Translated material
In the kitchen with Tartarin
Provence cuisine contributes to longevity and a calm perception of life. Our guides to the "soft underbelly of France" and its gastronomy - Alphonse Daudet and Marcel Pagnol
“Yes, but if game is such a rarity in Tarascon,” you say, “then what do the Tarascon hunters do on Sundays? What are they doing? Oh my god! They go to the field, two miles, three miles from the city. Five or six people unite, make themselves comfortable under the canopy of a well log house, an old wall or an olive tree, take out a decent piece of stewed beef, onions, sausage, anchovies from the game-bags - and an endless breakfast begins, washed down with excellent Rhone wine, which makes you want to laugh and sing."
Alphonse Daudet
Here were born or lived Michel Nostradamus and Paul Cezanne, sculptor Cesar and actor Fernandel, Marquis de Sade and Jean Vilar, Pablo Picasso, to whom this province replaced his native Spain, Vincent van Gogh was treated and almost cured, lived and created, creating the glory of the local dialect, Frederic Mistral, Alphonse Daudet, Marcel Pagnol, Jean Giono.
This is lazy Provence, the “soft underbelly” of France, whose inhabitants speak with an accent that is ridiculous for Parisians and often incomprehensible to Francophones, where, thanks to the efforts of Frederic Mistral, a regional poet who became a Nobel laureate in 1904, the Provencal language has not been forgotten, where people spend table much more time than in other regions of gastronomic France, where there are no hungry people simply because you can get enough of the sun, air, the smell of herbs, the beauties of the surrounding landscape and quench your thirst by plunging into the work of writers and artists born under the bright rays of the sun. And as Alphonse Daudet, the "father" of the famous Tartarin, accurately noted, "gourmetism begins where hunger ends." Here we will talk about this in more detail.
Longevity Secrets
The cuisine of Provence is rich in garlic, olive oil, vegetables, aromatic herbs and fish, which, as the natives say, "lives in water and dies in oil."
In 1661, Racine wrote to La Fontaine: “Instead of butter, they cook here with vegetable oil. I was afraid of this substitution, but today I ate sauces and, to tell the truth, I have never tasted anything better.
The cuisine of Provence is simple and honest, and, probably, therefore, it will live forever, remaining fashionable. Here is what Marcel Pagnol wrote about her, who presented cinema with unforgettable characters, his literary heroes Marius and Topaz: “Kitchen is a spontaneous act of love. The table is one of the reflections of existence. Regardless of the place, it is a symbol of brotherhood.” Especially such a table, on which there are small bowls with anchovies - mashed anchovies and capers, lightly seasoned with olive oil, and at which the gathered friends eagerly await the most famous Provencal dish - bouillabaisse. And the air is filled with aromas of tarragon, parsley, chervil, basil, dill, marjoram, thyme, coriander, cumin, rosemary, bay leaf. And above all this - the most delicate garlic spirit of aioli sauce, about which Frederic Mistral wrote: "Our best aioli sauce absorbs the heat and joy of the southern sun, and also drives away flies."
Aioli is garlic, frankly garlic sauce. “Garlic is an invaluable friend,” admired Alphonse Daudet, who remembered the amazing taste of bouillabaisse he enjoyed in the company of Charles Morr, another champion of garlic. What about the smell? Daudet dismisses all remarks and quotes Forain, who claimed that if you chew garlic for a long time, the breath becomes clear, like that of a child. According to Jean-Noel Escudier, author of The Real Cuisine of Provence, garlic “smells like a village, a sun-drenched land. There is no luxury in it (or, as we would say now, glamor. - A.S.), but there is no lie either. It must be perceived as it is, rough and strong. For Dode, aioli sauce is a sure way to avoid sickness and death. “It kills,” he said, “the lack of aioli.” Escudier also tells the story of a Marseille man who lived to be 104 years old only because he ate garlic every day and aioli sauce every week. His son lived to be 80 years old, and his father, sighing, said: “After all, I warned him that he would die young, and the kid didn’t really like garlic.”
Not just garlic
Of course, Alphonse Daudet fed his heroes not only with garlic. Here are quotes from Letters from My Mill. “In the blink of an eye, the table is set: a wonderful snow-white tablecloth and two cutlery. I know the customs of this house; I know that when Mistral has guests, the mother does not sit down at the table ... The old woman speaks her Provençal dialect and is embarrassed to talk with the French ... And in the kitchen one cannot do without her.
God! Well, I ate that morning! A piece of fried goat meat, cheese, as it is prepared here in the mountains, wine, figs, muscat grapes ... All this is plentifully watered by the good papal châteauneuf, which has such a beautiful pink hue in the glasses!
In the novel "The Kid", autobiographical to the smallest detail, the hero of Dode was waiting for a delicious dinner: "The pie was just as appetizing, the wine had the same respectable appearance, the bright flame of the candles burned just as merrily and seemed to laugh at the bottom of the glasses ..."
When people talk about pie in Provence, they mean a traditional dish called "pissaladière" and can be served warm, hot or cold. This pie is sometimes, by false etymology, called "Provencal pizza". It is a little more difficult to prepare than an Italian tortilla with cheese and other fillings, but still try it (see recipe in the margin).
