French Charcuterie in the United States

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French Charcuterie in the United States

What exactly is ‘’charcuterie’’ and where can you find some close enough to the French original in the U.S?

I’m really sorry Stéphane to be so late (3 months) in answering your question about ‘’la charcuterie’’. I’ve been quite busy over the last three months giving myself a refresher course on various types of French wines, essentially Corbières, Minervois, Vins de pays du Languedoc, Alsace, and Bordeaux, that I had to promote during wine tastings in wine and fancy grocery stores in the Chicago area. So I have to confess that my attention was not too focused on French charcuterie.

Besides I went through a period of intense “blogging fatigue”, a disease that, from what I read, affects most bloggers at one point or the other.

The questions you asked me are related to a subject that holds a special place in my life as a French "gourmand".

So I'm going to try to answer them in 5 groups:

• My personal memories as a ''charcuterie fan'' since I was a child in France in the 40s and 50s.
• Trying to define French charcuterie
• Various types of French regional pork specialties
• 3 main categories of ''French-style'' charcuterie products in the U.S.
• Where to find good French charcuterie in the U.S 
•  

I have been a big fan of the pig since I was a kid

A few weeks ago when I was having lunch with my friend Kiki at his eponymous restaurant as we do every Friday, we ate a very nice ‘’choucroute garnie à l’alsacienne’’, and the vision of these sausages, salt pork, and ham over the steaming sauerkraut, not only reminded me that I had not written anything about the subject of your inquiry on our blog, but also made me think about my Grand-Maman Laplanche.

As you know, choucroute garnie is one of my favorite ‘’met de brasserie’’ and I’m happy that from time to time during our long winters Kiki’s Bistro has it as a ‘’special de la semaine’’. Besides the sauerkraut, ideally cooked in Riesling, my favorite Alsatian wine, but any not too acidic dry white wine will do, and the small boiled potatoes, this dish at Kiki’s is served with a slice of warm French ‘’jambon de Paris’’, some ‘’cervelas’’ (knackwurst), a wiener, a piece of veal bratwurst, and salt pork. I wish they could add some pork shank.

From time to time my Swiss Grandmother in Geneva would prepare a spectacular choucroute garnie, a dish as popular in Swiss brasseries as in their Alsatian French counterparts, but she would make it from scratch. It means that she would slowly cook raw sauerkraut for two days with the appropriate wine, juniper berries, caraway seeds, and spices. As a result her apartment would be permeated by a very foul smell that would remain for at least a whole week after the feast, and everybody in her building would know what she had been cooking. But boy, was it a good choucroute garnie. Sometimes she would add ‘’saucisse de Morteau’’ or “ de Montbéliard’’, very flavorful sausages from the Jura, a mountainous area on each side of the border between France and Switzerland where she was born and raised, as well as pieces of ham shank or pork shoulder. And I believe that she cooked the sauerkraut in “saindoux” (lard), providing an extraordinary smoothness to that cabbage. She used a very fragrant but dry inexpensive Swiss white wine from the Geneva area that provided the adequate balance of acidity.

I felt even more guilty about my lack of follow-up to your questions when, a few Fridays ago, as an appetizer, Kiki produced a very good ‘’saucisson sec’’, made in the U.S. but I do not know where, that was almost as good as the beautiful rustic one made by Fabrique Délices in Hayward, Ca on the other side of the SF Bay, that we bought at your MountainView farmer’s market last September. That saucisson ‘’pur porc’’, in its natural pig intestine skin, is as good as any one I ever had in France. And, believe me, I tried practically almost every kind of ''saucisson sec'' produced in the French regions since I grew-up in Saint-Hippolyte where we had great ''saucisson de montagne'' from the nearby Cévennes mountains, that was a bit hard to chew, but so full of robust rustic flavors. 

My godfather Jean Saint-Martin would take a piece of this kind of ''saucisson sec de montagne'' in his hunting bag along with some “ jambon cru” (raw ham) and a big piece of country bread when we were gone for the whole day in these Cévennes, that are so dear to my heart, to hunt rabbit, wild boars, or more simply game birds. At 10 in the morning we would stop and eat this ''casse-croûte'' (snack) while listening to the exciting sounds coming out of the forest and a marvelous little river called ‘’le Bonheur’’ (The Happiness), near the Mont Aigoual (the second highest point in the Cévennes mountains with an elevation of 1,565 meters). Those are great food memories of my youth. 

I am not ashamed say that even as I write this I am still a fan of the pig, and that I have a special taste for pork meat and charcuterie since my early days.

Speaking of my youth, since I was 7 years old I always loved ‘’charcuterie’’, even more than red meat. I was a boy scout in the mid-fifties, and when were camping for a couple of days or a week, in some remote rural areas of France, the base of our diet was bread, hard- boiled eggs, paté, jambon (ham) and saucisson sec (dry sausage). In those days charcuterie was much cheaper than fresh red meat or chicken. And lots of people, especially in blue-collar and rural environments, ate a lot of pork products, especially various types of fresh pan-fried or grilled sausages and ‘’boudin’’, either blanc (white, made of veal, chicken, bread, cream and egg) or noir (black, in fact a very tasty blood sausage seasoned with herbs, onion, and spices).

My favorite pâté was ‘’ les rillettes’’, a very fatty, but tasty, spread of minced (or pulled) fragments of lean cooked pork mixed with pork fat.

Most of the time rillettes were of the cheap canned variety, and it was so fatty and its quality was so mediocre, that at least 3 or 4 other scouts on my team did not finish most of their portions. So I would finish theirs. I was eventually nicknamed ‘’ le père la rillette’’ because of my peculiar ability to eat enormous quantities of that greasy but very tasty stuff.

And my favorite piece of meat was of course ‘’ la côte de porc’’ (pork chop), that my grandmother Laplanche slow-cooked for me in butter. She reduced the natural cooking juices with a touch of white wine after sometimes adding a few slices of sautéed wild mushrooms. I loved it and ate the external fat of the chop first.

No wonder that 30 years later, my doctor in Evanston was horrified to discover an extremely high level of cholesterol in my blood…

In our country house near Geneva, “Gonvers”, where you have been a couple of times, my great aunt Mathilde Laplanche would sometimes cook, on a wood-burning stove, on Sundays or special occasions a rôti de porc (pork roast) that was very flavorful but, for my taste, cooked way too long, as it was customary in these days. It would be accompanied again by a marvelous mushroom sauce made of locally-picked flavorful cèpes (boletus or porcino mushroom) or delicate ‘’ mousserons’’ in reduced natural juices from the roast, white wine, and shallots. My grand-papa Laplanche was an expert ‘’mycologist’’ (somebody who knows a lot about mushrooms) and he would take me on long walks in the forests around Gonvers to gather cèpes, chanterelles, oronges, and coulemelles. A few times he almost died from trying mushrooms that he was not too sure were edible or poisonous, but he could not resist their color or smell. We had lots of books on mushrooms in the Gonvers house.

During these summer week-ends in Gonvers when everybody would bring something from the city, I was always hoping that my grand-mother would bring a few slices of an amazing ‘’pâté en croûte’’ an extraordinary rich and complex ‘’ terrine’’ of veal, pork, and forcemeat with peppercorns and sometimes pistachios, cooked in aspic and totally wrapped in a buttery crust that is usually rich in eggs and coated inside with lard.

There were always long discussions around the table covering the various merits or defects of the two ‘’charcuteries’’ where they bought these marvelous goodies: Chouet in downtown Geneva and Goy another 

one in Onex, a suburb of Geneva, close to our house of Gonvers.

I also was very jealous of the ‘’cervelas’’ (a cooked knackwurst sausage) that my great aunt Suzy would bring, and eat with her own potato salad seasoned with an eggy dressing with parsley and shallots, because she would rarely shares it with anybody. So once I asked my grand mother to buy me one and I ate it all by myself with some Swiss (German type) mustard and ‘’cornichons’’. It was a pure moment of paradise.

