the city.
Cassoulet: the sausage's greatest role
If you want the full expression of saucisse de Toulouse, order the cassoulet. Chez Émile's version follows the Toulouse school (as opposed to Carcassonne or Castelnaudary): white Tarbais beans, duck confit, pork rind and a generous length of Toulouse sausage buried under a breadcrumb crust that is broken and re-formed at least three times during cooking.
It is a dish that requires commitment — roughly 800 calories of slow-cooked contentment — so plan it for lunch rather than dinner and follow it with a digestif of Armagnac. The restaurant's Art Nouveau dining room, with its original 1900s tilework, makes the whole experience feel properly ceremonial.
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