Food of The South West
“Wine is a part of society because it provides a basis not only for a morality but also for an environment; it is an ornament in the slightest ceremonials of French daily life, from the snack to the feast, from the conversation at the local café to the speech at a formal dinner.”
- Roland Barthes
Paula Wolfert, one of the best of modern food writers, in her seminal book “The Cooking of South West France”, identifies the signature of the region which she terms ‘evolved food’, dishes rooted in historical traditions with natural taste affinities and their own logic. Such dishes, writes Stephanie Alexander, have come to meet the needs and the lifestyle of a hardworking and healthy people, who, in the main, cook what they produce and waste very little. The food’s deep flavours result from the slow melding of simple ingredients. The garbures from Landes illustrate that cooking a staple dish is about passionate attention to detail. A Béarnais dish in origin it has several local variations depending on the ingredients and when it is eaten. Salt pork, cabbage and beans are the mainstay but the many gastronomic embellishments sustain the ancient mystique of the dish. Some cooks will add a fricassée of onions and vegetables fried in goose fat, others will make their garbure into a kind of gratin, and the luxuriant versions will contain slowly amalgamated confit of goose. There is much discussion and lyrical debate about food in the South West, a keen respect for the ingredients and for the process of cooking and an almost mystical appreciation of giving and doing credit to the bounty of the land. Truly, the best things cannot be rushed.
The Whole Hog - Hamming it up in Bayonne
Ou il ya un bon cochon, il ya une bonne menagère
“Lou Moussur, as he is known. Nothing is lost with me.” The pig is treated with respect, almost reverence in the South West. Truly, nothing is wasted with the pig: saucissons, rillettes, andouille and boudin to rendered fat, tripe, tongue and trotters - a culinary nose-to-tail journey in the pot or on the plate. Salt-cured country ham may be eaten raw or sautéed basque style with eggs fried in goose fat or made into a kind of persillade and used to give certain dishes a lift. I like a rosé from the Fronton, Béarn or Irouléguy, or a lightish Cahors with this, or a fresh young Gaillac made from Duras or Braucol. With a confit of pork, or a typical terrine, or chorizo with lentils, a savoury sapid red from Fronton, Marcillac or Marmandais is a good bet.
Live a Little - Liver Lot - Fee Fi Foie Gras
The making of foie gras is both a cottage industry and an industry. Fattening the goose may be a controversial issue outside the South West and any factory farm approach is certainly to be deplored. The livers are soft (they should have the suppleness of cold butter when raw) and perishable; they can be cooked and tinned; mi cuit (barely cooked and vacuum-packed) or raw. The raw livers may be steamed in a towel or tournichon or poached in delicious solutions and subsequently served cold or warm (pan-fried or grilled). There are more than a hundred recipes for foie gras, but it can be a stand-alone dish with some fresh baked brioche and a jelly made from Sauternes or grapes. A well chilled Sauternes or Monbazillac is traditional; the late harvest wines of Jurançon and Pacherenc are equally fabulous. The meticulous care taken in preparation and cooking of the foie gras is somehow mirrored by the elaboration of the wine; the buttery, silky textural decadence of the liver begs to be matched by a sweet wine with singing acidity.
Mushrooms at the Auberge - Morel Fibre for the Truffle Generation
Paula Wolfert recounts her first experience eating truffles: “It was baked in a salt crust and served on a doily. The waiter cracked it open with a mallet, releasing the powerful penetrating bouquet. I sliced the truffle myself and ate in on toast, with a light sprinkling of walnut oil and a pinch of salt. As I ate I sipped a glass of Médoc. The truffle seemed to me like earth and sky and sea. I felt at one with nature that my mouth was filled with the taste of the earth. There was a ripeness, a naughtiness, something beyond description. A gastronomic black diamond, it was utter luxury and earthiness combined.”
Fresh cepes can be eaten raw with olive oil and lemon or stewed gently à la Bordelaise with olive oil and garlic (ham and parsley may be added). A simple red with the taste of the earth would hit the mark, a Cahors, Marcillac or Cotes de Saint Mont. Cepes can be also used with potatoes or in the classic Salade Landaise with sautéed strips of duck breast, warm croutons, rocket, endive and radicchio and fresh herbs.
Picking a Peck of Piquillo Peppers - The Catalan Influence
Piperade is a classic light supper dish (which can be eaten at lunch or breakfast). The sauce Basquaise is made with onions, garlic, peppers and pimentos combined with lightly scrambled eggs and fried ham. Poulet à la Basquaise is a classic dish containing red and green peppers, beautiful ripe tomatoes, good quality ham from Bayonne as well as garlic and cayenne. A rosé from Irouléguy would be the perfect accompaniment
Cassoulet S’il Vous Plait - 57 varieties - Beanz meanz duckz
I love the cassoulet debate. It mixes science and folklore, regional rivalry, fierce pride, stubborn traditionalism. Eternal verities about food itself are enshrined in the debate, the genius of cooking which is about taking the slowest and most deliberate of pains. Technicalities aside the main ingredients are confit of duck leg, pork knuckle or bacon, sausage and broad beans. Be it from Toulouse, Carcassonne or Castelnaudary this is a rustic glutinous dish begging for a wine of high acidity and digestible tannin, a Cahors, for example, or a red wine from Malepère, or even a garrigue-scented Languedoc red.
