The Rascol company: in ham for three generations

The Philippe Rascol cured meats company is a family business and intends to remain so. For three generations we have been making hams ... focused on improvement each day.

"Know-how remains a tradition passed down from father to son, and we intend to preserve it," Philippe Rascol immediately affirms. We will know how to avoid expanding too much ”.

Philippe took over from Marcel, who himself had succeeded Emile. The family business is based in the Lacaunais hamlet Les Vidals. Sandrine, the wife, and Pierre, the brother, are involved in the common work ... which has just been awarded by a first prize at the last national dry ham competition, recognized by the federation of the charcuterie industries of France (FICT).

“We have been candidates eight times, and three times awarded, but only once by the national prize, rejoices Philippe. A first prize for dry ham from Lacaune. Personal satisfaction, family success, recognition of the work done ... but also, more broadly, recognition of the work of all wage workers undertaken for eight years, with the obsession of obtaining the AOC ”.

50 HAMS WEEK

The Rascol company does not offer direct sales; it selects its circuit: "Grocery stores, butchers, cold meats, in the Tarn, Hérault and the Paris region", specifies the business manager.

Just as rigorously they choose the raw material, the pigs: “25/30 pigs per week, coming from Tarn or Aveyron. They should have a standard weight of about 110 kilos of meat, with a certain thickness of bacon. We know exactly what these animals eat ... in particular, grains from the same area. "

The company produces around 50 cured hams per week, i.e. between 2,000 and 3,000 hams during the year.

Dry sausages, sausages, and a little of cooked products (blood sausage, fricandeaux, pâtés) complete the range.

Whatever the products, the line remains the same: quality rather than quantity.