Behind the French Menu

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Behind tnhe French Menu
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Bryan G. Newman
bryangnewman@gmail.com

Coq au Vin

Coq au Vin began as a large meal prepared for holidays or family celebrations, and it would have been enough for ten or more diners. The cockerel used for the traditional Coq au Vin was a big, old bird (a rooster in the USA) that had ceased to make the ladies happy. In the 19^th century those birds would have weighed at least five kilos (11 lbs.’). Today, a French restaurant serving "Coq au Vin Traditionnel," the traditional version of the dish, may have to settle for a somewhat smaller bird today, but it will still be enough for six or more diners.

Out-of-work cockerels headed for the pot are large birds. Even today, most mature French cockerels weigh over two and a half kilos (over five pounds), with some weighing up to 50% more. These are free-range birds and while they are very flavorful, they require a long cooking time. (In the absence of a true farmyard cockerel, a large, free-range hen, retired from her egg-laying days, serves as the closest replacement. Age and size provide the deep, savory character that defines a classic Coq au Vin.)

Preparing a cockerel for the pot requires marinating the bird in red wine (or a flavorful alternative), often with an added eau-de-vie chosen for its particular taste, for at least 24 hours. Once the marinade has done its work, the dish is cooked very slowly with more red wine, herbs, and chicken broth. When the meat is nearly falling off the bone, the vegetables, mushrooms, and bacon are added; after the flavors have been allowed to meld, the dish may be served.

Coq au Vin comes with many distinctive regional variations:

Coq à la Bière – A cockerel marinated in beer rather than wine; traditionally, this dish is prepared with a bière brune (brown beer). A local eau-de-vie and crème fraîche are often added to the sauce to provide richness and depth. While the use of beer suggests a Belgian influence, the dish is a staple in the regions of Alsace and Lorraine, which together produce over 50% of France's beer.

Coq au Champagne – In the Champagne region, local restaurants serve their own version of Coq au Vin. If an eau-de-vie is used in the marinade alongside the Champagne, it is typically a Marc de Champagne (the French counterpart to Italian Grappa). Outside of Champagne, similar dishes appear on menus using local Crémant sparkling wines. However, locally, the only wine served to accompany this dish is Champagne.

Coq au Riesling – This is the Coq au Vin of Alsace. The use of a crisp, dry, and fruity Alsatian Riesling AOP transforms the dish into a bright, aromatic, and unique experience. Unlike the deep reds of the south, this version highlights the delicate, floral notes of the white wine and is often finished with a touch of cream.

Coq au Vin de Bourgogne – The region of Burgundy, home to world-renowned vineyards and the classic à la bourguignonne style, has always featured a local version of Coq au Vin for festivities. Chefs have an array of excellent red wines from which to choose. Likewise, the wine chosen to accompany a traditional Coq au Vin de Bourgogne should also be a local red. However, for those who prefer a white wine, a Crémant de Bourgogne, the region’s wonderful sparkling white, serves as a celebratory alternative.

Coq au Vin
Photograph courtesy of Neeta Lind
https://www.flickr.com/photos/neeta_lind/2048138042/

Coq au Vin de Chanturgue or Coq au Vin Auvergnat – Coq au Vin de Chanturgue is almost universally accepted as the first restaurant version of the dish. This version originated in the mid-19th century in the Auvergne (now part of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), in central France. The wine used is Chanturgue, a medium-bodied red wine from the volcanic slopes overlooking the city of Clermont-Ferrand. Visit a restaurant in the Auvergne today that offers Coq au Vin de Chanturgue, and you should have a meal close to the original.

Until the late 1800s, the Auvergne was France's third most prestigious wine-growing region after the wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Then came phylloxera, a root-eating aphid that attacked and destroyed untold numbers of the best vines all over France and descimated the Auvergne wine industry. Much of the French wine industry was saved by importing from the USA and the Middle East phylloxera-resistant rootstock; however, in the Auvergne, many vintners gave up. A few carried on, and you can visit and try their traditional wines, including the Vin de Chanturgue, and newer wines added in the last fifty years.

