blogosphere! i have news to report, at long last. it’s been
a quiet month here in the countryside – lots of movie watching and novel
reading. but, this weekend, i had one of the coolest experiences that i’ve had
to date here in france… and it was all about the truffle, the cherished black
diamond of the périgord!
a few weeks ago, a couple of my pilates friends here in
excideuil told me about a special all-day event held each year called “truffe
en fête.” it's put on by the local chapter of the rotary club, and celebrates
one of this region’s most precious commodities – the truffle. the whole shindig
is split into two parts… the first segment is an afternoon “conference,” at
which attendees learn about the truffle, listen to local “trufficulteurs," and
even have the opportunity to do a little taste-testing as well! the second part
is a full-on french feast experience, with every course featuring (you guessed
it) the truffle. when christine and beatrice told me that it was a benefit
dinner for a local cancer research fund, i was sold! what better way to
experience the local culture and taste truffles for the first time than by
giving back to that same community. as the date approached, i continued to look
forward to the event with high expectations!
finally, the weekend arrived. i had offered to go with
christine and beatrice on friday, to help set up for the event on the following
day… and i’m so glad i did! i met several members of the rotary club, who were
all wonderfully charming and friendly. we spent the afternoon/early evening
rearranging tables, perfecting the place settings, and generally making sure
that everything was ready for the 200 person dinner the next day. the venue itself was absolutely
gorgeous. situated just a few kilometers away from excideuil, the “domained’essendiéras” is a beautiful complex of two chateaux (one from the 16th
century and one from the 19th century), a banquet hall and
clubhouse, golf course, vacation homes… you name it. the chateaux were
beautifully renovated by the family that owns the property, and i was
continually impressed with the attention to detail they so obviously devoted to
the process.
on saturday, i got myself all dolled up and went down to the venue early with the ladies
(begging rides has become the norm, since i have no car) to help with
last-minute preparations before the afternoon session started. there wasn’t
much to do for the first hour or so, but around 2pm, the highly-anticipated
(and slightly late) keynote speaker showed up! her name is danièle mazet-delpeuch, and she is an absolute gem. as a native of the périgord region
and a world-renowned specialist in the regional cuisine, danièle was a total
match for this event. she had even agreed to prepare a little “amuse-bouche” as
a treat for the audience, so when she arrived, beatrice and i kicked into
sous-chef mode. we spent about an hour and a half in the kitchen in total,
preparing the cutest little hors d’oeuvre you ever did see. step one was
cutting a big loaf of freshly baked, freshly delivered bread into strips and
arranging them onto plates for eventual toasting. for step two, danièle showed
me how to carefully cut little quail eggs open with nail scissors and pop them
into pre-heated frying pans for some sunny-side-up goodness. once they cooked,
i was given a little scalloped biscuit cutter and told to place the beautiful
little eggy flowers into the shallow plastic bowls that beatrice had set out
onto the trays. once the eggs were placed, the freshly toasted bread strips
(called tartines) were lovingly spread with the foie gras that delphine had made
especially for the event. DI-VINE. the final, and most important, touch was to
lightly touch the foie-gras end of the tartine into some crumbled raw truffle,
sprinkle just a teensy bit of the truffle onto the egg yolk, and place the tartine across the
bowl. throughout the process, danièle was so wonderful and encouraging – she
even complimented my egg-cutting techniques and told me i had a future as a
chef. once the assembly was complete, danièle went out and spoke for about 30
minutes before doing a foie gras demonstration! her life has been incredibly
interesting; she started out as a sort of local culinary hero in the perigord
region, welcoming chefs and cooking enthusiasts from all over the world to her
country home/farm for foie gras and truffle camps. then, in the late 80’s, she
was summoned (almost literally) to paris, upon recommendation, to be the
personal chef for the then-president-de-la-republique françois mitterand! she
worked in the palais de l’élysée (equivalent of the white house) for two years.