At the table with Pagnol
“The southerner does not lie - he is mistaken,” Daudet writes in Tartarin of Tarascon. “He doesn’t always tell the truth, but he himself believes what he says… His lie is not a lie, it’s a kind of mirage…”
The heroes of another Provencal writer Marcel Pagnol are hardly chasing mirages. They are down to earth, open, kind and honest.
“I will bake you bread that you have never eaten before. I will knead it for half an hour longer and add rosemary to each bundle of firewood. While the bread is being baked, I will not go to sleep as usual, I will open the oven door every five minutes so as not to miss it. I will prepare such delicious bread for you that you will not need to add anything to it. You will enjoy its taste like a gourmet… Needless to say, I ate a piece of cheese on bread. You will say that I ate a piece of bread with cheese on it. And every day I will knead another five kilos of dough for the poor. And I will fill every baked loaf with friendship and gratitude” (“The Baker's Wife”).
By the way, the most famous bread in Provence is called “fougasse”, it is a bread cake in which slices of lard, onions and olives are wrapped. Kad is very tasty - a flatbread made from bean flour. It is served hot as a dish. And also - a pom, a bun with olive oil that melts in your mouth.
In Marcel's Childhood, Pagnol recalls:
"What is this? the mother asked.
Taking the flowers from my hand, she inhaled deeply the fragrant scent.
“Thyme,” she said, “is an excellent seasoning for hare stew.
Is that thyme? François remarked disdainfully. “Where better to put peppermint…”
Then he began to talk about marjoram, rosemary, sage, dill: with them, they say, you need to “stuff the belly of a hare” or “finely chop” and stew with “a fair amount of lard”.
In the same place: “From half past seven, the skewer began to operate, and the yellowish fat, flowing down from the tender carcasses of thrushes, soaked thick slices of fried village bread ...” “He ate rice pilaf with mussels, amazingly seasoned with saffron, then applesauce or champignons stewed in the heat from grapevines. Then he ate hard Arlesian nougat, savored the melt-in-your-mouth macaroons for which Aix is famous, and for a snack he received a glass of liquor ... "
In the novel "Jean de Floret" we read: "We dined under a large olive tree: anchovies, sausage, partridges with cabbage, pancakes and three bottles of wine."
A big banquet began on the square... The bride's father treated: "six huge hams, at least 30 zhigots and 50 grain-fed chickens, fried with garlic."
“The same evening they conferred for a long time, eating an almost black (as the dish was stewed with jacquez wine) roast rabbit.”
Jacquez wine is named after a grape variety with small grains, from which an extremely strong wine of dark color is obtained. By the way, the drinks of Provence are so diverse that they deserve a separate article.
In Pagnol's play "Jazz":
| A Little Cheese Retreat One day in Paris, I was having dinner with a publisher friend and his wife at a restaurant famous for its cheese cart. When she was brought to our table, I was taken aback by the abundance of the masterpieces of refining art on display and asked my companion to be my guide through this cheese map of France. He chose several cheeses for me, and the cheese man slowly cut a small piece from each. A shriveled and not very pleasant-colored cheese round caught my attention, and I looked inquiringly into the eyes of my guide. “You picked the best cheese on this cart,” he said. But I don't offer it to you. This cheese comes from the mountainous Provence and should only be eaten where it is made. When this cheese descends into the plain, it loses more than half of its taste, aroma and magic.” |
“Damn delicious smells from the kitchen.
— These are partridges with cabbage. You will try, a real masterpiece of Melanie.
Are you the same foodie as before?
"Gourmet!"
Marcel Pagnol himself was a gourmet. In Paris, he often ate at the Grand Vefour restaurant, where he sometimes ordered Victor Hugo's favorite dish - lamb brisket with white beans.
Charles Blavette, an actor who starred in many of Pagnol's films, wrote the book My Provence in the Kitchen. The writer and director gladly wrote the preface to this book. And Guy Jedd's cookbook is simply called Pagnol. Kitchens of Provence. “Today, it is those people who have gone and who have written about Provence, such as Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono, that inspire my cuisine,” said renowned chef Armand Mezan.
And here is a characteristic dialogue from Pagnol's play Cigalon. Cigalon, the great chef, refused to cook for clients he considered unworthy of his talent...
Cigalon: What will you eat?
Ludovic: Well, offer us!
Sigalon: Monsieur, I am not a sorcerer, but I can only tell you one thing. You will eat what you brought.
Adele: What if we didn't bring anything? Sigalon: So you won't eat anything. Adele: It's impossible!
Cigalon: But it is. (With compassion.) Are you hungry?
Ludovic: Terrible!
Cigalon: (With pity.) Are you really hungry?
I mean, are you really hungry?
Adele: If I don't eat, I'll faint.
Cigalon: It's very hard for me to hear that from you. Really hard. But I have nothing to offer you.
Ludovic: But we're in your restaurant, aren't we?
Sigalon: Yes. Here it is written. Look - RESTAURANT.
Ludovic: And what do you sell to visitors?
Sigalon: (Indicating the surrounding landscape with a broad gesture.) This. I sell it to them. Just tell me that it's not great? .. This is not just a restaurant. Here is nature. My customers eat with their eyes!”
Provencal cuisine is magnificent, bright, full of aromas. Only the inhabitants of Provence can proudly say: "We eat what we see around us."