If you are planning a trip to the Auvergne view their English language website:

https://www.france-voyage.com/travel-guide/auvergne-territoire.htm

Then, compare the maps for the Route des Vins d’Auvergne, the wine road of the Auvergne and the Route des Fromages de Auvergne, the cheese trails of the five famous cheeses of the Auvergne. There are places where the routes are close to each other and you can visit a winery in the morning and a farm that produces cheese in the afternoon. There are plenty of well-recommended restaurants on both maps. (The five famous cheeses of the Auvergne are: Saint-Nectaire, Bleu d’Auvergene, Fourme d’Ambert, Cantal and Salers.)

Coq au Vin Jaune – This special version of Coq au Vin is made with the famous Vin Jaune (yellow wine) from the Jura (a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region bordering Switzerland). Vin Jaune is made using the Savagnin grape and aged for a minimum of six years and three months. The wine tastes somewhat like a dry Fino sherry after it ages under a naturally formed yeast in oak barrels. Unlike sherry, Vin Jaune is not fortified with added alcohol, though most still have 13-15% alcohol.

Vin Jaune from the Jura.
Photograph courtesy of Dominic Lockyer
https://www.flickr.com/photos/farehamwine/14874763437/

The requirements for a genuine Coq au Vin.

With Coq Au Vin so much in demand, there are problems for those who wish to keep to the original recipe. Two hundred year ago all chickens were raised free-range, and to maintain order in a flock a cockerel (rooster) was usually in charge. Today, there are far fewer flocks of free-range hens, creating a collateral shortage of suitable old cockerels.

The meat of a free-range cockerel has a much stronger flavor than any chicken. That, along with the wine chosen, is the secret behind the taste of a real Coq Au Vin. When Coq au Vin left the farms and homes and began to be served in restaurants, it quickly became very popular and has remained so for close to 200 years.

A cockerel strutting his stuff to impress the ladies.
Photograph courtesy of svklimkin
https://www.flickr.com/photos/svklimkin/35655283910/

Ordering Coq Au Vin or chicken stew.

If you order coq au vin and are served a bowl with a small chicken, about enough for a meal for four, then it may be an excellent stew, but I am sorry, that is not a traditional Coq Au Vin. It will just be a tasty chicken stew prepared in the style of a Coq au Vin. In France, there are self-confident chefs who keep to the traditions and offer a large chicken as a Fricassée de Poularde, Façon Coq au Vin, a chicken stew prepared in the manner of Coq Au Vin. These chefs are not embarrassed to tell it like it is, and the price charged will be that of a well-prepared chicken stew but not a traditional Coq Au Vin.

Recipe for a chicken in the style of Coq au Vin.
Recipe and photograph courtesy of Cookipedia

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Behind the French Menu

Bryan G. Newman

bryangnewman@gmail.com

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Bœuf Bourguignon, Bœuf à la Mode, Fondue Bourguignonne and Hachis Parmentier. Four of France’s greatest beef dishes

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
bryangnewman@gmail.com

Bœuf Bourguignon
Photograph courtesy of Yun Huang Yong
https://www.flickr.com/photos/goosmurf/5253343296/

Bœuf à la Bourguignonne, Bœuf Bourguignon - Beef Burgundy is probably the most well-known of French beef stews. It is so much a part of French cuisine that it will, in the winter, be on menus all over France. As the dish’s name indicates, it requires local ingredients, the most important of which is a red wine from Burgundy,

The key to an authentic and well-made Bœuf à la Bourguignonne lies in the preparation. The beef will be marinated for 24 hours, and that is the secret, along with the red Burgundy wine. After marinating, the meat will be allowed to cook slowly with added wine and veal stock and local vegetables that may change with the season. Still, it will always include onions, carrots and mushrooms. Bacon, in the form of lardons, small bacon pieces, may be added for flavoring, and the dish will, traditionally, be served with boiled potatoes. However, mashed potatoes are also a fairly common offering today.

The cut used for this stew will be the Paleron (the Flat Iron or top blade from the chuck, see chapter 16), the Macreuse à Pot-au-feu (a cut from the chuck, specifically recommended for stews), or the Basses Côtes, another French cut from the chuck (see chapter 8).

