The Easternmost of the French provinces has been for decades the most disputed one, covered intensely both by France and her Germanic neighbor across the Rhine. Alsace is accustomed to change, to tension, and to violence. The flags which fly from her town halls have alternated alarmingly during the past century, and troops of a dozen nationalities have trampled across her fields and vineyards. Yet, by some miracle of courage, her verdant calm is unruffled; her quaint traditions are unchanged. Apparently no cataclysm can upset her placidity, alter her local patois, widen her streets, or affect her fine cooking.
Above all, the picturesque beauty and the unquenchable fertility of Alstian soil remain unchanged. The broad strip of loam which borders the Rhine here is a farmer's Utopia, bountiful with grain and vegetables. Orchards of heavily burdened fruit trees prosper in this rich ribbon of land. Here is the source of Alsace's exquisite jams and liqueurs. Rising up from the plain are gentle slopes, checkered with vineyards, which bring forth crisp, aromatic white wines of infinite charm. Still higher are majestic forests silbouetted against the cobalt backdrop of the Vosges. Is it any wonder that strong countries wrestle over Alsace?
Nature is kind to the Alsatian epicure, stocking his mountain streams with trout and crayfish and populating his wooded uplands with a bounty of game—partridge, quail, pleasant, venison, and wild boar. The Rhine, so often a sinister barrier, comforts him with a piscatorial plenitude of carp, pike, perch, bream, and eel, among others. His own farmers concentrate on two joy-giving creatures, the pig and the goose, which bring unctuous pleasure to his table. Such blessings should be enough, but the Alsatian also has the good fortune to live in the most picturesque of all the French provinces, a land scattered with so many medieval villages and castles that the visitor is dumfounded. The appeal of places to see, dishes to taste, and wines to sniff adds up to a formula so tempting that a reasonable traveler can hardly resist it.
We hope that some day you will succumb to the charm of this brave and placid province and explore its toy towns in particular. Strasbourg and Colmar have their decided merits, but a vivid surprise awaits you in these grotesque, but, unblemished hamlets, whose steep-roofed houses are so often capped with iron baskets of straw, sometimes inhabited by authentic live storks. There are dozens of such villages. Their fascination may be summarized in three of the most perfect examples which carry the ponderous names of Ammerschwihr, Kayserberg, and Riquewihr. By a pleasant twist of fact, each of the three is an ancient citadel of good wine. What better place to carry out a Bacchic pilgrimage?
The name of Ammerschwihr will be found on many a long-necked bottle of wine. Vineyards are its pride and livelihood. My lst glimpse of the town was a colorful one, predominantly lavender, rose, and viridian. Wisteria seemed to twine around every window. Wine carts rattled over the cobblestones, laden with tanks on their backs, plodded vines. The vineyard workers, tanks on their backs, plodded up the streets wearing smocks and broad straw hats which had been tinted a vivid Venitian green by the spray. It was a theatrical street, bordered with timbered houses with dizzy roof lines and culminating in a bizarre town gate. Add a few singing peasants with steins, several buxom barmaids dancing the polka, and a few hussars with red coats, and you would have a perfect Graustark setting, all ready for the love waltz.
Kaysersberg, wedged in between steep, vine-clad hills, is crowded with overhanging timbered dwellings. If you happen to arrive there on market day, a scene of unforgettable animation awaits you. Farmers from outlying hamlets bring in their pigs, geese, and cauliflowers, while their wives come bedecked in old Alsatian costumes with flapping bonnets, plaid skirts, and sashes tied in enormous bows. Kaysersberg is a village of artisans. Stone-carvers, toy-makers, etchers, and wood-engravers work in shops clustered around the square. And there is a charming village inn with a vinecovered garden where wine merchants regale their customers with crystal goblets of Riesling. This is the Hotel Chambard, and it is a thoroughly pleasant place to stop for a meal or for the night.
