Excerpts from "The Taste of France," an absolutely wonderful photographic and culinary journey that explores French regional cooking with close to 400 photos and 100 recipes, appear with permission from Stewart Tabori & Chang.
The most obvious reason for Lyon's reputation as a leading gastronomic center of the world is that it is so well situated - it has access to the very best food supplies. It is near the Dauphine', one of the first regions of France where potatoes were successfully cultivated (in the seventeenth century); it is near the Charolais for beef, the farms of Bresse for poultry, the Auvergne for lamb, the lakes of the Dombes and Bourget for carp and frogs, Savoy for mushrooms, and innumerable rivers for fish.
And this is not a recent phenomenon, the result of modern marketing. Before the end of the nineteenth century, travelers were enchanted by the animated markets by the Saone.
The cheeses alone formed an unbelievable list: white cheese and tomes from the Dauphine, Montd'Or from nearby, Tete de moine from farther east, the red cheese of the Maconnais and the Cevennes, the blue cheese from Gex (drier than what is known as Bleu de Bresse) and from Septmoncel in the Jura, goat cheeses from the Beaujolais, Saint-Marcellin, and rigottes from Condrieu that had been soaked in white wine and preserved in vine leaves.
On a Sunday, the canuts, or silk workers, would take their weekly walk to the Mont Cindre, in the Saone valley, where they would gather dandelions for salad, or in autumn, rose hips for jelly. There was watercress from the Ozon valley, and cherries and apricots from Vienne and Ampuis. And it is still a weekend pastime to fish for crayfish near the Vivarais, between the Rhone and the Loire.
In addition to all these resources, Lyon is surrounded by the finest of wine countries. The old saying is that Lyon has three rivers, the Rhône, the Saone, and the Beaujolais, and another saying describes Beaujolais as the cafe-creme of the Lyonnais. To the south is the equally famous Cote-Rotie, and all around lie literally dozens of local wines many of which are excellent but, because they do not travel well, are not widely known. They include perhaps the most tantalizing of white wines, the Chateau Grillet, said to be the equal of the greatest wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy, but jealously kept away from the intrusive purchaser.
Lyon sausages have always been famous. In an English cookbook of 1865, they were recommended for breakfast. Nowadays the best sausages are made from leg of pork that has been stuffed into the rosette, the long pig's gut measuring about twenty inches. The meat is salted twenty-four hours before being cooked. To it are added small pieces of pork, taken from the firmest parts of the flesh, that have been soaked in marc (a spirit distilled from the skins and pips of grapes after the wine has been made) and pepper and other seasonings.
Another form of sausage is the andouillette, which is Lyon is a tripe sausage based on veal rather than pork. Edouard Herriot, who was mayor of Lyon from 1905 to 1957, used to say that there were only two things that left an unmentionable taste in the mouth, politics and andouillette, and it is perhaps because of this opinion that the Lyonnais started to use veal.
Saucisson En Brioche (Sausage in Brioche)
For 6 people, photo above.
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- 1 large, fresh or smoked, pure pork sausage, weighing about 1-3/4 pounds (800 g)
- 1 egg, beaten
- Dijon mustard
For the Brioche
- 3 cups flour, unsifted (450 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 2 packages dry yeast (7 g each)
- 1/2 cup warmed milk (110 ml)
- 3 eggs, well beaten
- 12 tablespoons butter, softened and cut into bits (175 g)
- Prepare the brioche dough a day ahead. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warmed milk. When frothy, add to the flour mixture with the eggs. Mix into a dough with a wooden spoon and gradually work in the butter. Cover and leave to rise for 2 hours. Punch down, cover and leave overnight on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator.
- To cook the sausage, slit the skin here and there to prevent it splitting and place it in a pot of cold water. Bring slowly to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove, allow to cool and drain on a cloth, then carefully remove the skin with a sharp knife.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out the brioche dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle large enough to enclose the sausage. Place on a greased baking sheet and brush the edges of the pastry with water. Wrap the sausage in the dough, overlapping the long sides and then folding the ends over. Brush the dough with the beaten egg and bake for 1 hour, until the pastry is golden.
- Transfer the cooked brioche to a plate and serve it in slices about 3/4 inch thick, with Dijon mustard.
Lyonnais cooks have always rejected the contention that onions play an overwhelming role in their cooking. But even they acknowledge the importance of onions in such dishes as the gras-double, and it is a fact that as lunchtime approaches, the odor of onion predominates in the streets near the rue Edouard Herriot and in Le Vieux Lyon, areas with many restaurants.
A traditional dish of the silk workers was a form of onion soup (photo to the right). It was customary for this soup to be served last, because it was assumed that poor workers would prefer to end their meal with the most substantial dish (if indeed they had more than one dish).
Gratinee Lyonnaise (Onion Soup)
For 6 to 8 people. Photo above.
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Gratinee is easy to make, but takes some time to cook because the onions require at least 45 minutes of slow cooking to become tender and digestible.
- 2 pounds onions, finely sliced(900 g)
- 6 tablespoons butter (75 g)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (30 ml)
- 4 tablespoons flour (45 g)
- 2 quarts hot beef stock (2 liters)
- 3 cups dry white wine (3/4 liter)
- 1/2 cup port (125 ml)
- Salt, freshly ground pepper
- 12 slices French bread
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (15 ml)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3/4 cup grated Gruyere and Parmesan cheese, combined (75 g)
- Heat the butter and oil over low heat in a large saucepan, put in the sliced onions and cook until translucent. After 30 minutes sprinkle on the four, stirring it in well, and then add the heated stock and white wine. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Let the soup simmer very gently for 30 to 40 minutes, then taste for seasoning and add the port.
