Monday, 27 March 2023

Champagne Anyone?

Wines in a cellar, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
 

Xavier Fortin, the sommelier at La Promenade, a Michelin starred restaurant in Le Petit Pressigny (population 338 and under 10 kilometres from where we live) periodically announces that his troglodyte cave cellar will be open and purchases can be made. So off I went to pick up champagne (Pierre Legras Orior brut, for €25 a bottle) and other sparkling wine (Domaine Patrice Colin, Les Perles d'Anne-Sophie  €11 a bottle). I bought some as gifts and some for myself. Both wines are very drinkable, affordable and it was a great opportunity to get some classy wine. My friend Bernard was there too, buying for a couple of family events coming up.

Wines in a cellar, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

Further reading: Pierre Legras Champagne website, in English [link]. The Orior has tiny bubbles and is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Meunier.

Wine cellar, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

Les Perles d'Anne-Sophie is a natural sparkling wine made near Vendome, with no dosage, from a blend of 50% Chenin, 30% Chardonnay, and 20% Pineau d'Aunis, sold as a vin de France because it doesn't fit any AOC rules. It has wonderfully green apple flavours. The vines are 15 years old, growing in flinty clay. It is unusual to see Pineau d'Aunis used like this. It is a very distinctive variety, normally reserved for rosé and unique to the Loire Valley. 

Sparkling wine, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

Friday, 24 March 2023

A Well Head in Saint Pierre des Corps

Well head, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

On our way back to the garage after lunch with our mechanic and a friend at a pizza restaurant we walked past the Saint Pierre des Corps community garden. Bernard piped up and said his grandparents had lived in Saint Pierre des Corps. He could remember all the allotments in the area had these unusual (for here) well heads. The water isn't very far down, as it is very close to the Loire and about the same distance to the Cher. He had very fond memories of being a little kid (that would have been in the sixties) 'helping' his granddad in the veggie garden and getting to scoff all the sun ripened tomatoes and fruit right there in the garden. He grew up to be a chef.

Thursday, 23 March 2023

The Annual Cowslip Photo

 

Cowslip Primula veris, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

These photos were actually taken on 6 March, near Le Petit Pressigny, but I just didn't round to posting them until now. I was with the walking group Phoenix en Claise, which meant that as soon as I showed an interest in this plant Fabrice was busy trying to convince everyone it was a jonquil. I'm used to him so I just agreed, but Collette doesn't come out with us often so she was concerned that we didn't know what the plant was and pointed out it was a Cowslip (Fr. coucou). I don't know which pleased Fabrice more -- me joining in on the joke that it was a jonquil, or Collette getting sucked in to disagreeing with him.

Cowslip Primula veris, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Cleaning the Tapestries at the Chateau Royal d'Amboise

Conservation cleaning a tapestry in the Chateau Royal d'Amboise, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Gently and carefully lowering a section of tapestry to vacuum it.

The other day I was at the Chateau Royal d'Amboise and two conservators were gently vacuuming one of the 17th century Aubusson tapestries. They were using special museum vacs and the tapestry has been backed with hessian. This is to take the weight of the big heavy tapestry so gravity doesn't pull it apart when it is hung. Adding the backing is a modern conservation measure. Old tapestries were not made with a backing and you could see all the thread ends. The conservators were struggling with the weight and it was causing a certain amount of bad language. They were mortified when they discovered I spoke French and had understood their exclamations.

Conservation cleaning a tapestry in the Chateau Royal d'Amboise, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Preparing to lower a section of the tapestry for vacuuming.

Tuesday, 21 March 2023

Walking Around Chambon

On Monday 23 January we joined the Phoenix en Claise walkers at Chambon. It was cold, so I only took my gloves off to take two photos.

Fallen tree, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
This fallen tree was a mystery. There was no hole in the ground and no drag marks. How did it get here?

Sheep, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Some very new lambs.

Monday, 20 March 2023

What is French Cuisine?

Recently a client asked me what French cuisine was. We'd just observed that there are Italian restaurants everywhere in the Western World. Despite the reputation of French cuisine as being the height of perfection (that's how the UNESCO World Intangible Heritage listing describes it), French cuisine is not so universally available or loved at a grassroots level.

Picnic, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
A picnic in the garden of friends.