Riquewihr, a name which brightens the eye of many a wine amateur, is perhaps the most fantastic of all Alsatian villages. It is the absolute quintessence of quaintness. Mossy fountains, embellished with wrought iron, mark its street crossings. Carved Renaissance loggias just forth from the upper floors of its ancient houses, providing inquisitive housewives with fine lookouts over the street. The main village thoroughfare terminates in a tall, whimsical town gate capped with a nonsensical belfry. Its lean front is gaudily checkered with timbers, like a too-sporty golfer in loud tweeds. In this atmosphere of giddy unreality, you may sample the best of Alsatian wines. It is quite an experience! You may be puzzled by the “Gourmet” emblazoned on some of the houses of Riquewihr. In this rare instance the word retains its ancient meaning of “wine merchant.”
This is a good setting for a fleeting paragraph on the gay, palatable white wines produced on this verdant hillside. In contrast to the practice in other regions of France, the Alsatian wines take their names from the varietal grape vine, usually combined with a village name. Thus you may have to choose between a Riesling de Riquewihr, a Sylvaner de Barr, or a Traminer d'Ammerschwihr, and there couldn't be a more pleasant dilemma. The name of the wine grower is, as usual, your best guaranty of quality. The outstanding Alsatian grape varieties, Gewurztraminer, Traminer, Riesling, and Sylvaner, produce light, graceful white wines, clean to the taste and delicately perfumed. Like their distinguished Rhine neighbors, they are pale in color and deceptive in their hidden prowess. The French Minister of Agriculture had to taste 139 Alsatian wines in one day, it says here in my newspaper clipping. The balanced poise of statemen has rarely received a stiffer test. The Muscat grape also thrives in Alsace, producing an aromatic little dessert wine. And of course there is Alsatian beer, a fresh, savory brew which will forever be the perfect companion to choucroute garnie.
To the thousands who know Alsatian cookery only by way of Paris brasseries, choucroute garnie is the one, the overpowering dish of the region. They do it better in Alsace than on the Grands Boulevards, you may be sure. The sauerkraut is thoroughly cooked but light, perfumed with peppercorns. It is crowned with a slab of hot boiled ham and flanked with fat Strasbourg with a slab of hot boiled potatoes. (In parentheses, may I say that the Hofbrau in New Haven achieves Olympic heights with the dish, equaling the best that Alsace can produce.) This venerable dish is an accepted classic, and very possibly one of the reasons is that it is surprisingly digestible.
Choucroute Garnie
Line the bottom of a good-sized casserole with 8 thick slices fat bacon. Place on top 2 quarts sauerkraut. On top of the sauerkraut place 6 smoked pork loin cutlets, 3 onions, each stuck with a clove, and 8 to 10 smoked or fresh sausages or any good spiced sausages. Place another 8 thick slices fat bacon over all and add to the casserole 2 to 3 cups stock and 1 bottle dry white wine. Cover tightly and simmer for 2 hours.
About 15 minutes before the cooking period is finished, add 8 frankfurters and complete the cooking without letting the liquid boil. Arrange the sauerkraut in the center of a large hot platter, surround with the bacon, the smoked cutlets, sausages, and frankfurters, and garnish with thin slices of boiled or baked ham. Serve with potatoes boiled in their jackets.
If you are interested in a more Homeric version, here is one that requires three days to reach its peak of succulent splendor!
Choucroute Garnie (de Trois Jours)
The first day melt down a good quantity of goose fat. Then cover the bottom of a large earthen casserole with a layer of plat-de-côte de boeuf (short ribs). Cover this with bouillon and Chablis and add salt and pepper. Then add alternate thin layers of goose fat and wide layers of sauerkraut, mixing in bacon strips and cutlets of smoked pork, until the receptacle is filed to the brim. Cook this slowly for 5 hours and allow it to cool. The next day put the marmite back on the stove, add 1/2 bottle champagne, and cook slowly for 3 or 4 hours. Finally, on the third and great day, put the dish back on a very slow fire, add 1/2 bottle champagne, and simmer for 4 final hours. About 2 1/2 hours before serving, add a boned Join of pork. Half an hour later, add a large Lorraine sausage and many smaller sausages from Strasbourg and Frankfort. Then, 1 hour before presenting your masterpiece, add a few truffles! That's all. It can easily be adapted to American ingredients.
