Cassoulet is the dish the region is known for and Carcassonne makes its own version, distinct from the Toulouse and Castelnaudary ones. It is heavy, it takes hours, and it is a lunch rather than a dinner unless you plan to do nothing afterwards. A good one is cooked to order or reheated properly, never microwaved.
Duck appears in every form and is generally excellent and cheap. Confit, magret, and the rillettes and pâtés on every market stall. Vegetarians will find the traditional menus hard going and the newer places in the Bastide much easier.
The wine is local and inexpensive. Corbières and Minervois are on the doorstep, the reds are robust and the whites and rosés from further towards the coast are the summer answer. House wine in a decent restaurant is generally worth ordering here in a way it is not everywhere.
The honest warning: the restaurants immediately inside the Porte Narbonnaise are the worst in Carcassonne. They are priced for people who will never return and cooked accordingly. Walk five minutes further into the Cité, or better, come back down to the Bastide.
Lunch is the value meal. The formule at midday in an ordinary Bastide restaurant will be two or three courses for a fraction of the evening price, and it is where the kitchen shows what it can actually do.