Nowadays, when I am too nostalgic of that ‘’cervelas’’, I buy a couple of pieces of the very good but a bit too garlicky knackwurst that they make at Paulina Market on Lincoln avenue in Chicago, and we eat it with a lukewarm potato salad doused with a splash of white wine, a Dijon mustard vinaigrette, and chopped parsley. I then feel transported back to Geneva 50 years ago…

I never had a chance to find any ‘’pâté en croûte’’ in Chicago though… but I’m still looking. I know that Marcel & Henri, a French charcuterie in San Francisco (see farther down for their address) make several types of pâtés en croûte. But when I asked the deli department manager at Fox and Obel, the gourmet shop that recently started to sell a few of the Marcel and Henri pâtés, and if they ever sold pâté en croûte, I was told that it does not sell well in Chicago.

Killing the pig: A fascinating ritual in French villages. Not a single part of the animal was left unused

In French rural areas, when you killed the pig, usually under the direction of the local butcher, all the neighbors, especially women, congregated with all kinds of utensils, buckets, knives, etc to participate in the rituals: making a bonfire of wine shoots, installing a cauldron on a tripod, boiling water, collecting and processing and spicing the blood, cutting and slicing the lard, grilling some pieces of fat, cleaning the intestines to be used in sausage filling, removing the pig’s hair and cleaning its his skin, dressing and boiling the head, slicing the tripe, cutting the meat, etc. Not a single part of the pig, not even the feet or the tail was rejected as non edible.

I remember one day of 1947 when my parents had let such a pig killing event take place in our backyard in Saint-Hippolyte du Fort , since they knew the butcher who was a friend. I observed the whole scene from my bedroom located just above the board were they had hung that poor pig. The noise of his agony when they sliced his neck to kill him and collect the precious fresh blood, is still vivid in my ears. Later on when they started to fry some pieces of skin with some fat on it, it smelled so good that I ran down to the garden to eat some.

But, to get back to the core of our topic: 

What exactly is CHARCUTERIE in France?

The best way to learn interesting facts about the history of charcuterie in France is to read the first part (The history of pork and charcuterie) of chapter 13 of the marvelous book by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, History of Food, whose English translation was published in paperback in 1994 by Blackwell. This masterpiece is 800 pages long but should be in the bookcase of anybody really interested in food. 

This term comes actually from two words, “chair” (meaning flesh) and “cuite” (cooked). It refers to the fact that in the Middle-Ages in France, there was a difference between the butcher who had the sole right to slaughter and sell the carcass and meat of animals, including pigs, and the CHAIRCUITIER, who would buy raw pork meat from the butcher and cook and prepare it in various products such as hams, sausages, and bacon. It should be noted that the term ‘’bacon’’, that is not used in contemporary French, comes from an old French word, or more precisely Frankish, ‘’bako’’ that meant ham. The French translation for bacon is ‘’lard de poitrine fumé’’.

But the ‘’charcutiers’’ in Paris battled for centuries with the ‘’ bouchers’’ to be accepted as the sole and recognized pork meat specialists. At the end of the 15^th century the charcutiers started to organize to defend their rights, among them to be able to slaughter pigs and they founded their own “Guild” (brotherhood or trade association). According to Toussaint-Samat, their recognition as multi-tasking charcutiers was finally granted in 1705. In 1741 they obtained the exclusive right of preparing and curing hams and to sell various innards such as tripe. 

So to summarize: Charcuterie is a word that:

1. Defines the various techniques used in cooking, preparing, salting, smoking, drying and processing, food products deriving from pork meat cuts: hams, pork butt, sausages (both raw, cooked, and dry), salt pork and bacon, pâtés, terrines, galantines, mousses, confits, headcheese, etc.
2. Is the name of the store in which a pork butcher, the ‘’charcutier’’, prepares and sells these products

Nowadays a charcutier also sells a large variety of prepared, cured, salted, smoked, cooked, or processed meat specialties deriving from other sources than pork. This is the case for terrines, pâtés, confits, sausages, made from meat such as rabbit, hare, venison, wild boar, duck, chicken, turkey, pheasant, other game birds, lamb (like in merguez sausages), ostrich, etc.

A charcutier also almost always sell rotisserie chicken. And often, in smaller towns and villages, he prepares and cooks special dishes for families when they celebrate a wedding or a baptism at their home and have lots of relatives and friends coming for the occasion. In the same manner the local “ boulanger-patissier” (baker and pastry maker) will prepare the cakes and festive cookies and candies.

When and where did the process of making charcuterie start?

According to Toussaint-Samat, the first people to eat pig meat, simply cooked (boiled) or, in special festive occasions, stuffed with herbs and spices, and roasted, were the ancient Greeks.

But it was really during the Roman Empire that the art of preparing pork dishes was really fully developed and that charcuterie the way we know it, including sausage making started. The Romans were very good at curing techniques such as smoking and salting to preserve pig’s meat.

The Romans loved ham. And it is probable that they first imported some hams from the region that is now Westphalia in Germany, an area that was populated more than 2000 years ago by large herds of wild pigs.

The Germans were experts at drying and salting the hams of these wild pigs and sold a lot of them to the Romans.

But when the Romans conquered parts of Gaul (now France) they were delighted to find out that the Gauls were also preparing succulent hams.

The origin of this particular good flavor was found in the type of acorn that the pigs from Gaul ate in the forests. The same excellence was found in other areas where Romans expanded their domination like Corsica and some regions of Spain. Nowadays the “jamon” from Spain, like the ‘’pata negra’’ has become a very expensive delicacy in the U.S., and the Parisians love Corsican restaurants that sell ham and dry or semi-dry sausage such as ‘’figatelli’’.

All over Gaul, charcutiers made all kinds of beef and pork sausages, some kind of ‘’andouillette’’ (chitterling sausage), ‘’boudin noir’’ (black pudding made of pork blood), tripes flavored with onion and garlic, cooked stuffed pig`s heads, etc.

The French continued to eat lots of pork products between the Middle-Ages and the Revolution. Many very strict laws were progressively instituted not only to regulate the rules of the trade but also to ensure safe and healthy ways to prepare and cure pork meat. From the end of the Middle-Ages special inspectors were trained to make sure pigs were not carriers of diseases by checking their tongues. Some other inspectors would check the way farmers fed pigs. And centuries later very strict rules were imposed by the French Ministry of Agriculture after several scandals involving tainted cheap charcuterie products were found in the rations of soldiers at the beginning of the 20^th century and at the outset of World War I.

Nowadays most rules regarding charcuterie products are set by European Community commissions and are strictly enforced.

One of the problems nowadays is that most “charcuterie” sold in French supermarkets and even in local smaller pork-butcher shops is of the industrial or semi-industrial type, and not made by local “artisans-charcutiers” anymore.

In most small towns and villages when I was young there were separate ‘’ boucheries’’ (butcher shops) that sold all kinds of meat, and ‘’charcuteries’’ that sold pork products exclusively .

Nowadays, with the unfortunate disappearance of the majority of family-owned retail stores in such small communities invaded by franchises of national chains of super and hyper-markets that offer huge selections of fresh and cured or canned meats and charcuterie as well as prepared meat-based carry-out dishes, there are only, in most villages, only one or two ‘’boucherie-charcuterie’’ that sell all kinds of meat and charcuterie as well as rotisserie chicken, and ‘’plats de traiteur’’ (carry-out ready to cook or eat dishes). But too many of these ‘’bouchers-charcutiers’, lacking time or trained staffers, do not prepare their own hams, pâtés, terrines, boudins, or saucissons secs, any more but sell only fresh sausage and fresh meat and poultry. Most of the charcuterie products that they sell come from national brands, or regional distributors of semi-industrial charcuterie. Only in small artisan shops in villages or in ‘’gourmet shops’’, in big cities will you find authentic artisan charcuterie products made in various regions of France, famous for their specialties. 

Practically every region of France has its own ‘’spécialités de charcuterie’’. But some are better known for one or two specialties.

Région Lyonnaise:

When I used to travel often to Lyon (the big and lively city South of Geneva, where eating well is almost a religion) I loved to have lunch in one the famous ‘’bouchons’’ (small bistros), like Le Café des Fédérations (Rue du Major Martin) where you would eat a few authentic specials and start with some charcuterie Lyonnaise produced locally by good artisans. Enormous dry sausages were hanging from the ceiling.

