from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
A Baeckeoffe.
Photograph
courtesy of Joel Bez
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lejoe/5196062504/
Baeckeof, Baeckeoffe, Baaekenof,
or Potée Alsacienne –
A standard peasant stew from the Alsatian space within the Grand Est
area. Baeckeoffe and similar-sounding names all imply a Baker’s Oven in
the Alsatian dialect. For tons of of years, when a baker had completed baking
that day’s bread, the villager’s cooking pots could be positioned within the baker’s
oven the place their contents cooked whereas the oven slowly cooled. Every household’s
cooking pot contained no matter that they had accessible, and when taken house, they
could be saved scorching on the household fireplace. The gradual cooking allowed all of the tastes
to mingle and produce great stews, even with restricted components.
A medieval baker’s oven.
Photograph courtesy of Hans Splinter
https://www.flickr.com/photos/archeon/15317937928/
At this time’s Baeckeoffe
At this time’s Baeckeoffe is a wealthy stew and can embody cuts of beef
and pork and typically lamb; there could also be pork loin, a pig’s trotter, different
pork cuts, a minimize from the beef
chuck,
and or boneless lamb
shoulder.
Some cooks will add goose and or Alsatian sausages. The greens can have
been chosen in response to the season however will almost all the time embody France’s
favourite white
haricot beans, onions, carrots, leeks, and potatoes. In eating places, a
chef will add an Alsatian white wine, which may be a Riesling
AOP or
a Gewürztraminer
AOP,
and the herbs and spices will embody garlic, thyme, bay
leaves,
and peppercorns. Baeckeoffe continues to be cooked
slowly; the gradual cooking produces the beautiful tastes and aromas that make the
dish so particular.
Elsewhere in France, comparable stews with barely completely different
recipes are referred to as a Potée, Pot-au-Feu,
Bouilli or
a Potée Boulangère. The phrase potée means a cooking pot, and a boulangère is a
baker.
The place is the Alsace?
The Alsace is in northeastern France,
It’s a part of the area of the Grand Est.
Map courtesy of About-France.com.
(The area marked PACA is
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur).
Within the Alsace, when coming in from a chilly winter’s night time, a contemporary Baeckeoffe together with a big Alsatian beer could also be simply what the physician ordered.
A 1664 Beer 6-pack.
French Kronenbourg 1664 beer is produced in Obernai within the Alsace.
Photograph courtesy of Carrefour
The Alsace is within the japanese a part of France’s northeastern
area of the Grand Est. French and German influences have an effect on the Alsace’s
cuisine and
language. From the time of the French revolution, two departments, the Haut
Rhin and the Bas Rhin made up the Alsace; nonetheless, since 1-1-21, the 2
departments have been merged into the Alsace European Authority (the
Collectivité Européenne d’Alsace’).
The components for a Pot-au-feu
Photograph Le Journal des Femmes.
Baeckeoffe de Poissons – An Alsatian stew made with
freshwater fish as an alternative of meat. At this time, saltwater fish and shellfish could
typically be added.
My very own expertise, and twice was sufficient, noticed that the gradual
cooking used to mix the flavors can solely apply to the meat recipe; the fish
would have disintegrated if cooked for a very long time. The Baeckeoffe de Poissons
was tasty however supplied few of the refined flavors of a really slowly cooked beef
stew. Stick with the standard Baeckeoffe for a meat stew, and for a fish,
stew think about a totally traditional Alsatian freshwater, typically freshwater
and seafood, fish stew, referred to as a “matelote.” The matelotes of the Alsace, like
the one within the image under, embody anguillle, freshwater
eel; brochet, pike; perche, freshwater
perch; truite, trout; and sandre, zander, or pike-perch.
Matelote a l’Alsacienne
A recipe of Pascal Lanoix
Photograph and recipe courtesy of
alsace.nouvellesgastronomiques.com
Cholent
In Jewish villages, a remarkably comparable dish
referred to as cholent was ready for the Sabbath lunch. Within the Alsace, the Jewish household’s recipes
could be similar to these of a Christian peasant household’s nonetheless, scraps
of goose would have changed the forbidden pork. The 2 communities principally
lived facet by facet and shared many recipes; the pot of cholent could be taken
house from the baker earlier than the Sabbath started on Friday at sunset and
transferred to the household’s fireplace. When
the hearth within the fireplace had been stacked appropriately, the household would have a scorching
stew for his or her Sabbath lunch.
A dish of cholent
Photograph
courtesy of Becky
https://www.flickr.com/photos/35694730@N00/2738330081/
Extra in regards to the Alsace
The 2 departments of the Alsace had been moved
forwards and backwards over tons of of years between France and Germany, returning
lastly to France on the finish of WWII. The Alsace borders Germany to the North
and Germany and Switzerland to the East. In most eating places the menu
with be in French with Allemand Alsacien as properly. The native dialect is known as
Allemand Alsacien or Elsässerditsch, however all of the residents converse good French.
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——————
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2016, 2021
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