Fromage
Roquefort, the famous blue-veined ewe’s milk cheese matured in the limestone caves of Chambalou, deserves nothing less a brilliant Jurançon. And don’t forget the plump fresh figs. One talks airily of food and wine marriages, but this threesome represents connubial bliss. Salt, sweet, creamy, sharp, ripeness – the oppositions are sublime attractions. Cabecou de Rocamadour is a silky goat’s cheese, milky when young, fruity and piquant when it is affiné. Cabecous can be eaten in several ways; just as they are; semi-molten, having been passed under a hot grill, on toast or on leaves or on country bread drizzled with honey. A Sauvignon from Cotes de Duras or sharp young Gaillac works best. The cheeses of the Pyrenees are very fine especially the Ossau Iraty, the cow’s cheese Crottin du Poivre and the 100% sheep’s milk Ardi Gasna. Le Cabri-Ariegois is a goat’s cheese version of Vacherin, wrapped in thin strips of pine bark and with a washed rind. Finally, we should mention two cheeses from the mountains of the Aveyron: Cantal and Laguiole, the historic former mentioned by Pliny the Elder, no less. Uncork your best bottle of Marcillac – that’s what it’s there for! Gaperon is from the Auvergne; it is flavoured heavily with garlic and pepper and made with skimmed milk or buttermilk. Look for the sweetest juiciest Gamay, bang it in the fridge and guzzle it with this rustic cheese.
Minding Your Prunes and Quinces
Gascony has a wonderful array of dishes to appeal to the sweetest of teeth. Traditional desserts include les daudines, a kind of pain perdu, millas (a Languedoc version with cornmeal porridge that is fried and sprinkled with sugar), otherwise crepes, waffles (gaufres) and the famous Gateau Basque. Clafouti with cherries, apricots and plums is an internationally renowned and frequently copied dessert. Also justly famous are the croustades, pastis and tourtières, regional versions of pastry pies, filled with sweetened fruit and then baked. Using fruits in savoury dishes has a rich tradition: the prunes and quinces that often feature in meat stews are part of the Moorish culinary heritage that appeared in France by way of Spain many centuries ago. Roast figs, Pyrenean style are another seasonal treat. Prunes themselves are often marinated in Armagnac (or Sauternes) for a period before being added to desserts. Gateau Basque itself is a cake filled with pastry cream flavoured with almonds, anise, rum, orange flower water and Armagnac. Sponge cakes such as madeleines are fun to dunk in brandy or sweet wine. Sweet wine is not always necessarily the ideal companion for sweet food: the combination can become cloying. Vins Doux Naturels with a touch of bitterness - such as Muscat de Rivesaltes, Banyuls or Maury - are more appropriate. However, with simple fruit pastries or a bowl of white peaches a glass of chilled Jurançon is a pleasure not to be denied.
Le Trou Gascon
Taste of the earth, dancing fire, velvet flame. If Cognac has finesse, Armagnac has fiery power, a hearty roughness – this is the distinction le trou Gascon will give you. Like the raw country wines from Gascony Armagnac roughens you up, helps you to digest and leaves the day/evening open for further indulgence. A dash of the spirit will lift a daube or stew, cut the richness of a sauce or perfume and flavour fruits.
“Happy and successful cooking doesn’t rely only on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life.”
~ Georges Blanc, from ‘Ma Cuisine des Saisons’
Lamb, veal, pork and game, ducks and geese, chicken and guinea fowl, truffles, cepes and mushrooms, chestnuts and cheeses, prunes and plums endless variants, here a Catalan influence, there a Languedocian note, the terroirs of Landes, the Dordogne and Quercy all yielding their diverse signatures. Writing in generalities can’t do justice to the regional vitality, the sheer diversity of the cuisine of the area that we call South West France. Moreover every recipe is a kind of history in itself and every family has its story to tell about the way it should be cooked. It would be a mistake nevertheless to assert that things stand still. As recipes are handed on, subtle refinements are made, sturdiness may be replaced by lightness, but the cuisine de terroir always remains close to the earth – each dish invariably constructed around the strength of local ingredients. In the South West food and cooking is that most tangible and sensuous necessity of people’s lives, writes Paula Wolfert. We believe that to appreciate fully the wines of the South West you must also experience the food and that the pleasure you take in the one nurtures a desire for the other.