 |
Clichés last at long time:
Toulouse cassoulet, duck breasts and confits from the South-West, bouillabaisse from
provence, quenelles from Lyon, choucroute from Alsace and mint humbugs from Cambrai!!! Luckily the Lot doesn't figure on this list based on the reputation of one local dish, whether it's deserved or not. To create good cooking there are other criteria to be taken into account. Arguments born from the fruits of the earth and the sky. The Gods have been generous to the Lot area. A soil that grows rye as well as vines, truffles and asparagus, cèpe mushrooms in the Bouriane région, the lamb from the limestone plateaux, stawberries, chesnuts, one extremely good cheese: a taste of paradise. Man, and particulary woman, have done the rest. Several names haunt our memories, the great Pierre ESCORBIAC and his "ris de veau" with truffles, CASTAGNIE who cooked his young cock birds with oranges and "morilles" mushrooms. Pierre ARNAL and his unforgettable stuffed pike or roasts. Old mother DESCOMP whose omelettes were unrivalled, old mother BRUNET and her infamous lunches at Sousceyrac. Paule GOURSAT and her eels cooked in grape juice, mother DAUDET, whose salsify tarts were incomparable, and the chicken soup and stuffing of the modest Paulette BEAUVILLE. Old mother PIC's tripe: as spicy as her language and the hare "en cabessal" that was mother VANEL's masterpiece. All these old ladies were called by their first names "like servants...or saints" as BLONDIN would have said. If tradition has managed to progress successfully with a nostalgia for authenticity, be reassured, the Lot now has some blossoming and very capable adeps of modern cuisine. Lucien VANEL. |
 |
Click on image to enlarge... |
|
The cult of the earth
The cycle of the seasonsHome Page
The museum visit The wine growersCopyright 1998 - Contact Webmaster
