I visited recently my grandma and she gave me these two brand new Cousances cocottes, which she got for free since the company would gift one (or another product) to each of its workers every year, and I thought I’d briefly share the story of my family.

The factory at Cousances has been closed for a while, but before then it was the main economical activity of the small town, even the main electricity provider at some point thanks to a turbine they installed on an underground source of the Cousances river that was running beneath the facility. My grandma told me that when they moved in they didn’t have to pay electricity thanks to the installation and the fact that her father was a manager/executive.

After serving in the army, my great grandfather got a job at the « cocottes » as a bandmaster. At the time, big companies in France had full time bands of different styles that would play during many fairs and parties organized by the company, most famously the Saint Eloi. And my great grandfather, being a great jazzman, was taking care of this business for the cocottes as well as other companies in the region !

Meanwhile, my grandfather, after finishing his military service in Algeria, got a job there as well, intervening directly in the production of the ovens (and later flowerpots and even screwpull’s corkscrews), though not at the same steps throughout his career.  
If you have a Cousances oven made in the 70’s or later there is a very good chance that he was involved in its production at some point. Especially the modern doufeu type that I have on the first pic. After one his colleague retired, he was put in charge of the production of this specific model, all by himself. Funny thing is that his colleague left abruptly, and never taught him how to make them, so he had to learn how to make them all by himself from scratch, with a few fails at the beginning. Every oven is different depending on who made them, and the previous doufeus’ were different from the ones he made. So if yours look just like mine, it was probably made by him ! 

This specific factory also had the patent to produce screwpulls corkscrews, their design is pretty famous. My grandma also gave me one (a « professional » type) but I forgot to take a pic. I think they’re now produced in Ireland ? But yeah for a few years it was in Cousances and I got quite a collection of the pocket ones they made.

Sadly, after a strong opportunity from syndicates regarding automatisation, the production started being less and less profitable, and as a last ditch effort, Cousances started to produce flower pots, made out of enameled cast iron just like the cocottes. My grandpa kept the first one he made and gave it to my grandma, and since it wasn’t enameled, she painted a lion on it, I sadly don’t have a picture, but it’s obviously a very cherished artifact with a lot of sentimental value.  
In the end, the factory had to close, the only Cousances cocottes that are still in production are now all made in LeCreuset’s main remaining facility. They are still made in France though, as it was a requirement when the contract was made in 1957 when LeCreuset bought the patent.

My grandfather closed the facility, literally. Being close to retirement, he was tasked with emptying the building of its machines, scraps, anvils, tools, spare products, everything.  
He spent a full year alone in here, and revealed that it quite affected him, admitting that being all alone here, after spending years surrounded by hundreds of coworkers, was quite unsettling and even depressing.  
He was given carte blanche, so he funnily admitted to using some unconventional techniques to speed up the process. Like that one time when he called some local gypsies to take some scrap metal nobody wanted with them, for resell. He surprisingly returned every usable product, he said himself that he could have taken a few corkscrews or anvils without getting any trouble, but never bothered to do it.  
After finishing the job, Cousances was closed for good and my grandpa retired. The old building was recently bought back by a local for his company, turning a part of it into a loft where he lives.

The cocottes are still part of the identity of Cousances, and even the young folks probably own a piece of its history. It’s pretty sad to see an installation that had existed for 450 years die like this, but I’m happy that I got to preserve some part of it. These cocottes mean a lot to me, they are more than a cooking ustensile, they are a part of my my history, my family, and one of the most meaningful memory I have of my grandfather.

I’ll make to have fun cooking with these regardless ! Thank you for reading !

My grandfather made these.