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Gastronomy
Endowed with a strong personality and a good appetite for
life, Burgundians have forged their character in symbiosis
with their countryside. There are only hills and small valleys,
rounded like their inhabitants whose colourful affability
is legendary. From time immemorial, Burgundy has been renowned
for its good food and drink. Thus the reputation of its
wines and gastronomy has been established since the Gallo-roman
era, as we can see from the culinary shop signs kept at
the Museum of Art and Archaeology.
It
must be pointed out that this generous soil, blessed by
the gods, has an exceptional variety of products at its
disposal. The farming at Auxois, Bazois and Charolais supply
excellent cow meat. Bresse is unique for its quality poultry,
capon and turkey production. Mother Nature is also very
generous. She offers abundant game in the forests, white
fish with a subtle taste in the Loire and Saône rivers,
trout and crayfish in the rivers of the Morvan region, snails
and delicious mushrooms: meadow mushrooms, ceps, morels,
chanterelles and truffles. A veritable godsend that is justifiably
appreciated. So of course the solid Burgundian cuisine,
often concocted with wine, is one of the best in the world.
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On
the menu
Gougères: little bite-size cheese soufflés
made with choux pastry which accompany the sampling sessions
of great white wines such as Chablis, Corton and Meursault.
Meurette (red wine sauce): a creamy seasoned and
spiced wine-based sauce thickened with butter and flour.
It accompanies poached eggs, fish and brains.
Saupiquet (spicy sauce or stew): a white wine and
cream-based sauce which accompanies fried sliced ham on
the bone.
Bœuf bourguignon : a traditional dish made from
collar of beef slowly simmered in red wine with onions and
diced bacon.
Pôchouse: matelote of fresh water fish (pike,
tench, carp or eel) with white wine.
Pikeperch: this thin river fish is served with a
shallot fondue and a red wine sauce.
Rabbit à la dijonnaise: cooked in a Dijon
mustard sauce.
Burgundy snails: they are prepared with garlic butter
and cooked in a pressure cooker following a recipe that
can be traced back to 1825.
Burgundy
and its land
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Blackcurrant
liqueur
 These
little shrubs with their black, aromatic fruit grow in the
fields that encircle Dijon and on the Nuits hillsides. For
a century now the blackcurrant liqueur "Cassis de Dijon"
has been marketed by Lejay-Lagoute. In order to obtain this
liqueur, the berries are crushed before being soaked in
neutral alcohol that has had sugar added.
It was the famous Canon Kir, mayor of Dijon from 1945 to
1968, true Burgundian, colourful ecclesiastic and politician,
who made "blanc-cassis" (white wine with blackcurrant
liqueur) the official aperitif of all the town hall receptions
held in the former Dukes of Burgundys' palace.
Over the years, Kir has become the name of this very popular
drink even when it is qualified by the word "royal"
by adding champagne instead of the traditional white wine
to the blackcurrant liqueur.
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Mustard
 Mustard
was prized by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans for its ability
to enhance meats and fish. It has numerous properties. Pliny
Senior confirmed that " a cold and lazy woman can become,
after a few spoonfuls of mustard, an ideal wife!".
In a house, the seeds were supposed to chase away evil spirits…
Widespread in Burgundy since the Middle Ages, the denomination
"Dijon mustard" has been reserved since 1937 for
mustard made from a mixture using "bolted" products
- an operation which consists of removing impurities from
the mustard during sifting.
Dijon mustard is the mustard that Europeans eat most. Up
to one hundred tons of it are made every day. The company
Amora, one of the principal world producers, has created
a museum in Dijon which traces the history of this consumable,
the origins, culture, manufacture and exploitation of which
are often ignored.
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Cheeses
Burgundy
forms a platter of twenty-seven, sometimes very local, cheeses
with an inimitable taste, all of which can be discovered
whilst wandering. Worth mentioning are: "L'ami du chambertin",
"brillat savarin", "cîteaux" ,
"bouton de culotte", "cendré de vergy",
"soumaintrain", "palet de Bourgogne",
"petit creux", "saint-florentin" and,
of course, the famous soft Epoisses cheese which bears the
name of the Auxois village where it is made.
The Epoisses cheese was born in the 16th century. Oral tradition
credits the Cistercian monks with its creation. The farmers
from the surrounding area took over their secrets. The omnipresent
straining stones, north-easterly exposed dryers, maturing
storerooms and cellars in the rural buildings are witness
to incessant and intense cheese-making.
After
adding a little rennet to the milk, the cheese coagulation
takes place then the curds are put aside to drain. The turned-out
and salted cheeses are placed on racks in a cool and ventilated
drying room. When this operation has finished, the cheeses
are slowly matured. Each cheese is washed two or three times
a week with a water that is progressively enriched with
the dregs of Burgundy wine. Yeasts and fermenting agents
help bring out the fragrances and flavours and give the
cheese its unique orangey-red colour. In all, making an
Epoisses cheese takes five to eight weeks of maturing with
regular and attentive care.
Burgundy
cheeses
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Drifting
with the water's current
 With
over 1200 km of rivers and canals winding their way through
the vineyards, there are many opportunities to go cruising.
Burgundy has over 500 habitable boats, that need no particular
license and can be found in about thirty hiring bases, and
a dozen barges offering river cruises.
Thus one can fulfil one's childhood dream of being the captain
at the helm of one's own ship and sail leisurely through
locks to discover what is out there at one's own pace. One
can stop for as long as one wants and for those who remembered
to bring along bicycles, they can go out on excursions.
There is lots to see!
Meals are taken on board whilst navigating, but that does
not prevent a few gourmand stops in order to taste the famous
Burgundian cuisine, because river tourism is a real way
of life which one must, at some point in one's life, have
taken the time to appreciate.
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