Because the goose and the pig form the keystone of Alsatian cookery, one is inclined to accept choucroute garnie and pâté de foie gras as the two admitted masterpieces and to overlook many subtle, unpublicized specialties of the countryside. The whole world knows the buff-colored crockery terrine which encases the lush, aromatic goose liver from Alsace. Its superlative reputation is well deserved. Its only rival, the foie gras of Périgord, has a closer kinship to truffles, perhaps, but only a rash expert would rate one above the other. The Alsatians are consummate pastrymakers, however, and when they combine this skill with their sublime goose liver, the result is an exquisite concoction of tender crust, foie gras, and truffles quite beyond my range of adjectives.
Alsace is a land of fragrant pâtés, made not only from the celestial foie gras but also from pork, beef, poultry, venison, wild boar, hare, and game birds. They also make pâtés from fresh-water fish and from fruit. Then there is a particularly festive one made from the meat and feathered trimmings of the peacock. High spicing is required in these flavorful meats, and the Alsatian charcutier calls upon pepper, clove, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and caraway seed, in addition to the gamut of herbs, to perfume them.
Garlic and mustard are his allies, too. Those who like highly seasoned dishes will find unsuspected joys in Alsace.
But another culinary mood exists there. It is subtle and restrained, depending upon the sheer goodness of Alsatian products. It is from this quieter realm that the following Alsatian recipes have been chosen and adapted to the American kitchen. We hope that some of them deserve a permanent niche in your epicurean gallery, and we almost implore you to try the simple and utterly delicious dish which follows:
Suprêmes de Volailles Strasbourgeoise
Cut all the white meat carefully from 2 uncooked young chickens of 2 1/2 to 3 pounds. Divide this into 4 nice suprêmes without skin. The rest of the chicken may be cooked for chicken salad or aspic. Sauté the suprêmes in 3 tablespoons hot butter over medium heat until they are tender, but nor brown. Salt lightly, remove them from the heat, and keep them hot. Put into the pan 1 1/4 cups cream. Allow this to boil up, season with salt, and add 1 generous tablespoon foie gras already rubbed smooth with I tablespoon cream. Blend this well into the sauce. Meanwhile, cook 1/2 package fine spaghetti in boiling salted water. Drain, shake around in the pan with I tablespoon butter, some small cubes foie gras, and 1 truffle, sliced, saving some of the choice slices for garnish, Make a bed of the spaghetti on a hot platter, arrange the slices of chicken on this, 1 slice truffle on each suprême, and pour the sauce over all. The more foie gras you use, the more seraphic your dish becomes! This will serve four.
Here is an ingenious way of sublimating the lowly potato:
Alsatian Pϐutters
Peel, boil, and mash 2 pounds potatoes. Blend 2 tablespoons flour and 2 eggs, beaten, with the potatoes and add 1 clove garlic, mashed, 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Mix these well and place in a buttered baking dish by large tablespoons, placing them so they do not quite touch each other. Bake in a medium oven (325° F). for about 12 minutes. Place under the broiler flame at the last, to brown to a tempting golden color. Pour on a bit of melted butter and serve.
Perhaps you have been struck with the narrow range of recipes involving calf's liver. You can escape the invariable frying pan, bacon, and onions by trying this old Alsatian formula:
Lewerknepfle (Liver Dumplings)
Put I pound calf's liver through the meat grinder. Add to this 1/2 teaspoon salt, a good quantity freshly ground pepper, 1 generous pinch each nutmeg and cinnamon. Chop 2 medium-sized onions and sauté them in 1 generous tablespoon butter until soft. Add these to the liver, together with 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 2 cups bread crumbs softened with a little milk and well squeezed out, 2 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately, and 2 tablespoons flour. Mix all well together and form into balls on a floured dish. Drop these into gently boiling water and poach for 20 minutes. Drain well, arrange on a hot platter, and pour over the dumplings about 3 tablespoons butter which has been heated until lightly browned. Add bread croutons fried in butter.