In Burgundy, the beef is often a cross of the local Charolais with Angus or Hereford cattle, though the best restaurants may offer the Bœuf Charolais, the Bœuf de Charolles AOP , which is one of the four top French breeds (see chapter 35).

Lardons - Small cubes of fatty Bacon and very much a French kitchen essential. Lardons may be salted or smoked, depending on the taste required and will be used to add flavor to many different dishes. Lardons may be stuffed inside a roast chicken or may be added to a stew for flavor. (Lardons may also be fried until they are crispy and then added cold to a salad.)

Bœuf à la Mode - Beef à la Mode is a traditional French dish (and from my experience today is more often seen on menus outside of France than inside). However, this dish is 100% French and the original recipe appeared in one of the first professional cookbooks, Le Cuisinier François, written by the chef François Pierre de la Varenne (1615–1678). The book was first published in 1651, and you can read or download the recipe online through the Bnf, the French National Library.

There are many modern versions of Bœuf à la Mode, though they may all seem similar to a pot roast (which is not too far from La Varenne's original). The cut most often used is the Gîte à la Noix the US round, the UK topside) or the Paleron, a cut from the chuck (see chapter 15).

Fondue Bourguignonne –The original beef fondue is claimed as its own by Burgundy (Bourgogne). It's a really social dish that's all about sharing a fun culinary experience; a dish for all the diners at the same table. To start, cubes of raw beef are prepared for each diner, and a pot of hot oil is placed in the center of the table. Each diner will have been given their own fourchette à fondue, a distinctive, long, fondue fork that keeps the diner's hand away from the hot oil in which the cubes of beef will be dipped. Each diner dips and cooks their cubes of beef in the communal pot. When the meat is cooked to the diner's satisfaction, you dip the fried beef into a variety of sauces before eating.

The dipping sauces allow the diner a wide range of tastes; they will include Classic Mayonnaise, garlicky Aïoli, the lightly spicy pink cocktail called Sauce Rosé, Sauce Marie Rosé or Calypso sauce, Sauce Bearnaise and, if requested, ketchup. The cut will be from the filet, the fillet in the UK, the tenderloin in the US (see chapter 20) or the Romsteck, the US sirloin and the UK rump (see chapter 19). Other cuts may be used, and the choice will affect the texture and the price.

N.B. Fondue forks become extremely hot at the tip, and they have burned many a tongue, I speak with experience! So, look after your tongue, and enjoy the meal; transfer the meat to your plate, and then to an ordinary fork before dipping into one of the sauces and eating.

Fondue Bourguignonne
Beef fondue
Photograph and recipe courtesy of Papilles et Pupilles.

Hachis Parmentier – The dish is named after the man who brought the potato to French menus (they initially were thought to be poisonous).

It's ground beef and chopped onions fried in butter, flavored with nutmeg and a light touch of garlic. When the beef and onions are ready, they are placed in a casserole that has been prepared with mashed potatoes on the bottom. Finally, all will be covered with more mashed potatoes and breadcrumbs, or Gruyere cheese will be sprinkled on top. The dish is placed under the grill, and when the top turns a golden brown, the dish is ready to be served. This particular dish would become the English cottage pie (and when made with lamb, shepherd's pie).

Hachis Parmentier may not have been the earliest recipe named after Antoine Parmentier, but it was already on French restaurant menus by the 1830s. The same dish made with lamb is Hachis Parmentier d'Agneau,

The traditional British cottage pie and Shepherd’s pie appeared on British menus 50 years after the first English tourists began visiting France and enjoying Hachis Parmentier. The British shepherd's pie and cottage pie will be made without the garlic or the grilled cheese on top and with the addition of Worcester sauce. (For more about the French connection and the British kitchen click here).

Parmentier died in 1813, aged 76 and is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. France honored him with a Metro Station in the 11th arrondissement in Paris and the Avenue Parmentier that runs through the 10th and 11th arrondissements.

Hachis Parmentier Façon Grand-Mère indicates a Hachis Parmentier prepared as Grandma did. Foods made like grand-mère did are French comfort foods.

Hachis Parmentier with a cheese topping

Photograph courtesy of elPadawan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/elpadawan/2353134601/

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Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search that with Google. Behind the French Menu is also a blog with links that include many hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

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