André Daguin- the influence of the Gascon Chef on my kitchen. RIP

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This week when the grand Chef André Daguin passed away, my Gascon world lost a strong beacon of light that shone for many decades, in and out of the kitchen, on the precepts of Gascon cooking. I found myself sitting at my kitchen table, looking at the two cookbooks he wrote that I own, one in French, the other in English. I started to cook. It is the best way I know to work out a problem, sooth a confused mind, and in general get my world in order. Cooking is also the best way I know to pay homage to another cook.

André Daguin was a great chef- two Michelin stars, a destination restaurant far from the capital of French cuisine, a generous host and welcoming chef that ruled a large kitchen. His family were the planets that circled his sun- a charming and hospitable wife, Jo and three grown children, Arnaud, Anne and Ariane, each contributing to the global culinary world.

I realized as I opened his cookbooks and started to read, that I, too, had been influenced by his hand in my own Gascon kitchen at Camont. Yesterday, I started a couple recipes from his French language book- Le Nouveau Cuisinier Gascon published in 1981. Last night’s supper featured a few pieces of a mustard-coated farm chicken featured in this book- Le Petit Poulet Noir des Gers a la Moutarde. This morning I awoke to the fragrance of a long simmering stock- with duck and chicken bones (left over from the above recipe) and added the recommended ‘bottle of wine’ for another 2 hours of simmering before a rest and then a reduction. The Saturday morning kitchen smells like dinners at Vétou and Claude’s when we poured the deep red Malec wine from the Vendée into our hot poule au pot soup- faire le chabrot . I ladle out a coffee cup to sip on as I write this. The poultry and vegetables marry with the wine and I am transported to this other kitchen thirty years ago.

Even after he retired from the Hotel de France, André Daguin kept a sharp eye on the Gascon food ways, the local products, and the inherent value of good food prepared at home. Home cooks looked up to him as did rising chefs. Each memory of an extravagant tasting menu made with my gastronomic groups at his restaurant reinforces the small touches that I still do in my small kitchen and continue to teach in my cooking courses here at Camont. Next students in 2020 will see that I add a sixth and seventh reduction sauce featured in this vintage video- the two ways to prepare a duckling.

Here’s is a quick overview of his Le Jus de Volaille Réduit from Le Nouveau Cuisinier Gascon. A classic reduced stock used as a base for sauces and other recipes. I’ve amended it enough to reflect my own style of modest home cooking rather than a huge amount for restaurant fare, but left André’s words as close as I can translate.

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Reduced Poultry Bouillon a la Gascon- André Daguin 1981

  • carcass of one duck and one chicken- including necks, gizzards, feet, etc chopped into large pieces

  • vegetables- 2 carrots, one onion, two branches celery, two turnips- peel and cut in chunks

  • 3 cloves of garlic- peeled

  • 2 cans of whole tomatoes- chopped

  • duck fat

  • 2 branches of thyme

  • 12 whole black peppercorns

  • 1 bottle of red wine

While you roast the carcasses and poultry parts in a hot oven (450’F/215’C), place a couple tablespoons of duck fat in a large stock pot. Add the chopped up vegetables and brown as long as the meat is browning in the oven. This color will enrich the broth.

Add the meat to the stock pot and cover with water, to just double the height of your ingredients. Bring to a lively simmer without boiling, skimming off any scum for the first half hour, then go take a walk. You have 4-6 hours to wait. For me this means I place my pot on the wood burning stove in the kitchen and let it slowly simmer as I heat that part of the pigeonnier.

When you come back, verify the level of the liquid, skim as necessary, degrease, do not let boil and add one bottle of red wine. Go do some gardening or something. You have another two free hours.

After this time, pass everything in the pot through a sieve, bring the ‘jus’ to a boil. If necessary to degrease more, leave overnight in the refrigerator and then remove the solid fat floating on the surface. You can use this broth now as a base of a soup or return the bouillon to the heat, boil briskly for another hour or so until reduced by half.

Now you will have a broth bound by reduction, rich in flavor and dark color that you can keep in a jar in your refrigerator for a long time. Use as base for any reduction sauces (as those in the video) or in other Gascon recipes. Merci, André Daguin for sharing these words and flavors with us.

Kate Hill