Here is a characteristic Alsatian entree, and a very adaptable dish for a light American meal:
Alsatian Tarte à l'Oignon
Make enough of your favorite short pastry (or see GOURMET, May 1949) for a 9-inch single-crust pie and line a pie plate with it. Slice enough young onions with some of the green, or scallions, or white onions to make 2 cups. Sauté the onions in 2 heaping tablespoons butter until soft and pale yellow. Now beat well 3 eggs and add 1 cup cream, salt, and pepper. Mix well and add to the onions. Fill the pastry lining with this mixture and sprinkle on top 1 slice bacon cut in tiny squares. Bake in a hot oven (400° F.) for about 1/2 hour. Serve at once. You will find this hearty and delicate at the same time.
The subtle mood of Alsatian cookery is illustrated by this digestible poached dish, with a most satisfying sauce:
Veaul à l'Alsacienne
Bone, flatten out, and season with salt and pepper a piece of leg of veal weighing about 4 pounds. Fill it with the following stuffing: 3/4 cup bread crubs, soaked with 1/3 cup cream, 2 small onions or 1 large, chopped and sautéed tablespoon chopped parsley, 2 eggs, beaten, and salt and pepper.
Roll up the veal and tie it, sewing the edges together to keep the stuffing from escaping. Put in a deep pot and cover to about half its depth in white wine and water in equal parts. To this add 2 carrots, 1 onion, both sliced, salt, pepper, and a bouquet garni, Braise, covered, over a rather low heat for 2 hours, or until tender, turning the meat over when it is half cooked. Place the meat on a hot platter and strain off the sauce into a saucepan. Better still, remove the bouquet garni and put the sauce with its vegetables in an electric blender for a few seconds. There should be about 2 cups. Put the sauce on the fire and blend in 1 tablespoon butter which has been creamed with 1 tablespoon flour. Serve the sauce separately.
If you wish to close your dinner with a final Alsatian flourish, you might prepare either crêpes Suzette or a soufflé flavored with their rare, fruity liqueurs. They are remarkable, clean-cut essences, distilled from cherries, plums, prunes, and berries grown in the fertile Rhine Valley. You have a choice of kirsch, Questch, Mirabelle, or that memorable transformation of the raspberry, Framboise. In Alsace, they say that it goes down like fire and returns hauntingly like raspberries, which is a very intriguing experience indeed.
The list of good restaurants and hotels is unusually large this month. You have an embarras de choix, particularly in Strasbourg. This remains one of the most picturesque of European cities, in spite of successive wars. It is difficult to limit the Strasbourg selections to these three:
MAISON KAMMERZELL, 16 place de la Cathédrale. This restaurant is located in a most extraordinary timbered house, perhaps the finest in Strasbourg. You may dine in antique salons whose leaded windows look out on the cathedral. There is a wine-tasters' room, too. Here you may taste the celebrated poularde strasbourgeoise and that Alsatian classic, truite au bleu. The house is noted for its crêpes and pastries.
RESTAURANT VALENTIN SORG, 50 rue Vieux-Marché-aux-Vins. A distinguished, long-established house directed by the Sorg family for almost a century. You will find several masterful dishes here, flawlessly prepared. Among them are foie gras chad à Palsacienne, écrevisses bordelaise, bécasse flambé, bomard à Paméricaine, souffiés, and crêpes au kirsh.
RESTAURANT ZIMMER, 8 rue TempleNeuf. A local favorite where coq au Riesling and choucroute garnie are served in their full splendor.
Colmar, the beautiful city which was mentioned so often in the dispatches of both World Wars, has survived with relatively few blemishes. Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, was a native of Colmar. You will find several examples of his work scattered about the town. But speaking of sculpture, you will rarely if ever find a more sculptural restaurant than the famed RESTAURANT DES TÉTES in Colmar. This extraordinary, steep-roofed Renaissance house teems with scores of sculptured stone heads. After you have surveyed this grimacing gallery, you will find some tempting local dishes served in antique salons in the interior. Among them are civet de lièvre, perdrix au choucroute, écrevisses à la nage, truite au bleu, and a delicious Munster cheese served with a shaker of caraway seed.
Other recommended stopovers in Alsace are, alphabetically:
CHATENOIS (Bas-Rhin)—Hôtel de la Gare
HAUT KOENISGBOURG (Bas-Rhin)—Hotel Schaenzel, a picturesque hotel in the pines, specializing in foie gras, pâtés, coq en pâté, and quiche Lorraine.
