Saturday, June 26, 2021

Wine & Food of Le Tour 2021: Stage 1, Brest to Landernau

Where are we? Spending our first stages In Brittany.

Brest: Brittany Tourism tells me to: Forget everything you thought you knew about Brest, and come and explore the heart of this naval port, nestled in one of France’s most beautiful natural harbours. On the menu: the amazing Pont de l’Iroise bridge, a stroll along the lively quays as far as the castle museum, and of course Océanopolis. Explore the city on foot, bike, bus, tramway or even from the sky on the first urban cable car!

Landernau: Le Tour has a fun story: Making noise in Landerneau: There are three theories for the origin of this famous French expression. The first known mention is in the comedy by Alexandre Duval from Rennes, Les Héritiers, performed in Paris in 1796. One of the scenes of the play takes place in a castle near Landerneau, property of Antoine Kerlebon, supposedly dead in a shipwreck. The day when his inheritance is divided, his unexpected return surprises and his valet Alain exclaims: "Antoine, oh the good trick, I will not say anything; but it will make noise in Landerneau," several times. The play, included in the repertoire of the Comédie française, was a lasting success in the 19th century, and evokes the town's reputation for gossip.
Another explanation refers to the tradition of charivaris, noisy disturbances surrounding the remarriage of widows and condemned by the Church. However, the charivari is not only specific to Landerneau, it was already practiced at the end of the Middle Ages, in many French cities, when a marriage was judged to be mismatched. According to other sources, the expression refers to the cannon shot from the Brest prison that could be heard as far as Landerneau when a prisoner managed to escape. This expression is still used today for "news of little importance, but of a nature to pique public curiosity". Finally, created in 2009, the Landerneau music festival is called "Fête du Bruit dans Landerneau" (Make a Noise Festival).

Tour Specialties: 
Brest: pancakes, seafood, salted butter caramel, kig ha farz, strawberries, beer, Cod à la Brestoise: Although Brest has adopted most of the Breton specialties (galettes, far breton, brandies and even strawberries from neighboring Plougastel), the city has a few typical recipes, the most famous of which is undoubtedly cod à la brestoise, which is as simple to make as it is tasty to eat. Leeks, potatoes and onions, all sliced like the cod itself, are necessary for this dish halfway between the gratin and the brandade, as tasty as it is hearty.
Landernau: the moons of Landerneau (chocolates), If kouign-amann originates from Douarnenez, one of the best can be found in Landerneau, at Eric Pengam's Douceurs Chocolats'T pastry shop, awarded the prize for the best kouign-amann in 2019 and the best Breton cake in 2017. If Eric Pengam doesn't give away his recipe, it's because kouign-amann is not so easy to make. A Breton saying sums it up: anyone can make it, few can succeed!

Christian Prudhomme says: "In a post card type scenery, going through Locronan and Quimper, this first day will offer no respite. The never ending accelerations due to the frequent changes in direction, the windy parts in the Monts d'Arrée and a finish at the top of 3-km hill at an average 5.7% (including parts at 14%) will crown one hell of a puncher."

The stage: Off they go!  It was time for the first break of the Tour:  Schelling, Van Poppel, Rodriguez, Perez, Bonnamour, and Swift. With 137.5 kilometers to go, the gap to the break was 2:25.
Halfway through the stage and it was down to 1:45.
After the Stang Ar Garront king of the mountain point, Schelling pressed along solo. Eighty kilometers to go and he had about a minute over his former companions and 2:22 over the peloton. With sixty eight kilometers to go, the rest of the break riders had been swept up by the peloton.
At the sprint point, maximum points from the field for Ewan.
Fifty kilometers to go and Schelling had just over two minutes.
And then suddenly, a huge crash, quite possibly caused by a fan on the roadside with a sign. Early stage crashes are expected in the Tour, but this one was very ugly and took down a huge percentage of the peloton. As a result, the first abandonment of the race: Sutterlin.
A second large crash would come.
Next: the expected attack by Alaphilippe.
Baby gets a lion!

The wine: Starting off with Cidrerie du Leguer Premium NV
The first of four days of cider. 
From the importer: Most of the French ciders we see in the U.S. come from Normandy, a rather expansive region west of Paris. You’ve probably heard of the beaches. Historic.
Bretagne, or Brittany as we like to say it, is a bit further afield, direction west. Depending on where exactly you’re going in Brittany, it can be quite a bit afield. In the case of Cidrerie du Léguer, how about an almost five and a half hour drive from Paris??? Take the more scenic route through Versailles and it’s going to cost you six and a half hours, from Paris. 
Cédric grew up here, in Brittany. After studies in agriculture he moved around France (and indeed the world) for a few years before he and his wife came upon this “almost abandoned” cider farm, and well, here it began. 2016 was the first vintage.
They are working organically (the place was already certified organic), though the truth is even more simple than this: they mow the lawn and prune the trees. That’s it. When the apples fall (and only then), they put them in crates to further ripen. Then they make their ciders. Cédric uses the old-school process of “keeving” to clean the musts (thus they are not filtered) and all fermentations are natural. The ciders are bottled with no sulfur.
The trees here are as young as two and as old as thirty years, with a whole selection of indigenous varieties such as Doux Moen, Douce Coet Lignée, Marie Ménard, Peau de Chien, Kermerrien, Petit Jaune, Locarvert, Rouget de Dol, Judor, Frich’elach, etc., if you know any of these. The soils are mostly granite, with various levels (or not) of clay.
The food: Kig Ha Farz, because I had never heard of it. Recipe from a local tourist site
From northern Finistère, the kig ha farz is a kind of stew mixing beef, pork and vegetables. It draws its characteristic from the farz, sort of sider made from flour cooked in the stock, sometimes with dried fruits and lipig, sauce made from butter and onions. Pork meat, vegetables cut into pieces and stuffing (in an hessian bag) are dived into a large stew pot filled with water and then cook for two hours.
After the cooking, the stock is served as a starter, the meat, vegetables and stuffing cut into pieces (with lipig) is served as the main dish.
for 8/10 people
Meats: 1.5 kg of beef shin and shoulder, 700 g of fresh bacon, 1 large pork hock
Vegetables and spices: 8 carots, 8 turnips, 4 leeks, 2 onions, 1 kale, 2 branches of celery (optional), salt, pepper and a bunch of herbs ('bouquet garni')
White farz: 500 g of flour, 4 eggs, 1l of milk, sugar (optional), salt
Black farz: 400 g of buckwheat flour, 2 eggs, some salted butter
Two hessian bags to cook the farz and string.
Meats and vegetables
Put 4 to 5 liters of water in a stew pot and add the peeled vegetables (except the kale) with salt, pepper and herbs.
When the water comes to the boil, add pork hock and beef meat.
Cook for 2 hours and a half.
Meanwhile, blanch the kale in salted boiling water during 5/6 minutes; empty the water. Finish the cooking with butter, just before serving.
White farz: mix the flour, the eggs, the milk with the sugar (optional) and the salt.
Black farz: melt the butter in a liter of water taken from the stew. Mix it with buckwheat flour and eggs.
Stuck the two doughs in the hessian bags and close with a string. Dive the bags in the stew pot, at boiling point and let it cook 2 hours. After the first hour, add the bacon.
Make the lipig with butter, shallops and 1 or 2 ladles of stock. Serve it aside, as a sauce.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)