Now for a few Gascon recipes. With such a plentiful larder, it is not surprising that the Gascon cooking is rich and varied. It is high in color, favoring both peppers and tomatoes, but restrained in me use of garlic and spices. It is good harmonious country cooking, leaning to wholesome soups (the garbure of Gascony is famous), ragoùts, confits, daubes, cassoulets, and estouffats, to reel off a succession of almost untranslatable words. It is in the Gascon home that these dishes thrive. Regrettably enough, they are much less common in the hotels and restaurants. There isn't much that the inquisitive gastronome can do about it, either, except to marry into a Gascon family. But you can try some of the dishes out in your own American kitchen. Here are a few templing examples:
Gigot Gascogne do Mauléon (Leg of Mutton Gascony a la Mauléon)
Marinate a fine leg of mutton with I cup oil, a bottle of dry white wine, ½ cup wine vinegar, 2 onions, sliced, 1 carrots, sliced. 2 cloves of garlic, 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon rosemary, a sprig of rhyme, good pinches of nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon, and salt and pepper. Turn the mutton occasionally in the marinade. After 24 hours, drain and wipe it dry. Roast the meat in the oven only until it is still pink and juicy in the Center. The overdry, dark brown, characterless roast is to be avoided at all costs!
In the meantime, simmer the marinade to about one fourth its original quantity, strain it, and add some sliced mushrooms, 1 or 2 tomatoes, peeled and diced, 2 chicken livers, sliced and sautéed, and 2 or 3 small sour gherkins, finely chopped. Simmer together for 3 or '1 minutes. This makes a truly Gascon sauce to serve with the roast mutton, which may be made even more delectable by sprinkling it with chopped truflles and pistachio nuts before its presentation.
The estouffat or daube turns up in many French provinces. This is the Gascony version, and one of the best.
L'Estouffat de Boeuf Gascogne (Braised Beef Gascony)
In a casserole place a good-sized piece of fresh pork rind or bacon. On this lay a 5-or 4-pound piece of lean beef. such as eye-of-the-round, stuck with 2 cloves of garlic and rubbed with salt and pepper. Add a good pinch each of nutmeg and cinnamon. 3 cloves, a bouquet garni, 1 tablespoon diced bacon, 1 onion. quartered, 2 carrots cut in long strips, 2 shallots, ¼ cup brandy, 2 cups good red wine, and ½ cup beef stock. The beef should be practically covered. Cover the casserole with a piece of heavy wax paper and tic closely. Put on the lid and stair the dish in a moderate oven (350° F.). After an hour, reduce the heat to 250° F. and cook for at least 6 hours.
In the old days this dish simmered in the hot ashes in the Gascon hearth for 24 hours. It is definitely improved if cooked a day in advance, then heated for an hour the next day. Skim the fat from the sauce before serving.
A hearty, aromatic Gascon sauce adds luster, even to the illustrious sole. To lesser fish it is near sublimation.
Sole Gratinée à la Gasconne (F'ilets of Sole au Gratia Gascony)
Place 4 filets of sole or flounder, about 1 pound, one on the other in two pairs and sprinkle salt amd pepper and a little chopped chives in between them. Duller a shallow baking dish and strew chopped shallots and parsley thinly over the bottom of the dish. Place the filets in the baking dish and pour over them a sauce prepared as follows:
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan and blend in ½ teaspoon prepared mustard, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, I clove of garlic, mashed, ½ teaspoon chopped shallot, 1 generous teaspoon chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon tarragon vinegar, salt and pepper, and ½ cup white wine. Bake the fish for about 20 to 25 minutes in a preheated moderate oven (350°F.).
Pour off the saute into a bowl or saucepan amd blend it into 1 beaten egg yolk. Add to it ¼ pound mushrooms. sliced and sautéed in 1 table-spoon butter. Pour the sauce back over the fish, sprinkle with fine bread crumbs, and brown quickly under a hot broiler. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top and serve.
The Gascons serve some of their salads tepid, a novelty which makes for more flavor. Here is a good example:
Salade de Choul-fleur Landaise (Cauliflower Salad Landes)
Break a cauliflower into flowerets and boil in salted water until cooked but still firm. Drain and while still warm, pour about 5 or 6 tablespoons French dressing over them. This is made of 1 part of tarragon wine vinegar to 2 parts of olive oil, salt, and freshly ground pepper. In another bowl slice I boiled beet and add 1 small green pepper, cut in large slices and sautéed a few minutes on each side in a little butter. Pour French dressing over the pieces and mix well. Place the slices of beet and green pepper alternately in a decorative pattern on the cauliflower and serve the salad without chilling it.
Next lime you shoot yourself a wild chamois in the Rockies, try this one, which is better if cooked in the Rockies too, as many of the ingredients are native mountain products. (Don't turn the page! This is an excellent way of preparing venison or other game.)
Cuissot d'lsard aux Myrtilles (Haunch of Wild Chamois of the Pyrénées with Whortleberries)
Twenty-four hours before cooking your haunch of mountain goat (or is it venison?), salt and pepper it, add 1 carrot, sliced, 1 onion, sliced, 2 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 bay leaves, 6 juniper berries, a good pinch of wild thyme, 1 cup oil, and a bottle of dry white wine. Turn the meat in this marinade from time to time for a day before cooking.
Pinterest
