Behind the French Menu: Auvergne

Showing posts with label Auvergne. Show all posts

Coq au Vin: Best with a Rooster, but still Brilliant with Chicken.

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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

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Tomme de Savoie IGP and Cows’ Milk Tomme Cheeses.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Tommes on sale.

Photograph courtesy of keepps

The first tomme.

In the days prior to refrigeration only cheese could save excess milk from being wasted. After the cheese or butter has been made the remaining liquid is the whey. The whey may also be used to make cheese. Voila, in the French Alps hundreds of years ago farmers produced the cheese called tomme, sometimes written as tome. Tomme cheeses are now on sale in nearly every supermarket in France,.

The French Tommes today

Today, with the popularity of tomme cheeses, many French farmers and dairies make more money from their tommes than from butter or other cheeses. Tommes are semi-hard cheeses and come with a variety of tastes and textures. The fat content of tommes vary with the food the cows eat. In the spring and summer the cows graze freely on the rich grasses in the Alps. In the winter the cows eat the dried grasses that were collected in the same region. The breeds of cows that produce the milk will affect the final product as does the aging. The cheeses produced are all tommes; however, there will be gentle variations in flavor, texture and color.

Most tomme cheeses are made from cow’s milk; however, most is not all. There are excellent French sheep’s milk and goat’s milk tommes available. However, goat and sheep milk tommes will require a separate post and more enjoyable experimentation.

Tomme de Savoie IGP

Tomme de Tomme de Savoie at a farmers' market.

Photograph courtesy of tomxcody.

Tomme de Savoie IGP is the most popular of all French tommes and its popularity is justified. This tomme comes from the region of the Rhône-Alpes, from the departments of Savoie, Haut Savoie, and Ain. However, the Tomme de Savoie is not a single type of cheese. There is a Tomme de Savoie IGP made with whole milk and 45% fat. Other Tommes de Savoie are made with the more traditional recipe, only using the whey, and they have 20-40% fat. Progress in the science of cheese production has also brought us a 5% low fat Tomme de Savoie IGP. The IGP after the name is a Pan-European certification and guarantees that the product was made in a particular area. With the Tomme de Savoie IGP there will be no other European tommes from other areas, even in the Alps, using that name.

I have never had a bad Tomme de Savoie cheese, but as I noted they are not all the same. A cheese made from the milk collected from freely grazing cows during the summer in the Alps will have a higher fat content. In the winter the pate may be gray and in the summer ivory to light yellow. In the winter, the cows are kept in barns and fed hay made from the grasses gathered in their Alpine pastures; however, the cheese will be lower in fat. The best Tomme de Savoie I ever tasted was one we bought at a farmers’ market in the town of Annecy in the Savoie. This was a farm-made cheese and to purchase the exact same cheese, I would have had to track down the farmer. Most of the Tommes de Savoie that are on sale all over France are made in dairies and have tastes and textures that vary less. However, even in dairies the milk from different seasons have their affect on the taste and texture. Look on the packaging for the fat content you prefer. In a good fromagerie, a cheese shop, they often allow you to taste a sliver or two of different cheeses. Then you may buy with more knowledge and learn more about the differences in the wonderful Tommes de Savoie IGP.

Tomme Fermier

Tommes fermier are farm-made cheeses; some are called tommes de montagne, mountain tommes. The name tomme originated across the mutual French, Swiss and Italian borders and in Italy there are different cheeses called toma; possibility the origin of the word tomme.

Cheeses made in a similar manner have long been made all over France; outside of the Savoie they were formerly just called farm cheeses. Now most of these similar cheeses are called tommes as the farmers found that sells better. The grass the cattle graze on will be different to that of the Savoie and the breeds of cows who produce the milk will be different. However, the cheeses are all made in the same manner. Wherever you are in France you will find locally popular tommes with slightly different tastes. For more information on buying cheese in France and taking it home click here.

A wedge from a tomme.

Photograph courtesy of Salim Virji.

Tomme Laitier

Tommes made in dairies use the same regional name as the cheese produced on farms. The dairies are more able to control and repeat the taste and texture from each group of cheeses. However, to insure the consumer can identify between dairy and farm-made cheeses there are controls. Dairy-made cheeses have a red disk inserted in the cheese and farm-made cheeses have a green disk. These disks cannot be seen from the outside, but their existence prevents fraud.

The size of Tomme Cheeses

There is no unified weight or size for tomme cheeses; however, the smallest cheese I have seen was about 12cm (5”) across and 6cm (2.35”) high. It weighed just about one kilo. (35 ounces). Other cheeses may weigh up to 4 kilos.

Aging

The aging of a tomme is a critical part of the process. The aging is carried out by professionals who spend their lives aging cheeses. In the Alps these professional have above or below ground cellars called fruitières. From each group of cheeses, they identify those that will only need one month of aging and others that will require three or four months or more at different temperatures and degrees of humidity.

Tommes are now made all over France.

Tomme de Provence.

Photograph courtesy of John Picken.

An example of tommes made a long way away from the Alps are those made in the department of Ariège in the Midi-Pyrenees. Here, farm-made tommes are produced high up in the Pyrenean pastures. If you are in that area of France in late July or the beginning of August consider watching the judging of the Pyrenean farmers’ best farm-made unpasteurized milk tomme cheeses. You may also taste these Pyrenean Tommes and enjoy local dishes made with them or buy one to take home. For the Midi-Pyrénees tomme cheese making competition contact:

The Tourism Office in the town of Saint-Girons.

The French language website of Saint Girons is: http://www.tourisme-stgirons-stlizier.fr/en/

Google and Bing translation make the website easily readable in English.

Even better, contact the French Government Tourist Office in your home country before departure and make sure the dates are correct.

Tommes from the Auvergne and Languedoc- Roussillon.

In the Auvergne, there are two excellent Auvergnat dishes made with local tommes. The most famous is Aligot, many of which are made with a local tomme and mashed potatoes. The second is called a Truffade and made with thinly sliced potatoes fried in goose fat and mixed with a local tomme just before serving. Aligots, made with local tommes are also on the menu in the department of Lozère in Languedoc-Roussillon and elsewhere.