Typical charcuterie are ‘’rosette de Lyon’’ a kind of semi-hard salami from Saint Symphorien; ‘’cervelas de Lyon’’, a smoked, truffled or pistachioed uncooked pork sausage with a very fine textured meat, that is usually boiled. Its name is due to the fact that it used to include ‘’cervelle’’ (brains); ‘’saucisson à l’ail’’ ( garlic sausage) served hot with a warm potato salad. My favorite way to prepare that kind of sausage is ‘’saucissson en brioche’’. Delicious and served in some of the best restaurants of the Lyon area.

Sow’s ears, tripe sausage with veal, pigs’ trotters, are loved by locals but less appreciated outside of the Lyon area. But the famous ‘’jambon persillé’’, a very flavorful ham specialty originally from Burgundy, is appreciated all over France. If prepared by a good artisan charcutier it is made from good quality uncooked ham slowly poached in a cloth in a well seasoned (with wine) court-bouillon. After being chopped it is formed in a round shaped terrine and covered with a parsleyed aspic. Delicious.

Some old-fashion bistos also serve “grattons”, little pieces of pork fried in lard, that some people love in an omelette.

But the most uncommon spécialité lyonnaise is ‘’la ferchusse’’ a dish based on pig’s lungs, spleen and heart cooked in red wine and flavored with garlic, that was traditionally prepared at the time when the pig was killed at the farm. I do not know if that specialty is still popular.

All of the aboveare eatenwith good Beaujolais crus like Morgon or Chiroubles.

Auvergne: 

In this beautiful rural and mountainous area, many good traditional rustic and flavorful pork-based bistro dishes were created such as:

Pommes de terre au lard à l’auvergnate (potatoes baked with bacon and garlic)

Petit salé aux lentilles (salt pork, likethe pork butt, spare ribs, or lean belly portion, cooked with lentils)

Potée auvergnate ( boiled pork shoulder with salt pork and ground pork, vegetables and cabbage)

Grattons (see Lyon)

Rissoles auvergnates (deep-fried pork turnovers)

Personally I love ‘’Jambon cru d’Auvergne’’ which is a raw dry cured mountain ham, that, along with Cantal cheese from the same region, is delicious in a sandwich

on buttered country or rye bread. And of course the very popular “saucisse sèche’’, a thin and pretty hard to chew rustic u-shaped sausage made of very flavorful hand-chopped piece of pork stuffed in small intestine and air-dried for a very long time.

The rarely found ‘’galantine of cochon de lait ’’ is also a delicious pâté made from very tender and flavorful pieces of suckling pig.

Jura and the French Alps:

I love both the Saucisse de Morteau which is delicately flavored with caraway seeds. A small wooden stick is woven in and out of the skin at one end of the sausage to close it. Morteau sausage is usually gently warmed in simmering water,

I also like the Saucisse de Montbéliard that has a slightly smoky flavor . The region of Savoie in the French Alps offers a beautiful mild and nutty Jambon cru (raw ham) and a very tasty Saucisse au choux ( pork sausage with cabbage) that is so good cooked slowly in a ‘’potée’’ or served with a ‘’gratin au fromage’’. The ‘’Diots au vin blanc’’ are small pink sausages flavored with white wine that are usually pan sautéed

Provence:

As a matter of fact, this is not a region where pork dishes are in favor. Lamb and beef dishes are much more prevalent. Even the Saucisson d’Arles, a dry sausage that used to be made from donkey meat a century ago, is nowadays made of beef and pork fat with some garlic and black pepper .

Saucisson d’Arles, along with ‘’saucisson chasseur’’ used to be a very popular item in the ‘’ casse-croûte’’ (snack or lunch based on bread and charcuterie) taken from home to work or to school by blue-collar workers, housewives of large families with limited income, and low-on cash students (like me in this particular case), because it was cheaper than ‘’saucisson pur porc’’ or other specialties.

Also, in the Marseille area where for many years many people originally from North Africa (former French territories or colonies of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco) have settled, many charcutiers produce the very flavorful and spicy orange-colored “merguez” sausages, made of beef and mutton.

Alsace :

In that paradise for solid eaters, ‘’goose foie gras’’ is king. But I personally do not include foie gras in this piece since I consider it to be just a cousin to charcuterie, even though most charcutiers sell foie gras. Most foie gras is made of 100% duck or goose liver. It is only in cheaper grades of industrial ‘’pâtés or galantines de foie gras’’ hat you find a forcemeat made of pork.

But Alsatians have other interesting ways to accommodate pork meat: Roasted with small mirabelles, plums, or cabbage. Suckling pig in aspic.

And of course pork sausage, ham, salt pork, including portions of the shank or shoulder, are essential components of the famous ‘’Choucroute garnie à l’Alsacienne’’ often mentioned in this blog.

And the ‘’petits lardons’’ (small pieces of bacon or slices of salted or smoked breast) play a major role in the taste of the traditional ‘’Tarte Flambée Alsacienne’’ (Flammekueche) , a very exciting kind of cheese, cream, onions, and bacon flatbread that is cooked in a baker’s wood-fired oven and often eaten by Alsatian families on Sunday night in a restaurant.

Pork spare rib is another major component of the Baekoffe, another traditional stew of beef, lamb, pork, potatoes, onions and wine, cooked in a clay pot in a baker’s oven.

The most famous sausage from this area is the red-colored “saucisse de Stasbourg”, that in look and taste is close to the “wiener”. But many of the industrial types of these sausages sold in supermarkets or as hot-dogs in cafes and cafeterias, are unfortunately made with just a little bit of cheap ground meat or powdered pork rind emulsified with lots of starch and additives. Only the real thing made in artisan charcuteries in Alsace or Paris are worth trying.

Languedoc and Midi: 

Everybody loves a good ‘’cassoulet’’ (the name comes from the earthenware container in which it is cooked and served called ‘’cassole’’), whose meat components vary if it is made in Toulouse, Carcassonne or Castelnaudary (my favorite version). But one thing is sure: this most famous of all comfort food dishes made of kidney beans, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, and various pieces of meat (duck or goose confit, lamb breast, pork loin, pork shoulder, ham ) and sausages, always contains pork sausages and salt pork.

One of the most well-known sausage of this region is the ‘’saucisse de Toulouse’’, a fresh pork sausage whose meat encased in pig’s intestine, is supposed to be chopped by hand with a knife. Its diameter is a bit larger than most other fresh pork sausages.

And I will not forget my dear ‘’fricandeau’’ made by good artisanal charcutiers in the villages of Cévennes, and more particularly in Lozère, that is a delicious round-shaped type of paté made from various lean and fat parts of the pork, including ‘’abats’’ (organ meats) cooked slowly in a ‘’crépine de porc’’ (caul fat) in the oven, and served either warm or cold with pickles. And I'm sure Stephane that you will recognize the following photo.It shows a jar of that very flavorful ''pâté de foie pur porc'' (pork liver pâté) that we ate at Jean-Paul's house in Lasalle in the Cévennes when we visited there in July 2007. This delicious pâté, made by the local ''artisan-charcutier'', Monsieur Chardenon, reminded me of the pâté my mother used to buy a few miles down the road in Saint-Hippolyte and spread on slices of rustic bread for my ''goûter'' (afternoon snack).

The Southwest ( Aquitaine, Périgord, Quercy, Bearn, Pays Basque)

I will take a pass on the famous Foie Gras du Périgord as well as all the other duck or goose-based specialties of this area, including the delicious ‘’confits’’ , to limit myself to

‘’pig focused’’ specialties such as the marvelous Jambon de Bayonne.

This very aromatic dry-cured ham, when it is truly a ham produced from pigs raised with special care in the Bearn area, is rubbed with a mixture of salt, sugar, and peppers and then dried in ventilated rooms for about 6 months. Unfortunately, many so-called Bayonne hams are not necessarily produced in that area close to the Pyrénées mountains.

In some areas, a delicious roasted stuffed suckling pig is served on special occasions.

Touraine and Loire Valley

Two of the best known specialties are the “rillettes de Tours” (see description above in 2^nd paragraph) and the pungent-smelling but very sweet and delicate tasting ‘’andouillette’’ that you find in the Vouvray area.

