Fred's newsletter 23.3.21
A truffled camembert. Our brie à la truffe this week will look similar, just slightly bigger.
Good morning tout le monde,
I hope you are all well and enjoying the early days of spring. There’s definitely an improvement in the weather and the sun shining is very welcome. I could carry on about the weather, as you know this is the favourite subject of the French!
But let’s talk food, my favourite subject. As mentioned last week, we start with a fresh langoustine bisque, a very subtle flavour. It will be served with rouille, croutons and cheese to be enjoyed in the same way as fish soup. You cover a crouton with rouille, put it in the soup, then add cheese on top and leave it for a few seconds before eating with a soup spoon. It’s a flagrant pleasure for the taste buds.
I should have started with the nibbles. Just on time, toward the end of the season for black truffles, I’ve arranged a real treat for you and have bought in a whole truffled brie. There are only so many portions, so call in early for a share of it and make sure you take it out of the fridge for as long as you can before enjoying it. The warmth will open up the flavour of the truffles and you will get the most out of it served at room temperature. It’s a great nibble for 2 to 4 people to enjoy with a fresh baguette, or as a cheese course. It has to be consumed over a few days, so just take what’s needed from the fridge by cutting a slice. This was very popular at the wine bar.
The rabbit rillettes are on, and another two types of olives have joined our existing line-up. All 6 varieties are selected because of their origin and history, no factories here, just the flavour. They are soaking in olive oil and nothing is added to disguise any bitterness. That’s it. We also have cured ham served with Tomme de Brebis (a ewe’s milk cheese) which is small, but big on taste.
Jambon persillé, a Burgundy speciality, comes next; shoulder and ham are used for this recipe, both cooked with Burgundy white with aromatics, carrots and onions until soft, then built into a terrine with a white wine and parsley jelly (made using the trotters). The pork used is from the herb-fed herds at The Herb Majesty in Perthshire. A really beautiful meat, it will be served with a celeriac-gribiche.
Then there’s salted cod brandade as another starter, plus snails in garlic butter, as both are classics now. For the vegetarians, we have more asparagus coming in, which will be served with golden beetroot, fennel, olives, endives and smoked Auvergne hard cheese, covered in a crème fraîche dressing.
For mains, Peelham Farm’s rosé veal and beef both feature. The beef is organic Angus and as with any beef I buy, is only grass-fed. It will be cooked slowly overnight, like a Bourguignon but with ale from Orkney instead of wine. Cooking with beer is typical in the north of France, around the border with Belgium, and quite a regular thing in the UK too. The veal will be cooked Marengo-style, where I’ll start a veal stock, reducing it 5 or 6 times before using it as a base for cooking; overnight as well, with white wine, tomatoes, garlic and mushrooms. Very slow cooking processes for both.
Another main is choux-farci, which has featured on the menu many times and it is loved for its flavour. Small-diced vegetables will be sweated slowly with Colonatto lard. Then Savoy cabbage will be blanched, ready to be folded and rolled with the stuffing. This is made using the same pork as above - neck fillet, shoulder, belly and ham minced with seasoning, then mixed with the vegetables and lard. It will then be cooked in the oven in a light pork stock, ready for you to heat and eat. It’s quite a simple recipe but one that requires flair and love, and time. A rustic dish that many chefs have forgotten as it’s not very fashionable. For me, it brings back memories and evokes nostalgia of home.
For the game lovers, there’s a special dish of roe deer casserole cooked in a game stock, joined by a wild rabbit caillette and a pigeon sausage. This will be in a sweet griottines (cherries) flavoured game sauce, and I am sure it will sell out quickly! Finally, the fish this week is a cod fillet, served with a spinach and Parmesan sauce.
On the dessert front, there’s refreshing pot of lemon crème with biscuits, a chocolate and pear brioche and butter pudding, a date and almond tarte with pecan nuts (serving 1 like me, or 4 like you), our classic tarte au chocolat, and an apple and rhubarb crumble. Of course a selection of cheese too, and if you fancy, the brie à la truffe to finish your meal in style! As ever, we have a few bottles of wine available to accompagne le repas, or as an aperitif.
In other news, as I am writing to you today, our Carole is on the train heading to London before catching a flight home. I would like to personally thank Carole for all her support over the years. She is dedicated and made of strong stuff. Everyone at l’escargot will miss her and we wish her the best. I’m sure she’ll be back sometime, in the next few years. Read a few words from Carole here.
As to the future, we’re reflecting and thinking now of a plan to finally re-open. We are considering this very cautiously and carefully as there’s still so much uncertainty surrounding us. We will be opening sometime, but please bear with us. An announcement will be made via this newsletter first.
Finally, do not hesitate to send your order by email using lescargotbleurestaurant@gmail.com including your telephone number and Sophie or Betty will get back to you.
Again, thank you all for your support and your ongoing custom.
A bientôt,
Fred
MY EARLY DAYS (MORE)
It was 1986, or maybe it was 1985, yes 1985, and I found myself seated at the hairdresser. “Shorter” I hear, “a bit shorter”. That’s my dad talking to the guilty party who will leave me with hardly a hair on my head. I’m about to go to the second job interview of my life (remember, I lost my first job at The Nemrod in St Maure de Touraine).
After the hairdresser, I was scrubbed clean, nails treated, ears flushed and even a spec-polishing session. I was repeatedly told to behave and to answer every question politely and clearly - or I would miss out on going to college at the start of the new season. I was quite content with the idea of staying home and visiting my friends rather than attending any type of educational institute!
It was a Saturday morning and after the hairdresser I’m asked to put on my shiniest shoes and a nice clean shirt and a tie. The last time I had worn a tie was at my aunty’s wedding. I think that was the first and only time I’d been dressed like this.
Mum and I got in the Ford Granada and headed to Rue du Commerce in the old town of Tours to see Mr Duguet and chef Jacques. We entered La Rottisserie Tourangelle, a restaurant with fancy lighting, thick carpet, tables dressed with flowers and warm paintings on the walls. We’d had a quick peek at the menus displayed outside before we went in. Whoah! I had no idea at the time that anyone would pay that sort of money for a meal.
As we entered, Mr Duguet came forward and asked me to introduce myself, my mum answered for me as I was so petrified no words were coming out. I was asked what my duties had been at Le Nemrod, and I managed to answer that I was the perfect dish-washer. I was then asked if I could do a mayonnaise - yes was the answer. Next, if I could do a shortcrust - yes was the answer. Then, could I tell him the recipe? I did.
So I got the job as a pre-apprentice. I was 15 and started straight away. And once again I didn’t go on holiday that year, working through the best part of the summer before going to college in the September.