then, she went to work in antarctica as the chef for a french research team for
14 months! she’s literally been on every continent! a movie was made about
those two experiences (working in paris and antarctica) – it is called "haute cuisine" (or les saveurs du palais) and came out last fall. i just watched it
today – it’s very entertaining, and the woman who plays “hortense” (danièle)
did a great job of capturing her spirit. all in all, i consider myself very,
very lucky to have had such a unique opportunity!
by 6:30 or so, everyone had left to go get ready for the
dinner. we made sure everything was picked up
and tidy before heading down to the banquet hall. i sat and watched the
england/france rugby match (the 6 nations tournament opener!) with a bunch of
the men. france ended up winning right at the very end, which put everyone
firmly in a great mood for the rest of the night. i was also interviewed by the local blogger for a little article on his site, periblog (link forthcoming). around 7:45, we lit the
candles and the “servers” (rotary club members) started popping bottles of
bubbly! now, i’ve had my fair share of authentic french dinners… but i’ve never
been to a banquet-type dinner. and let me tell you, this one was special. we
started with the pre-dinner drinks around 8pm, and everyone kind of just
mingled until about 8:30. after a few opening remarks from the rotary club
president and christine, the first course was served. naturally, it was a soup
– a velouté of white beans and potatoes, with the ever-present truffle, of
course. it was delicious. i could have had 4 bowls of it. and of course, with a
new course we must have new wine! throughout the night, our table ended up
having something like 8 bottles of wine… there were only 10 of us at the table,
and two didn’t really drink. so, you can do the math there. the second course
was a truffle foie gras (heaven help me) with carmelized onion jelly and fresh,
crusty bread. i cannot even begin to describe the delicacy that was this dish.
it was simply divine. i was starting to feel full by the end of it, though,
because that slice of foie gras was substantial to say the least. thankfully,
the third dish took a while coming, because the purée had to be prepared
exactly before serving… and it takes a lot of purée to feed over 200 people.
finally, the main course came out, and boy, was it worth the wait. a beautiful
cut of beef cheek, roasted for several hours and served alongside a potato
purée made with truffled crème fraiche and this fantastic gravy. it was
absolutely decadent – the meat was so, so tender and the purée was this velvety
concoction of perfect seasoning, buttery, truffley, potatoey goodness… mmm. i
will never think of mashed potatoes the same way again. after that, we had the
cheese course, which was a truffle-infused, soft goat cheese with a slice of
toasted bread which had been glazed with truffle oil… i love goat cheese, but
the texture was different than any kind i’ve tried thus far. finally, dessert
was fresh crêpes with truffle caramel – exactly as delicious as it sounds. as
is only fitting, there was a round of coffee to finish everything off, despite
the fact that it was pushing one in the morning at that point. the meal
honestly took like 5 hours. #france. i have never, ever had a meal so decadent
and detailed and perfectly french in my entire life. each course was introduced
by a meticulous explanation that perfectly explained the treat we were about to
receive. we took our time, enjoying each dish as it was brought to us and
praising the elements that were particularly phenomenal. the evening was made
even more special by the fact that i got to sit with several friends from
excideuil and the surrounding area, some that i have known for a while now and
others that i met that evening. i also got to meet christine’s daughter and
beatrice’s two children, which was a treat! it was funny to meet the kids, now
that i’ve gotten to be friends with the parents.
i stayed and helped clean up a little bit – mostly bussing
the tables and getting all the glassware sorted into the trays. finally, just
after 2, i left with christine’s husband gilles (my name counterpart), who
kindly offered to bring me and beatrice’s son adrien back to excideuil. i was
talked into staying for a drink at their house, since i’m friends with the kids
and there’s nothing like a beer at 2:30 in the morning. i finally, finally got
home just after 3am, and promptly fell into bed soon thereafter.
it seems only fitting that this post is one of my longest
ones yet, and it’s about food. that’s a very appropriate metaphor for france,
if i’m being honest. if there’s one thing the french know, it’s how to eat, and
eat well. bon appétit, indeed!