This particular tripe sausage made of chitterlings, is in fact found in various regions of France such as Beaujolais and Lyon (with the andouilletttes produced by the famous charcutier Bobosse), the North (in Cambrai), Champagne (particularly in Troyes), Burgundy (in the Chablis area) and Auvergne (the very good charcutier Duval). The best ones are awarded the well-known AAAAA label by an association called Association Amicale des Amateurs d’Autentiques Andouillettes (Association of Connoisseurs of Authentic Andouillettes).

Andouillettes that can be flavored with various wines, spirits, and spices. They are usually grilled, and sometimes cooked in wine-based sauce.

Brittany and Normandy

Brittany counts a very large number of producers (artisan as well as industrial) of various types of pâtés, particularly ‘’ pâté de foie’’ (liver paté) and ‘’pâté de campagne’’ (country paté).

The two cities of Guéméné in Brittany and Vire in Normandy are recognized as the 2 capitals of ‘’Andouille’.’ It is larger and slightly more smoked than the ‘’andouillette’’, made from pieces of chopped small pork intestine. The andouille is already cooked and usually served cold in slices.

The ‘’jambon de Morlaix’’, rarely found outside of Brittany, is a very tasty cooked smoked ham.

Champagne- Ardennes 

Le Jambon des Ardennes, from the woody area in Northern France near the Belgian border, is a delicious raw smoked ham. In this same area which counts lots of hunters, they used to make a very tasty ‘’ pâté de sanglier’’ (made from wild boar meat) and a special headcheese made from young boar’s head , la ‘’hure de marcassin’’

In Champagne they make some of the most delicate ‘’feuilletés à la viande ’ (forced meat cooked in champagne in puff pastry), ‘’petits pâtés chauds’’( pork, veal, and chicken liver hot pâté in pastry dough) served hot, and marvelous ‘’pâté en croûte’’ made from all kinds of pork parts combined with meat from game birds, rabbit or venison.

But one of the more interesting pork specialties from Champagne, that is unfortunately rarely found nowadays, is the “pieds de porc à la Sainte Menehould, made of grilled pig feets, that have been slowly cooked for several hours (for 48 hours many years ago) then coated with melted butter, breaded, and grilled. This very tasty dish is served warm with Dijon mustard. A real treat that I have not had a chance to taste since I left Reims in 1958.

Ile de France (the area around Paris)

In good charcuteries and ‘’boutiques de produits régionaux’’ (shops specializing in food specialties from a specific province or region) in the French capital, you can practically find all kinds of specialty hams, sausages, and pâtés.

The famous "Jambon de Paris’’, which is also called ‘’jambon blanc’’was originally produced there .

This cooked ham has a very delicate pale color and is very lightly salted. French people use it in the most popular baguette-based sandwich: "jambon-beurre-cornichons".

A very popular, and very good brand of Jambon de Paris, Madrange, . is now found in good delicatessen and gourmet food shops in the U.S. I personally buy mine at Fox and Obel in Chicago, and, though it is not cheap (14 dollars a pound) I have to say that since it is sliced on demand, it is always fresh and moist.

I have not tried yet the jambon de Paris, made from Amish pork by Les Trois Petits Cochons ( 3 little Pigs) a famous French charcuterie in Brooklyn, NY. Only one retailer, BINNY'S sells it in Chicago.

(see later where to buy it) 

• I sometimes use the Madrange ham to make a simplified ‘’croque-monsieur’’, a grilled sandwich made of two pieces of white bread, buttered on the outside, between which you insert 2 slices of ham, and 2 slices of Swiss cheese. You grill it for a few minutes until the cheese is about to melt.In French bistros they add some béchamel sauce between the ham and the cheese.But I usually like to do mine "open face". I brown a slice of Italian bread in olive oil and then spread it with Dijon mustard and put one slice of ham on it and cover it with shredded Jarlsberg cheese. I place it on a cookie sheet under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes.

Some of the best Jambon de Paris sold in Paris charcuteries are called ‘’ au torchon’’, since after a delicate brining process, it is wrapped in a cloth and cooked, bone in, with its rind and external white fat intact in a broth of home-made court-bouillon. When it is cool, it is then deboned and trimmed.

If you cannot afford ‘’jambon au torchon’’ in a charcuterie or at the deli counter or your supermarket, make sure at least that you buy a ‘’jambon supérieur’’ with a red label.

(The very interesting book ‘’French Regional Cooking’’ by Anne Willan can provide you with additional info about specialties from all French regions. 

The 3 main categories of French Charcuterie Products that you can find in the United States

1. Pâtés, terrines, rillettes, mousses and galantines.

Some of the most commonly found here are :

Pâtés de campagne, a country-style pâté made of coarse and finely ground pork meat, seasoned with spices and often black peppercorn

Pâté forestier, a pâté made of minced pork with small pieces of fresh mushroom

Mousse de foie, made of finely ground and emulsified pork, chicken, duck or goose liver, sometimes flavored with cognac, armagnac, or port wine. It can include tiny pieces of truffles, prunes, etc..

Pâté de lapin, made of coarse and finer pieces of rabbit and pork meat, often flavored with hazelnuts or prunes.

Terrine de canard a duck pâté cooked in an earthenware container called ‘’terrine’’, that has been lined with pork fat. It often contains pieces of pistachio nut. This type of terrine is sometimes flavored with port wine or armagnac. It can also be seasoned with green peppercorns.

Rillettes de porc ou de lapin (see above for description) made of shredded lean pork or rabbit meat, mixed with fat.

Galantine de canard, poulet, faisan, etc (sometimes with pork or veal). Boned and relatively coarse pieces of lean meat rolled and cooked in fat with a glaze of gelatin. Most often the main ingredient is from poultry meat, but it may also come from more sophisticated game bird like pheasant or from venison.

2. Sausages and boudins,

1. Saucisse fraiche (fresh sausage)

Saucisse de Toulouse, a major component of cassoulet

Merguez (made of beef and lamb, red-colored, spicy,) usually grilled and eaten with couscous

Boudin noir (blood sausage), often served with cooked apples

Boudin blanc, made of veal, chicken, pork, cream, egg, bread, white wine, and sometimes seasoned with truffles or chives, usually grilled

2. Saucisse sèche (dried sausage)

Saucisson sec (various types)

Saucisson à l’ail (dry garlic sausage)

3. Jambons (hams)

Jambon de Paris

Jambon blanc

• To know more about the various types of French sausages, pâtés, boudins, galantines, etc I suggest that you visit www.thenibble.com and look for Marcel and Henri Charcuterie where you will find a complete and very clear description of all the specialties, how they are made, and how to pronounce their names.
•  

Where can you find decent French-style charcuterie in the United–States ?

When we arrived in Chicago in January 1970 the first 3 items I immediately started to look for in local stores were French camembert, French wines, and French pâté and saucisson.

I did not have problems to find the wines, but had lots of difficulties to find camembert (see my posting from 2007 on that story). The first few years I had to be content with Danish canned camebert and a much better American ‘’camembert’’ from KOLB made in Lena, Il. But the worst problem was to find decent pâté and saucisson. Only Polish, Hungarian, and German types came a bit close. Once again I had to rely too often to canned Danish paté.

It took me years to discover great salamis and dry sausage in very good Italian shops in far-away Italian neighborhoods.

Nowadays though, I have to admit that I sometimes buy very good Italian Salumis made in the U.S by companies like FRA MANI, from Berkeley, CA, JOHN VOLPI, in ST. Louis, or MOLINARI in San Franciso.

In the seventies I sometimes found very small cans of mediocre ‘’French pâté de foie’’ (pork and chicken liver pâté) but most of the time they were probably outdated and their quality was at best mediocre. I have to admit that in those days I did not check the very few very expensive so called ‘’gourmet’’ grocery stores like Stop and Shop where I would have found French canned foie gras from ROUGIE or some "imported" camembert sold under the Ile De France label.

The Danish canned pâté was not good. And in the seventies the wine stores like Gold Standard or Zimmerman’s did not have the very satisfying, if not sublime, cheese and deli departments that they have now in 2009.

Besides the FDA ( Food and Drug Administration) had very strict rules prohibiting most French meat-based products, including Hams, Sausages, and Pâtés from being imported in the U.S..