KAYSERBERG (Haut-Rhin)—A delightful country inn located in the wine country.
MARLENHEIM (Bas-Rhin)—Hôtel Cerf
MOOSH (Haut-Rhin)—Hôtel de France et Relais 66. An agreeable inn where meals are served in the garden under the close supervision of the patron lui-même.
OBERSTEINBACH (Bas-Rhin)—Restaurant Anthon. Good regional food in a sylvan setting.
RIBEAUVILLÉ (Haut-Rhin)—Restaurant Pépinière. A summer restaurant located on the outskirts of a delightful wine village.
SCHIRMECK (Bas-Rhin)—Hôtel Donon. A simple inn at the water's edge, where you can savor trout and Alsatian dishes.
STAMBACH (Bas-Rhin)—Hôtel Fameuse Truite. A large and recognized inn located in a valley on the banks of the Zorn. As the name suggests, they serve beautiful trout, and many another Alsatian chef d'oeuvre, together with some exceptional Gewurztraminer and Sylvaner wines.
WASSELONNE (Bas-Rhin)—Hôtel de la Gare.
WISSEMBOURG (Bas-Rhin)—Hôtel Ange, famed for its pâté en croute à la gelée.
For Those fortunate gourmets who are sailing or flying to France this year, here is a handy checklist of the restaurants and hotels already recommended by Samuel Chamberlain in “An Epicurean Tour of the French Provinces” which begin in GOURMET'S March issue.
LA BRESSE Départment of the Ain
Artemate—Hôtel Berrard
Belley—Hôtel Pernollet
Bourge-en-Bresse—Hôtel de France; Hôtel de l'Europe; Restaurant à l'Escargot
Ceyzeriat—Restaurant Balcon
Ferney-Voltaire—Hôtel de Pailly
Nantua—Hôtel de France
Pérouges—Hostellerie de Pérouges
Priay—Hôtel Bourgeois
St. Germain-de-Joux—Hôtel Reygrobellet
St. Jean-de-Gonville—Restaurant Demornex
Thoissey—Hôtel Chapon Fin
UPPER BURGUNDY Départment of Côte d'Or
Beaune—Hôtel de la Cloche; Hôtel de la Poste
Chatillon-sur-Seine—Hôtel Côte d'Or
Chenove—Hôtel de l'Escargotière
Dijon—Hôtel Nord; Grande Taverne; Restaurant Pré-aux-Clercs; Restaurant aux Trois Faisans
Les Laumes—Hôtel de la Gare
St. Seine-l'Abbaye—Restaurant de la Poste
Saulieu—Hôtel Côte d'Or
Département of Saône-et-Loire
Anost—Restaurant Guyard
Auton—Hôtel St. Louis et de la Poste
Chalons-sur-Saône—Hôtel Royal
Charolles—Hôtel Moderne
Fleurville—Hôtel Chanel
Mâcon—Auberge Bressane
Pontanevaux—Hostellerie Compagnons de Jehu
Tournus—Hôtel du Sauvage
LOWER BURGUNDY Département of the Yonne
Auxerre-Hôtel de l'Epée; Tour d'Orbandelle
Avallon—Hôtel de la Poste
Chablis—Hôtel de l'Etoile
Joigny—Hôtel Escargot
La Cerce—Relais Fleuri
Sens—Hôtel de Bourgogne; Hôtel de Paris et de la Poste
Valée du Cousin—Moulin des Ruats
Vézelay—Hôtel Poste
Villevallier—Pavillon Bleu
LE LYONNAIS Département of the Loire
Feurs—Hôtel Parc et Provence
St. Priest-en-Jarez—Le Clos Fleuri
Départment of the Rhône
Bans—Restaurant Cros
Les Halles—Hôtel Charreton
Lyons—Restaurant Morateur; La Mère Guy; La Mère Filloux; La Mère Brazierl Le Molière; Garcin; Farge; Restaurant du Café Neuf
Tassin-la-Demi-Lune—Restaurant La Sauvagie