Sunday, September 6, 2020

Wine and Food of Le Tour 2020 Stage 9

Up we go again from Pau to Laruns.
Let's see what the race director has to say today: The mountainous program of the day starts with the discovery of the Col de la Hourcère which will immediately precede the climb to the Col de Soudet. For the seventh time since the beginning of the Tour, the riders will ride at an altitude of over 1,500m. They will then battle it out on the extremely steep climb up to the Col de Marie Blanque before heading back down to Laruns.

Pau specialties: Specialties: garbure (soup), poule au pot (hen in the pot), foie gras, magret and other dishes derived from duck and goose, honey, coucougnettes du Vert Galant (almond chocolate sweets), Verdier chocolates, Francis Miot jam, le « Russe » (The Russian, almond cake with praline), ossau-iraty (cheese), wines (Jurançon, Madiran, Pacherenc).

Laruns specialties: lamb, garbure (soup), Ossau cheese.


The stage: 168 riders started the stage today after a few withdrawals yesterday.
Soon, Fabio Aru would join them. 
After numerous early escape attacks, it would be Marc Hirschi solo in the lead.  Sixty four kilometers to go and he had 3:40. With 44km to go, the chasers were caught by the main peloton led by Jumbo-Visma. Hirschi ramined solo at the front with an advantage of 4'30''. .
And then we had this important question: For the record, I voted for the stage win. 
Twenty seven kilometers to go and he had 3:37. That gap began to drop quickly.
Twenty two kilometers to go and it was around 2:30.
IThe yellow jersey group: Sepp Kuss, George Bennett, Tom Dumoulin, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Richard Carapaz, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Damiano Caruso, Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren), Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic), Enric Mas, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), Ion Izagirre, Harold Tejada, Miguel Ángel López (Astana Pro Team), Sergio Higuita, Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First), Tadej Pogačar (Jumbo-Visma), Bauke Mollema and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo). 
It was time for the gc attacks, with Yates struggling again. Yesterday he had managed his pacing, but would he do it again?
Surging ahead, Bernal, Landa, Roglic, Pogacar and Porte. They would get within a minute of Hirschi very quickly. With one kilometer to the top, he had only 45 seconds. Clawing back to the Bernal group: Bardet and Uran. Yikes, almost a crash between Roglic and Pogacar at the top as they went for points. 
As they started down, Hirschi had 35 seconds. With 15 kilometers to go, only twelve seconds. Very impressive descending from Hirschi. He had increased his lead to 25 seconds. 
Three kilometers to go and he had twelve seconds. And he would be caught.



The wine: 
Vignobles Arbeau Negrette On l Appelle 
Just north of Toulouse in southern France, north of the Pyrenees one finds the appellation of Fronton. In Fronton the principle grape is Negrette, and the appellation’s decree is that each Fronton wine be at least 50% of the variety.
This was bright cherry and kind of gulpable. Plus, a really appealing label, which lists all the names Négrette is known by, concluding: "et ici, chez elle, à toulouse, on l'appelle négrette" (and here, in its home, in Toulouse, we call it Négrette).


The food: le Russe recipe from Meilleurduchef

Ingredients for 6-8:

  • For the Russe biscuit:
  • 125g tant pour tant
  • 25g flour
  • 40g milk
  • 5 egg whites
  • 25g sugar

Before starting this Russe recipe, make sure you have organised all the necessary ingredients.
Combine the tant pour tant, milk and flour together with a wooden spatula.
The preparation should have a soft consistency.
Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt, until stiff peaks form.
When stiff...
... add the castor sugar...
... and continue whipping for 10 minutes.
Add 1/5 of the egg whites to the soft preparation...
... to make it more liquid and homogeneous.
10 Pour the liquid preparation over the rest of the beaten egg whites...
11 ... and combine gently, using a rubber spatula.
12 Pour the preparation on a baking sheet (40 x 30cm), slightly greased...
13 ... and lined with baking parchment, slightly greased as well. Spread the preparation with a cranked spatula.
14 Sprinkle the whole surface with icing sugar.
15 Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas 4) and bake for 10 minutes.
16 The biscuit should rise a little and remain soft. Make sure you do not overcook the biscuit.
17 When cooked, remove from the oven. Cut the biscuit in two identical parts.
18 For an easier assembly operation, you can use an expandable frame Set the frame to the dimensions of one biscuit half.
19 Using a pastry scraper, scoop the crème au beurre. The amount of praliné used will vary according to the desired intensity.
20 Spread the crème au beurre into a thin, even layer.
21 Place the second biscuit half on top.
22 Gently press with your hands to make the layers more compact.
23 Leave in the fridge to set for a couple of hours.
24 Once the cream has set, remove the frame (slide the blade of a knife between the frame and the cake if necessary).
25 Using a serrated knife, trim the edges...
26 ... to create a perfectly neat rectangle.
27 Sprinkle the whole surface...
28 ... with icing sugar. Place in a nice serving dish and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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