It is unfortunately still the case, at a time when many Italian and Spanish Hams are imported .....

The only good pâtés that you could eat in the sixties and seventies were made in French restaurants and bistros where French or French-trained cooks knew how to make them. They were numerous in New York City and there were a few good ones in San Francisco, Los Angeles, DC, Boston, and Chicago. Here in Chicago I remember some good pâtés and terrines at La Fontaine, Le Perroquet, La Bastille, and l’Escargot.

We had to wait until the mid-eighties to find decent charcuterie sold in gourmet shops, at caterers like Mitchell Cobey, and places like Le Chalet, a division of the Gold Standard liquor stores group, now called BINNY's. Some of them came from French charcuteries like Les Trois Petits Cochons in New York City.

Treasure Island sometimes had also decent pâtés. But you had to watch their color carefully to make sure they were still fresh enough to be edible.

In 2009, one of the best selections of French-style charcuterie can be found at BINNY’S, (several stores in the Chicago area), and more particularly at their South Jefferson St. Store. I also sometimes find decent deli products at Marcey’s St. Market in SAM’S on Marcey St. in Chicago, and at WHOLE FOODS too.

In New-York City, of course, ZABAR and DEAN & DE LUCA, are still reliable addresses that have much wider selections.

1. French commercial Charcuteries with ''artisanal'' roots. 

The first French charcuterie in the U.S. was started in 1960 by a French expatriate, Henri Lapuyade, who opened a small shop on Russian Hill in San Francisco and, using some traditional recipes from his native country, launched a real trend on the West Coast with his pâtés and a few sausages. His charcuterie rapidly became very popular and with his partner Marcel they created a very profitable company, MARCEL & HENRI that eventually moved to a large plant in South San Francisco.

They offer a very wide line of products, including fresh sausages, and pâtés en croûte, that are sold through a large network of regional distributors, in retail stores, and on line at www.marcelethenri.com . and through other gourmet food sites.

You can find some of their product in restaurants, and at catering companies all over the United States

A visit to this site, with all the descriptions and photos, literally make your mouth water.

They sell their pâtés in bulk loaves, in terrines, and in prepackaged slices.

In Chicago, their distributor is European Import on North Elston avenue.

A few M&H products are on sale at Fox and Obel.

I tried their Pâté de Campagne au Champagne and black peppercorns (around $6.50 for a slice weighing approximately 8oz). It was well seasoned, with lots of black peppercorns, and very tasty. But I thought that the texture was too smooth for a country pâté, and that the proportion of pork liver and pork fat was too high and that there were not enough little pieces of pork meat. But nevertheless it is a good pâté.

They also sell the same pâtét at Fox and Obel in a small 7oz plastic terrine for about 6 dollars.

 

F&O also sells Rillettes de Tours, Boudin Blanc, Mousse de canard, Boudin Basque, and other prodducts from Marcel & Henri.

415 Browning Way South San Francisco, CA 94080 Tel: 1-700-227-5426 

When Alain Sinturel and Jean-Pierre Pradier, another pair of French expats, opened LES TROIS PETITS COCHONS (Three Little Pigs) in Greenwich Village in NY city in 1975, they would never have guessed that this modest neighborhood shop would be, for a long time, the “reference” in the United States when you talked about French pâté, and that this company would become, as an article in the New York Times on French patés would call it in 1996, the ‘’General Motors of the industry’’. Their pâtés and sausages got very good reviews from such food luminaries and critics as James Beard, Mimi Sheraton and Craig Claiborne, that brought them a very faithful following from East Coast restaurants and gourmets.

Their pâtés, made without nitrates or Nitrites, were the first good ones I was able to discover in Chicago in the mid-eighties.

They sell a wide line of pâtés and sausages, including merguez.

As I said earlier, they also produce a great Jambon de Paris, made from Pennsylvania Amish pork, that you can order normally on their website, or on www.igourmet.com , and of course from European Import. In Chicago its is only available at the Binny`s stores..

Nowadays I still think that their Mousse de Foie de Canard au Porto (duck liver mousse with port wine) is one of the best you can buy in the U.S. It sells for $ 13.90 a pound at Sam’s in Chicago. But you find many of their products at Binny’s, Whole Foods, etc. and they even sell a very decent truffled mousse (pork and duck), again without any chemical preservatives, in small plastic terrines at Trader Joe’s for only $ 5.69. It’s certainly the best value-oriented French charcuterie item money can buy this side of the Atlantic.

SAM's sells, among several items, a Pâté de Campagne for $ 11.99 a pound, and I think it is very good, as well as a Mousse Royale au Sauternes, also good, for $ 14.99 a pound. 

LES TROIS PETITS COCHONS moved their plant to Pennsylvania, keeping their headquarters at 4223 1^st Avenue, Brooklyn , N.Y, 11232 Tel: 212-219-1230 e-mail: elodie@3pigs.com

Their website (www.3pigs.com) is presently in a stage of reconstruction.

Their main distributor in the Midwest is once again European Imports in Chicago. ( 2475 N. Elston Ave. Chicago, IL 60647 tel: 773-227-0600 Website: www.eiltd.com )

The story of Josette Leblond, another French expatriate in the Los Angeles area, is another fine example of French entrepreneurship in the French charcuterie business in the U.S..

The daughter of a French charcutier in Normandy and an apprentice in her father’s shop since her youth, she butchered her first pig at age 7 on her family farm

She later took over her father’s business and in 1981 added another trade to her professional experience by making bread and starting a ‘’boulangerie’’. She eventually sold both businesses and went on a vacation in the United States with her young son. She loved L.A and decided to live there. The French chef of the Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach, hired her as a cook. That is when she started making beautiful pâtés and foie gras. A local distributor started to sell them and she created her own business NORMANDIE PATE in 1985. It became a big commercial success. At one point she was selling around 60 different kinds of pâtés, many being her own creations, to grocery stores and restaurants as well as taking phone orders from customers of that region. In1988 she was managing a 12,000 sq.ft plant in LA. She added a bakery business and sold baked goods and charcuterie to most of the big hotels including Disneyland’s, fancy department stores, and international airlines from her NORMANDIE company, now a multi-million dollars business.

Eventually her core business evolved towards bakeries and small restaurants. She owns several of them in Los Angeles and in Las Vegas where she moved in 2001. She still manages all these companies from there but her main activity is her famous Josette’s Bistro on Flamingo Boulevard in Vegas. 

Obviously one of the companies of NORMANDIE still produces pâtés, since her distributor GOURMET FOODS in Rancho Dominguez, CA, Tel: 310-632-3300

www.gourmetfoodsinc.com sells an enormous line of pâtés according to its website. And they look gorgeous.

I never found any of the NORMANDIE pâtés in Chicago, and I regret it because I love that French woman story. One of these days, if I go to Vegas, I certainly will make a refueling stop at Josette's Bistro. 

Back to early eighties, once again in San Francisco, the owner of several local restaurants, La Bourgogne, Ernie’s and l’Etoile, started a small charcuterie in San Mateo so he could supply his own eating establishments with fresh authentic French charcuterie. A French company called SAPAR, that had been making very sophisticated pâtés in Meaux, France, since 1920, purchased that ‘’charcuterie’’ which was named FABRIQUE DELICES.

In 1985 SPAR sent two French guys, Marc Poinsignon and Antonio Pinheiro, a Portuguese immigrant and a professional charcutier who started as an apprentice in France at age 14, to be respectively CEO and plant Manager of FABRIQUE DELICES in San Francisco. Both became partners and bought Fabrique Délices in 1986 from Sapar and developed it rapidly. They moved to a new plant to Hayward, on the East side of the Bay, in 2002.

They kept 90 % of the original French traditional recipes and secured the best producers of raw meat products even going all the way to the Hudson Valley for certain types of duck. They also created products that would better fit the specific demand of their local Californian market and of their distributors nation-wide (low-cal, vegetarian, etc). They also had to adjust to the way American meat purveyors cut their carcasses and prepare the cuts, which is quite different from what is done in France. The characteristics and structures of animal fat are also different.

But as much as possible they always try to produce all-natural charcuterie and to limit the use of preservatives to very few specialty sausages.