I didn't really have a good answer for my client apart from talking about Escoffier and sauces but it set me thinking and I posted the question on Facebook in an English language group of keen domestic cooks who enjoy French food. Many of the answers waffled about food prepared with love and passion, without giving any real indication of what exactly was being concocted for the table. In fairness to those who responded in this fashion, I had specified that just giving me a list of classic French dishes would not cut it. 

Organic bread at a market, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Organic artisanal bread at our local market.

To my considerable surprise, not a single person mentioned the French concept of terroir! And a lot of people appear to be convinced that all French food contains vast quantities of butter!

Cured salmon at a market, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Cured salmon at our local market.

My observation is that France sits in a unique location, the only truly central western European nation, and this has influenced its food heritage (and indeed, made it quite multifaceted). France has a northern European face and a southern European face, and lots of regions. On the ground in France regional cuisine is more important than national a lot of the time.  

Homemade tartiflette. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Homemade tartiflette.

In the north the flavours and colours are subtle, muted, often sophisticated and complex. This is the France of butter, cream, soft cheeses, white asparagus, endives or cabbages and delicate seasonings (thyme is about as strong as it gets and garlic is used judiciously). Here in the Touraine Loire Valley we are mostly influenced by this northern tradition.

Charcutier, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
The window of the charcutier in our village.

In the south the flavours are more robust and the colours more vibrant. Peppers, tomatoes and aubergines feature, as well as olive oil, stone fruits and citrus. Seasonings have more zing and can include piment d'Espelette (a type of mild chilli) and basil. 

Organic vegetable farm shop, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
A farm shop selling organic vegetables on the edge of our village. The man on the left is a Michelin starred chef.

As well as the bourgeoise tradition of haute cuisine developed by Escoffier and the famous restaurant rating system of Michelin stars, there is a nation wide tradition of simple nourishing unpretentious regional peasant food too. Root vegetables (carrots, turnips and celeriac) and pulses (lentils and white beans) are remarkably popular, and pork is everywhere. But likewise, almost every French village has a patissier, making ornate tarts and complex multilayered slices. 

Another universal element of French cuisine is beautiful presentation. The French understand that food should delight the eye as well as the tastebuds. This concern for aesthetics applies to the table setting as well, so that a mood is set for enjoying the meal before it even appears in front of the diner.

Homemade apricot clafoutis. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Homemade apricot clafoutis.

Salads, or more precisely, salades composées, are one of the unsung heroes of French cuisine. The most well known to anglophones is salade nicoise, but you can get delicious and satisfying salads all over France. Lettuce is not a garnish here, it is meant to be eaten, and tomatoes are something you look forward to in the late summer when they are ripe and full of flavour. Out of season tomatoes are not consumed much by most people, although these days they are available.

French wine. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Wine, delivered to our house by our local Michelin starred sommelier.

Terroir is the idea that food is a product of its environment, which includes everything from the soil to the generations of farmers, the seasons and the traditions of processing. All French people understand the concept of terroir and buy into it -- for French food at any rate. It doesn't stop the occasional cultural appropriation, such as French produced so called wagu beef or an Indication Géographique Protegée for kiwi fruits grown in the Pays-Basque and les Landes.

French cuisine frequently uses the 'what grows together goes together' principle too. That is to say, for example, Sainte Maure de Touraine goats cheese goes with walnuts and the light fruity red wines of the Loire Valley.

Charantais Melon, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Charentais melon, a seasonal locally grown treat. Very few people would bother with melon grown further south and on sale earlier.

Ingredients matter -- where they came from, how they were grown, as well as seasonality and regionality.  Farm to fork and nose to tail are not newfangled trendy concepts here. Nor is short food supply chains. People practice these ideas as a matter of course, just like their parents and grand parents did.

Butcher shop interior, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Our village butcher shop.

Lunch is the main meal of the day, and bread is by far the most important carbohydrate, consumed at every meal. There is a very positive relationship with food and eating is associated with conviviality and what makes life worth living. Everyone loves to talk about food and there is pride in the local produce.

A large part of the reason that it seems so difficult to pin down exactly what French food is comes from the fact that all anglophone cuisines have been very heavily influenced by the French style of cooking, although sadly they have not always inherited the sheer joy in eating and cooking that the French demonstrate.

Galette queens, Indre et Loire, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.
Two young American medical students enjoy the tradition of being crowned if your piece of galette des rois contains the token. This is a local workers restaurant.

So what is French cuisine to you and what is your experience of French cuisine?