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Dordogne Delicious
By Kimberley Lovato
Major decisions and pinnacle moments all occurred around the stove,
one local chef recalls of his family life. And one of the biggest honors
you can receive in France is an invitation to share a meal with someone.
The table, the kitchen, is the hearth and heart of family life and sitting
down for a meal, a coffee or glass of wine with the bon vivants who
call the Dordogne home is the ultimate way to really get a taste of
the region.
The Dordogne is world famous for its cuisine, thanks to truffles and
foie gras, and traditional cooking is the best glimpse into a culture
and culinary history steeped, quite literally, in duck fat. We ate potatoes,
cèpes (porcini mushrooms), and omelettes all cooked in this magic
elixir, which is a staple in the Périgord pantry.
Daniele Mazet-Delpeuch
On a recent visit, chef Laura Schmalhorst of Vagabond Gourmet and I
spent an afternoon with the amazing Daniele Mazet-Delpeuch who was once
the personal chef of ex French president Francois Mitterrand, and whose
roots are deeply seeded the Périgord and traditional cooking
methods.
Watching her prepare duck confit (confit
de canard) in her grandmother's ancient pots over an open fire in
her living room taught us more about the region's culinary patrimony
than any of the books we had read. And a morning spent with a local
ice cream maker, Roland Manouvrier, revealed an astonishing magic that
brews inside the kitchens and imaginations of the Dordogne. We left
Roland's place, convinced he was an alchemist with his ability to conjure
up ice cream and sorbet that had flavors and texture never before tasted
in all our years of eating. His tomato-basil sorbet, goat cheese ice
cream, and other flavors pulled from the Périgord's prolific
bounty astonished us. Among the dozens of people we met, there was a
common thread among them, passion. And Reine Roches, the matriarch of
five generations of family working side by side on their ancestral winery
Domaine du Haut Perchermant, is the epitome of passion. Her story of
personal loss and triumph over a male dominated industry is an inspiration
that transcends culture and age, and her pintade (guinea fowl) stuffed
with grapes is a recipe we will try to replicate for years to come at
our own tables.
We quickly discovered that dining is the glue of social life in the
Dordogne, and as we bounced (or perhaps rolled) from table to table,
we imagined the decades of decisions, arguments, trysts, and revelations
that transpired behind these doors.
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About the Author
Kimberley Lovato is a writer whose articles
have appeared in Tampa Bay Illustrated, The St. Petersburg Times,
Fit Pregancy Magazine, and various online travel E-zines.
She is currently the editor of Rendez-Vous, a magazine for American
expatriates in Brussels, as well as the public relations and marketing
writer for Vagabond Gourmet.
She enjoys good food and fine wine. She laughs at her own jokes and
is a perpetual student of all things French. She currently lives with
her husband and daughter in Brussels, Belgium.
Read about her life as an expat at www.abroadinbelgium.com
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Homemade walnut cake and walnut liquor with Virginie Bouyou lead to
an historic tour of her family home at La Source Bleue in Touzac, and
the private suite of famed French actress Marguerite Moreno, Virginie's
aunt.The walls were covered imemorabilia, paintings and old photographs
of her famous family and friends, like well-known writer Collette. We
could almost here the victrola's tinny cry and smell the stale cigarette
smoke when Virginie described the parties that took place here.
Once at the table we found the people of the Dordogne
delightful and eager to sharetheir stories, and if you look closely,
food tells you a lot about life in these small rural villages. Like
language, food is culturally significant in France. Days are planned
around meals, shops are closed from noon to 2 p.m. for lunch, and expressions
related to food are pervasive in colloquial chatter. Perhaps the one
that resonated the most was, Vous avez du pain sur la planche, meaning,
"You have your work cut out for you." Yes we do!
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Surprising to us was the amount of seafood and nouvelle cuisine making
its way onto menus. Fish and eel pulled from the Dordogne River and
scallops from the seaside were unexpected additions to many of the menus.
One chef really making splash is Nicolas De Visch at his restaurant
La Bruceliere in Issigeac, a small medieval market town known for its
weekly food market.
Nicolas, once the seafood chef at the elaborate Burj Al Arab Hotel
in Dubai, now wows locals with his, quel horreur, no duck menu! His
terrace in the summer is the hottest table in town, and it is clear
from the waiting list that tourists and locals alike are welcoming the
new style cuisine emerging in the region.
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