And they rightly define their company as making ‘’charcuterie artisanale’’

Their line of fresh and dry sausages is great and they make all the classics: Toulouse, Morteau, Andouillette, Boudin blanc and noir (blood sausage), Merguez, and a beautiful ‘’saucisson sec’’ that is the best of its kind I have ever tasted in the U.S.

Their pâtés and mousses are also ''First class'', including a garlic sausage en croûte, duck rillettes, and pâté en croûte. Unfortunately I never had a chance to taste their pâtés en croûte that are not sold, as far as I know, in California's farmer's market nor in Chicago.

FABRIQUE DELICES also makes all kinds of mousses, galantines and pâtés from pheasant, duck, goose, venison etc.

They offer a line of prepared food like cassoulet as well as dried and cured meat.

They sell to distributors, restaurants, airlines, caterers, gourmet food stores, all over North, Central, and South America as well as in Asia. And of course to many Internet purveyors of gourmet foods, as well as directly from their own website: www.fabriquedelices.com

Their references go from the Concorde Service on Air France to the White House .

 I have no problems finding a few of their pâtés in retail stores in Chicago, such as WHOLE FOODS,where I bought good duck liver mousse with Port wine for $ 14.99 a pound and duck rilletes for $24.99 a pound. I thought that the rillettes were a bit overpriced and that their texture was much too fine, not as ''rustic'' as they should be. You can also buy a decent Pork and Chicken Pate with pistachios, and a Pate Provencal based on Pork meat ($ 14.99 and $12.99 a pound).

I also found some rabbit and prunes pâté for $ 14.99 a pound, and Pâté forestier for $13.99 a pound at Binny's

But unfortunately, most of their other attractive sausages and pâtés or the cassoulet have to be ordered in quantities too large for a 2-person family. And that would be a very expensive proposition. Fabrique Délices is very good but not cheap.

They also sell on the web through www.igourmet.com

 But my favorite place to buy their products remains on their own booths in farmers markets in the Bay area.

1610 Delta Court Unit 1, Hayward, CA 94544 Tel: 510-441-9500

I cannot end this gallery of French expatriates who became successful entrepreneurs in the U.S in the field of fancy food and charcuterie without telling you the story of Ariane Daguin, the owner of D'ARTAGNAN, who will always be remembered as the woman who was perhaps the most influential person in the U.S in making Foie Gras the gastronomic and social phenomenon it became over the last 20 years.

Ariane is the daughter of André Daguin the famous chef and ‘’propriétaire’’ of the renowned Michelin 2 stars restaurant Hotel de France in Auch, the capital of the département of Gers, in Gascony, well-known for its multiple ways to prepare ‘’foie gras’’, the typical specialty of that particular area.

When she was barely 10 years old Ariane was already helping in that famous kitchen working on all aspects of making foie gras and other duck pâtés and terrines, and learning all the tricks of the trade, including deboning the birds and cooking their fat and meat.

But for unknown reasons she left that cozy cocoon and flew to the U.S to attend classes at Columbia University. While she was there she worked in a French charcuterie in New York City. Once a farmer from the Hudson Valley stopped by that shop and brought with him a whole fresh foie gras from one of the ducks he raised. That was a revelation. She was totally surprised by the quality of that American product and decided to not only distribute the foie gras from Commonwealth Farms but to start a company with a French friend who, like her, quit his job and invested his savings in that venture. That company, D’ARTAGNAN, the name of the famous ‘’mousquetaire (musketeer) from Gascony’’, was started in 1985.

Ariane and her partner decided eventually to go their separate ways and she bought back his shares. D’ARTAGNAN established its reputation first as a top producer and distributor of fresh and cooked foie gras in the U.S..

Later it also became a well-established purveyor of all kinds of relatively exotic meats, most of them organic, cured and smoked, from game bird, free range poultry, to rabbit, as well as venison, lamb, beef, pork, and later truffles, wild mushrooms, and condiments. She also got involved in making and selling various ‘’ charcuterie’’ products made from pigs, ducks, geese, and other meats, such as confits, terrines, patés, sausages, etc.

She developed special business and personal relationships with independent farmers, cattle raisers, and sustainable producers of pigs, and sometimes their unions or co-ops, all over the United States and encouraged them to increase the quality of their animals and of their feed.

You can buy D’ARTAGNAN’s pâtés, terrines, confits, and sausages either from gourmet food stores (none in Chicago unfortunately, as far as I know), distributors, and on line on their own website: www.dartagnan.com , as well as on other gourmet websites.

In Chicago, it is difficult nowadays to find D'ARTAGNAN sausages and pâtés in retail stores. It seems that she may prefer to sell directly to the trade.

Nervertheless not too long ago you could find her Saucisson sec at Binny's for $ 15.99 a pound.

D’ARTAGNAN INC. 280 Wilson Avenue Newark, NJ 07105 Tel: 800-37-8246

2. French charcuterie found on various Internet websites

 

I also found a very complete line of charcuterie products from a brand called TERROIRS d’ANTAN’’ U.S.A. They do not have their own website, and do not seem to be imported from France, something that would be difficult anyway considering the import restrictions from the FDA.

But I found several fine and gourmet food purveyors that sell their products on their website.

MARKY’S (www.emarkys.com ), GOURMET FOODSTORE (www.gourmetfoodstore ), CAVIAR & MORE (www.caviarmore.com ), sell the following products from that mysterious company, that ‘’might’’ be located in Santa Barbara, CA.:

Pâté de campagne forestier, Duck rillettes, Duck foie gras mousse, Duck confit, Duck breast, Duck fat, Duck liver mousse, French country pork pâté with black peppers, French truffle mousse, French hazelnut Cognac Pâté, French garlic sausage, Boudin blanc, Boudin noir, Merguez, Andouillette, Saucisse de Toulouse, Duck and Pork galantine with pistachios, Goose and duck liver mousse, and many others. MARKY’s has the largest selection

of their products. But I have never seen any of them in Chicago.

Another site, www.frenchselections.com sells some ‘’Pâté du Périgord’’, Cassoulet Toulousain, Duck pâté, Duck mousse, and Foie gras, made in Quebec by a company called PALME d’OR. The prices look attractive.

Bon appétit Stéphane. I cannot wait to go again with you to the farmer`s markets in MountainView and Los Altos to buy some of these ''bonnes choses'' I just mentioned. I wish we could find them at our own farmer`s markets in Chicago.

Charcuterie in the US

Hi Dad, As you remember from your visit here earlier this month we found some nice saucisson sec at the Mountain View farmer's market. Fabrique Délices was the purveyor of Chacuterie who also make a pretty solid pate. We had the truffle mousse I believe which you found to be pretty good. I'd say it's as good as any US made pate I've had but still doesn't beat those in France. I've found in the US that the only place to get great pate and saucisson is in fine restaurants who make it themselves. I'd love to get your take on the best brands and types of saucissons and pate we can find here in the US. In the world of chacuterie my favorites are goose mousse, duck liver mouse, pate de campagne, saucisson sec, duck rillettes, rabbit pate and of course fois gras. If you can suggest the best brands found in the US in each category I'd enjoy seeking them out to refresh my memories of summers in southern France.

As long as I'm asking about chacuterie It would be great if you can give me the span of meats considered chacuterie. I'm imagining anything from Boudin Blanc to salt pork is considered chacuterie. That way I can follow up with more french meat questions. C'est Chouette! I'll also want to here more about what chacuterie is used in winter dishes given the season is upon us :(

Love

Stephane

Salade Niçoise: Simple and Easy to Make This very colorful and inexpensive salad does not need to be authentic to constitute an ideal late summer one-course lunch.

