Jambon de Bayonne en fête! A Basque Country road trip with Kate.
What’s red and green and red and white… and ham all over?
The Foire au Jambon in the colorful Basque port of Bayonne.
A memory of a Bayonne surfaces from a long ago road trip looking for marine goods along the Atlantic coast for my barge, the Julia Hoyt. Rope, cord, and lines I was searching. I drove along the river port of the Adour outside of Bayonne in the very southwest of Southwest France looking for some fishermen, a working boat or chandlery. The newly fitted nose of wooden fishing boat peeked out of an over-sized hanger; I braked for a quick look inside. Yes. Men working with wood and fiber glass, paint and canvas. Ocean going small fishing boats. Sturdy, serious and hard-working. The boats and the men. I knew they would know. I have a nose for these things.
I thanked them for the directions to the Co-op Maritime in St. Jean de Luz, I turned to say au revoir and stopped dead in my foodie tracks. Although the Captain in me was looking for cord, the Cook in me spotted a treasure trove of maturing hams hanging from every square foot of rafter space. A boat yard/charcuterie shed? Welcome to Baiona!
Wednesdays @ Welbeck- Organic Grass Fed Hereford Beef
My Arcadian Vision of Lower Hurst Farm
Field & fence. Lower Hurst Farm. The Peak District.
Sometimes Wednesdays at Welbeck spill off ‘the campus’ and across the rolling hills of the nearby countryside.
England. The Midlands. Derbyshire.
And sometimes Wednesdays too rapidly turn into Fridays. This Friday the Butchery & Charcuterie students at the School of Artisan Food jumped in the big silver bullet with Able Andy at the Wheel and headed across the Bakewell Pudding Route to spend the day discover the organic grass fed beef and lamb produced at Lower Hurst Farm.
Lalbenque+Truffles+Le Cafe du Monde = Truffluscious
Where do you go? on a gray day in France? on a Tuesday in February?
Where do you go with a basket full of truffle envy? a hankering for a real meal? an earthy taste of SW France?
Lalbenque. Just off the A20 between Montalban and Cahors. Tuesdays between November-Mid March. Eat at Le Cafe du Monde before the market. The food was extraordinary. Gilda and Bernard the most welcoming chef & host. Better yet, take the train to la gare and get drunk on truffle with us!
Thanks Georgia W. for the pics!
Day two… this Gascony, this terroir.
Driving to the Chateau St. Loup en Albret this morning was like flying between cloud and earth- rows of golden vines turning in sunshine alternated with blankets of fog concealing house and farm. Montagnac’s church spire floated above the mist.
First stop after gathering Melissa, Robert, Tag, Porter and Nick was the morning market at Lavardac- a good beginner’s guide to local good food.
What we bought and then cooked and ate this day:
- pâté de grand-mere- a black pepper-studded liver pâté from Patricia
- 2 magrets de Canard. 1 1/2 pintade
- pâté de langue- pork tongues en gelée
- 3 cheese from Bruno-a Pyrennes sheep cheese, a creamy goat cheese from the Perigord, a slice of perfectly ripe Brie de Meaux
- from the Chapolard’s charcuterie stall- saucisse de toulouse, boudin noir, an aire-cured noix de jambon, saucisse sèche
- black radishes, mustard greens, radicchio, spinach and sunchokes form Francoise’s organic garden
- mushrooms- cèpe and girolles from Paul
- bread
- wine, armagnac and little shot glasses with a pruneaux drowning in Armagnac in each one
We ate lunch, a picnic near the river at Vianne before driving to Camont.
Camont in sunshine on a November day- the kitchen warming to the fragrance of a richly perfumed Gateau Basque, a pintade braising in a short wine broth enriched with pruneaux, la cruchade cooked and steamed, and several bottles of Domaine la Galine.
Dinner was the rich and savoury terroir of Gascony on a plate. Fotos to follow.