- While the soup cooks, make the crutons. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lay the bread slices on a cookie sheet or piece of aluminum foil and heat them in the oven for 15 minutes, until they are dry and toasted. Brush with oil on both sides and rub with a cut clove of garlic.
- Pour the soup into heated bowls, float the crutons on top, and sprinkle generously with cheese. Place the bowls under a very hot broiler and serve when the top is melted and golden brown.
The potato was "the truffle of the poor," and Stendhal claimed that in Lyon he discovered twenty different ways of cooking potatoes, at least ten of which were unknown in Paris.
In the neighboring province of the Bourbonnais, where the potato is also abundant and important in the diet of poor people, there is a potato dish called le pate de pommes de terre, which is known in the Lyonnais as pommes de terre a la pate.
A simple method of preparing this dish is to quarter the potatoes and put them into hot lard. Add onions and herbs, saute briefly, and cover the mixture three-quarters of the way up with water. After about half an hour, crush the whole together and serve.
Galette Lyonnaise (Lyonnaise Potato Galette)
For 4 or 5 people.
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- 2 pounds baking potatoes (900 g)
- 3 medium onions, sliced
- 10 tablespoons butter (150 g)
- Grated nutmeg
- Salt, freshly ground pepper
- Peel the potatoes, boil in salted water until tender, and drain. Let them steam for a few minutes, then mash, until fairly smooth.
- Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large pan and saute the onions until golden, then add half the remaining butter and the mashed potatoes. Season well with nutmeg and salt and pepper and stir thoroughly. Transfer to an enameled cast-iron gratin dish, smooth down, and dot the top with the remaining butter. Brown lightly in the oven or under the broiler. These potatoes are delicious with roast meats or steak.
Gaufres Grand-Mere Bocuse (Grandmother Bocuse's Waffles)
For 8 people.
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- 3-1/3 cups flour, unsifted (500 g)
- 1 tablespoon sugar (15 g)
- Pinch of salt
- 8 egg yolks
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, melted (300 g)
- 1 cup milk (250 ml)
- 4 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup rum (optional) (60 ml)
- Mix the flour, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and melted butter together in a large bowl. Add the milk, a little at a time, to thin the mixture down; the batter should be fairly liquid - add a little water if necessary. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold their shape and fold them into the batter very thoroughly. Add the baking powder at the last moment and also the rum, if you are using it.
- Grease and heat the waffle iron. pour a generous spoonful of the batter into the middle, close the iron, and cook for not more than 2 minutes.
- The waffle should be cooked through and a pale golden color. Serve it sprinkled with sugar or with honey, jam, or cream whichever you prefer.
When it comes to cheese, Lyon is well placed. But traditionally, cheese, mixed with cream and white wine, or a cream cheese, mixed with finely chopped shallots and garlic, was to be found on the tables of the bourgeoisie or on those of the canuts. For sweets, Lyon revels in cherries (those from Vienne, south of Lyon, were famous in Saint Petersburg in the years before 1914) and in pears. In the bizarre folklore of the region, pears arranged in a tart were said to look like agricultural workers doing handstands, or, as they said in the nearby province of Bourbonnais, like oak trees, piques comme chenes, and sometimes the Bourbonnais patois is applied to this tart, piquenchagne. In these days when there is a cult of the regional past, to call a dish by this old name gives it an additional luster, even in a town famous for its cream, ice cream, and chocolate.
Regional dairy farmers often make their own cheeses and sell them in local markets. Cheesemaking is a painstaking process with several steps (photo to the right).
First, a culture added to the milk causes it to curdle (foreground). Then, the farmer pours the cheese into faisselles, or perforated molds, adds salt, and lets them drain for a day or two.
Once drained, the faisselles are overturned onto straw mats, so that air can circulate around the cheeses as they age. A crust gradually forms - the darker the crust, the older the cheese.
The nearly white cheeses on the lowest mat are just out of the mold; the darker cheeses above them are about one week old; and the cheeses in the wooden crate (top) are from three to six weeks old.
Some regional cow's-milk cheeses (photo to the left) include a large, round Tomme de Savoie, with smaller Saint-Marcellins of different ages and sizes in front and on top of it.
In the foreground, Chavignols of three different ages are pierced with straws in order to speed their drying and make them easier to handle.
The Lyonnaise consists of large urban centers and extensive suburbs; but the country side is real and unchanged.
Lyon itself is impressively modern, with its efficient transport, industries, and multiple commercial activities.
But the visitor has only to wander through Le Vieux Lyon to find a unique world of traditional and specialized cooking reflected in a host of restaurant offerings.
"Lyonnais, France: Gastronomic Center of the World" contains excerpts from the "Lyonnais" chapter found in "The Taste of France" by Richard Olney, Anne Willan, Alan Davidson, Jill Norman, Arabella Boxer, Caroline Conran, Douglas Johnson, Nathalie Hambro and Robert Freson (Photographer) and appears courtesy of Stewart Tabori & Chang.
This glorious celebration of regional cuisine presents the beauty and traditions of the farms, markets, and tables of France. With 375 full-color photographs, 100 recipes, and a narrative description of the culinary customs of the fourteen great food regions, "The Taste of France" conveys a sense of the color, flavor, variety, and imagination of a meal in France. From Brittany to Lyons, Provence to Normandy, "The Taste of France" is a tribute to the legendary pleasures of French cooking.
The editorial staff at "The Gourmet Connection Magazine" highly recommend this book. The hardcover edition of this book normally retails for $50, but it is available right now for only $35 from Amazon.com (usually with free shipping!). Learn more about "The Taste of France" and how you can order it by clicking right here.
Source: A Taste of France
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