Stéphane, I’m sure that the tomatoes you find at these beautiful Mountain View or Los Altos farmer’s markets, that you are so lucky to have nearby all year long, must still be superb, sweet and juicy in early September. And I also guess that the time that you will be able to spend in your kitchen or outside at the barbecue to prepare meals will be limited for next few months. You even can forget about those olives and the anchovies that somebody close to you does not like and rename it the "deconstructed the summer vegetable and tuna salad"

So I would like to remind you of a simple to fix late summer lunch or early dinner dish that your mother and I have been very fond of since our student days in Aix-en-Provence: La Salade Niçoise. It is a meal in itself and with a few slices of a good baguette to mop the olive-oil based dressing, and perhaps a couple of pieces of goat cheese, your appetite will be satisfied. I just made a simplified version of this salad last week-end for our Sunday lunch after finding nice plump tomatoes and fresh small red potatoes at the Evanston Farmer’s market and, along with a bottle of Bandol Rosé, we enjoyed it a lot while our dining room table was still bathed in the sunlight peering through he leaves of the plane-tree in front of our building. I have to admit that the quality of the sunlight was unfortunately already pre-autumnal, something that always makes you mother a bit sad. But to get back to the salade niçoise and the way I prepare it; As you can guess its name derives from the city of NICE, on the French Riviera, close the Italian border. In this area that used to be Italian until it was reunited with France in 1860, the food has always been influenced heavily by its neighbor, the seafood found in the Mediterranean Sea, the olive oil harvested in its back country, and the plentiful sources of locally-grown vegetables and fruits. I’m referring to red and green peppers, white (coco), grey, broad, green, and small fava beans, all kinds of onions, tomatoes, baby purple artichokes, miniature zucchini and their blossoms, boletus mushrooms, purple asparagus, small potatoes, chard, purple garlic, and of course these famous anf flavorful tiny black ‘’niçoise’’ olives. And of course it is the area where the ‘’mesclun’’ of various types of lettuce and greens was born. But some people (Patricia Wells among them) think that this type of blend has its origin in nearby Italian Liguria. As well as lemons, clementines, black currant, peaches, etc.  
A few things to know about the original and perhaps authentic way to prepare Salade Niçoise:

They are several dozens of recipes for making a salade niçoise, and I am not even sure that a single one can qualify as authentically ‘’niçoise’’. I checked in several books of recipes from both Provence and the Côte d’Azur, the area between St. Tropez and the Italian Border, and the only thing I can say for sure is that originally in NICE this salad consisted of only RAW vegetables. You would never find potatoes, or vinegar in it. And the old Niçois NEVER MIXED tuna and anchovies; it was either one or the other. The only cooked ingredient was the hard-boiled eggs. The raw vegetables used were: Twice salted seeded, drained, and then quartered tomatoes, thinly sliced red and green peppers, small purple baby artichoke hearts, some hearts of celery, tiny fresh fava beans, young spring green onions, small black olives, and that’s it. Later they added some slice of cucumbers and a mesclun of lettuce and green herbs like parsley, chervil, and chives. Some chopped fresh basil could sometimes be added at the end. Now, another point of contention is the type of beans that you use. In most French restaurant nowadays a salade niçoise include cooked small green beans. That is what I use. But in the ‘’authentic salade niçoise ‘’ only raw fresh small green fava beans, called ‘’fevettes’’ there, or ‘’coco’’ (fresh white) beans coming from pale green pods, were used. As far as onions are concerned, most people use very finely sliced small red or white onions as a garnish. But in the real niçoise you should use ‘’cébettes’’, very young spring green onions whose white bulbs are very small. They look a bit like very small leeks, and over here their counterparts would be scallions. I personally use thin slices of red or torpedo onions in the summer. Now as far as choosing the kind of flaked tuna you will put in the middle of the serving dish, it should always be CANNED TUNA, and if possible Italian canned tuna packed in olive oil. Never seared fresh tuna like too many American restaurants have taken the habit to do since the early 80`s under the influence of the new Californian Cuisine. If you use anchovies, instead of tuna or in addition to tuna like most French restaurant do, use flat canned unsalted Italian or Portuguese anchovies packed in olive oil. Not the Danish or Norwegian type. Now, as far as the dressing is concerned: In the original Salade Niçoise, they seasoned the various raw vegetables with salt and pepper, and doused the sliced boiled eggs and the vegetables with a good quality extra-virgin French olive oil. No vinegar was used. But nowadays most restaurants, as well as me, pour some vinaigrette on it before serving. See my own way of preparing a vinaigrette down below. Lastly, never mix your Nicoise Salad in a salad bowl, like you would do with another lettuce-based salad. Serve it on an oval porcelain or ceramic platter where it is much easier and prettier to assemble the various components. The platter should be rubbed with one clove of freshly peeled garlic. Also use only black olives and not green olives to garnish the salad.

My own recipe for an easy to make Salade Niçoise: 

For 2 people: Ingredients: 6 small red potatoes 4 ripe medium size field-grown tomatoes (no Roma or beefsteak type) ¼ Lb fresh small French green beans, left whole but trimmed at both ends. One medium size red onion, or two small red torpedo onions, thinly sliced 2 fresh large eggs, hard boiled or semi-hard boiled, quartered when cold About 12 leaves of l Boston or Red leaf lettuce, washed and dried 1 clove of garlic Some fresh parsley, chives, or chervil, minced I can of Italian tuna packed in olive oil, drained and flaked with a fork About 6 flat fillets of canned anchovies, drained and patted with a paper towel 10 black olives with the pits: Niçoises or oil cured Moroccans, or Kalamatas (I use these) Optional: chopped fresh basil (5 leaves) instead of herbs For the vinaigrette: About 2 Tbsp of Red wine vinegar, 2Tbsp of Dijon mustard, 1/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil Salt & Pepper  

Preparing the ingredients: Steam the red potatoes for 20/25 minutes with skin on. Set aside on a plate to cool. Remove skin and slice them 1/4 inch thick Wash, dry and cut the tomatoes in 6 segments. Salt them and let them drain for 20 minutes. Remove seeds delicately. Cook trimmed green beans in salted gently boiling water for 12 minutes. They should remain firm. Drain rinse under cold water and let them cool down, Before using gently pat them dry with paper towel Thin slice one medium size red onion Boil 2 eggs in salted water for 10 minutes. Cool then down in cold water, then peel and quarter them. Rinse the olives under cold water for 2 minutes (except if oil cured) Chop fresh parsley and chives (or chervil)  

Preparing the vinaigrette: In a large bowl put 2 Tbsp of Dijon mustard at room temperature, Add some salt and black pepper to taste. Wisk 2Tbsp of red wine vinegar in the mustard until you obtain a smooth mix Slowly incorporate, while whisking all the time, 1/3 of a cup of Extra-Virgin olive oil. Continue to whisk until all the ingredients are emulsified into a smooth sauce without letting the vinegar separate from the oil.  
Assembling the dish: Rub a medium-size porcelain platter with fresh garlic. Arrange leaves of lettuce to cover the platter entirely Alternate slices of potatoes and quartered eggs on the upper side of the platter Arrange the segments of tomatoes on a lower rank Alternate hem with fillets of anchovies Place a mound of flaked tuna in the center of the dish Intersperse with olives Dispose sliced red onions over the vegetables Sprinkle chopped herbs all over Just before serving drizzle the vinaigrette on each component Bon Appétit

PASTIS, the perfect summer drink This successor to absinthe has been France's favorite apéritif since the mid 50's. 

It has a long and sometimes difficult past.


You know, Stéphane, it’s magic. Just reading the word “pastis” and I not only get thirsty but also very nostalgic of my native South of France, where it is the object of a quasi-mystic cult. Especially between May and October when it is associated automatically with ‘’pétanque’’ the games of boules that everybody plays outside in small towns and villages, and also with bullfights. It is the king of drinks during the ‘’ferias’’ (bullfights festivals) in cities like Nîmes, Arles, Dax, Béziers, Vic-Fezensac, Mont-de–Marsan, and many others. In these towns, during these ‘’ feria de toros’’, ''afficionados''' (bullfight fans, and I am one of them) get very easily overboard by drinking pastis not only at the time of the ''apéritif'' (cocktail hour, from around 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM and from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM), but all day long until the wee hours of the morning. In my native town of Nimes, the French capital of bullfighting where these events take place in a beautiful Roman amphithéâtre called Les Arènes in the middle of the city, the ferias last several days, especially in May (Pentecost Feria) and in September (Harvest time Feria). In the early sixties and seventies, along with some of my school buddies and later with a few close friends, it happened at times that we drank up to 20 pastis a day between 11:00 AM and 2:00 AM during the ferias. But we went only to a specific bar, across the street from my high school and half a block from the bullfight arena that was essentially serving CASANIS, and where the ‘’Chicuelo II pena’’ (band), supporting a young local matador (NIMENO I) was rehearsing… and drinking pastis. I have to admit that the quality of the music started to decrease substantially after the 10th pastis. In fact in those days in Nîmes, some people chose their bar according to the brand of pastis that they served, and there was sometimes (but rarely) a real animosity based on contempt between the patrons of bars serving RICARD or PASTIS 51, and the CASANIS followers 
  I was talking about a cult. However, that particular religion’s followers belong to separate churches: The RICARD congregation, the PASTIS 51 parish, the CASANIS denomination, the old BERGER BLANC sect, the JANOT true believers, the new apostles of BARDOIN or BOYER, to mention some of the better known brands.  

My personal favorite brands of pastis:

Me? I do not drink much pastis too often anymore for 2 reasons: 1. It contains licorice that is not recommended to people who have to watch their blood pressure. 2. It has become too expensive an aperitif for my modest financial means. But when I drank pastis several times a month in the seventies and early eighties, you could find a bottle of Ricard for 13 dollars in Chicago. And I would buy full-liter bottles on Air France on my way back to Chicago for 40 francs until the early nineties. Nowadays, you have to spend between 28 and 30 dollars at large liquor stores like Binny’s or Sam’s for the same bottle of Ricard. It has become a luxury item and I’m afraid that the Euro-dollar exchange rate is not going to make it cheaper in the coming months. Too bad. Your question gave me a furious envy of pastis, especially since we are going through a hot period here in Chicago in late August. But as far as my brand preferences go, I would say that when I was living in Nîmes in 1959-1960, I was a fanatic believer in CASANIS, a brand created by a gentleman named Casabianca in the late forties. It was based on green anis instead of the star anise (called “badiane” in the South of France) used by most of its competitors. It is a very good pastis, usually a little cheaper than RICARD and PASTIS 51, but that you rarely find North of Valence. As a matter of fact I have never seen that brand of pastis served in bars and brasseries in Paris. But when I went to study at the university of Aix-en-Provence in 1960, I switched to RICARD, a brand that was much more common than CASANIS in the cafés where I went. I tried PASTIS 51, made by the old company PERNOD, but I did not like it as much.
And for the last 15 years , when I occasionally drink a pastis I order the marvelously aromatic and natural-tasting pastis made by HENRI BARDOIN at the Distilleries de Provence in Forcalquier, in the Alpes de Haute Provence. This latecomer, launched in 1990, is made from a blend of 50 different plants and spices, most of them harvested in Provence or near the Mediterranean Sea. In France it is more expensive that the traditional commercial brands. But surprisingly, in Chicago, you can purchase a bottle (slightly smaller than its competitors I have to admit) for around $ 27.99 or $ 29.99. at SAM’s or BINNY’s. Its taste is much more distinctive and its flavors more complex than its competitors. By the way, RICARD and PASTIS 51 do not reveal their ingredients, especially what aromatic components and possibly mixed compounds they add, besides the anis, fennel and licorice. It is one of the factors that led me to switch to HENRI BARDOIN that I find has a very natural favor Another good brand is JEAN BOYER, a very elaborate pastis, without any sugar added, made from 72 various plants and 6 spices in a religious community in Fatima. It is the most expensive pastis that money can buy I France. But I do not think that it is exported to the USA. I used to like pastis JANOT, made in Aubagne, the capital of those so pretty Christmas figurines: The Santons. But I did not see any in bars for many years. Two cheaper brands are DUVAL and PRADO 45 . You can find PRADO in some liquor stores like Binny’s where it sells for 10 dollars less than RICARD. It is O.K. but not as good. I cannot stand PERNOD, that has an almost chemical taste and whose anis taste is almost bitter.

Before Pastis was invented, its predecessor, Absinthe, was the most popular drink from 1865 to 1914
 

PERNOD FILS was the most popular brand of absinthe, the ancestor of pastis, before 1915. That brand was created in PONTARLIER, in the French JURA mountains that are at the border between France and the French-speaking part of Switzerland. In fact it was a Swiss gentleman named HENRI LOUIS PERNOD. At the end of the 18th century a doctor from Neuchatel, PIERRE ORDINAIRE, concocted the original recipe of ABSINTHE made of a distilled drink based on wormwood spirit mixed with green anis, hyssop, melissa and chamomille. Another Swiss man, named DUBIED, built the first absinthe distillery in COUVET, Switzerland using Ordinaire’s recipe. Later DUBIED partnered with his son in law, HENRI LOUIS PERNOD, and they built a second one on the other side of the French border precisely in Pontarlier. It became so popular that many other French distilleries started to produce absinthe. In 1830, the French troops sent to French colonies in North Africa, started to mix some absinthe in their water to protect themselves from all kind of medical problems. And of course they loved it so much that when they came back home they talked a lot about the benefit of this 68% strong alcoholic beverage, that became instantly popular, especially after 1865 when French wine producers suffered a lot from a massive attack of the phylloxera parasite that damaged a lot of vineyards and reduced by 75% the consumption of wine. At the end of the 19th century, the French were consuming annually more than 13 million liters of absinthe. That is when several French scientists started to do experiments on the effects of wormwood on both the nervous system and the social behavior of heavy absinthe drinkers, and concluded that it could provoke all kinds of possible dangerous side effects, including hallucinations (something that that was never proven). At the outbreak of WORLD WAR I the French government banned all drinks whose alcoholic content was above 16 %. And in 1915 efforts by various temperance and political lobbies obtained a complete ban of absinthe. This is when Pernod opened a distillery in Spain. But it never gained the success that it had in France and Northern Europe and closed after World War II. So they went back to France and started to produce an anis-based alcoholic drink.
The real birth of the Pastis de Marseille

But is only in the late twenties that a young salesman from Marseille by the name of PAUL RICARD started the actual commercialization of an anis-based aperitif under his own name. He had to fight a lot until 1932 to obtain through a lot of political lobbying and after paying many taxes and fees, the right to legally sell the first PASTIS de MARSEILLE. It became even more popular during the period of massive social reforms voted by the “Front Populaire” in 1936, that legalized the “congés payés’’ (vacation time paid by employers), to be ranked the No1 favorite ‘‘apéritif’’ in France. Especially after the government granted Paul Ricard in 1938 the right to raise the alcoholic content of his pastis from 40 to 45 degrees... But, once again, the Vichy government of Maréchal Pétain at the beginning of World War II banned the use of any drink whose alcoholic content was above 16 %. We had to wait until 1951 to be able again to drink legally our favorite apéritif. Eventually the two major brands, RICARD merged with its competitor PERNOD to form in the nineties one of the world leaders in the field of spirits and wines. “Pastis” is a provencal word, a diminutive form of “pastisson”, meaning “mix or blend” as well as, figuratively, “a mess”. In the beginning, the production of Pastis was concentrated in Southern France, and more particularly in a region between Marseille and Avignon. Pastis had more or less the same anis-licorice-herbal taste as absinthe, but did not contain the so called “dangerous” wormwood. But contrary to many beliefs, more pastis is consumed in Northern France than in the South. The right way to drink pastis: In a tall narrow conic-shaped glass, pour one part of pastis, then slowly add ice-cold water (five parts) from a pitcher containing water and ice cubes, but do not add ice cubes in the glass. If you really want to do it the right way but also use ice cubes: Pour the water first, then add the pastis and observe the beautiful visual effect of the golden-yellow liquor giving progressively to the the water an opaline-like cloudy slightly greenish hue. Then add a couple (but no more) ice cubes. If you drink 1 part pastis, with 3 parts water in a small cylindrical glass it is called ‘’ une mominette’’, that in some bars in France they call ‘’ un petit jaune’’. I you add some mint syrup to the pastis it is called a ‘’perroquet’’, with pomegranate syrup it becomes ‘’une tomate’’, and with orgeat (almond-flavored) syrup ‘’une mauresque’’. Drink slowly, with slightly salted almonds, pistachios, olives, and possibly some slices of mountain ham. A ta santé.