Home-cooking in SW France 🇫🇷

And a Basque Mac & Cheese

When I was in the Basque country of SW France I was fortunate enough to stay with my friends family.

Most of my travel lodging is spent in hotels etc so I was particularly excited to be able to see how a family in SW France cooks and eats at home.

Southwest France is known for duck, foie gras, legumes like Tarbais beans, local cows milk and sheeps milk cheeses, piment d’espellete (a powdered red pepper that carries a mild heat and wonderful fruitiness) and Jamon, to name but a few.

Breakfast

The first morning I walked into the kitchen for breakfast and my hosts Giles and Mariella offered me croissant or “chocolatine”. I looked down at a chocolate croissant and said “oh, pain au chocolat!”.

They quickly told me that “in SW France there is no pain au chocolat. It is chocolatine!”. I asked my friend quietly “it looks the same to me”.

“It is”, he replied, “but in Basque we call it this” with a big grin plastered on his face

Lesson learned. 😂

I opted for a savory breakfast which my friend recommended.

This was slices of delicious Jamon, fresh baguette from the boulangerie down the street which had the most delicious crust and interior crumb (for 1.14 Euro a loaf), thin slices of a local Basque cheese, pickled peppers (same as used on the Gilda, see previous post) and a cherry marmalade (which is also traditional for the area).

A slab of Breton butter was put on the table and I can still taste it melting off the warm, crusty but fluffy baguette.

Side note: when walking to get the baguette with my friend we passed a few boulangerie that I asked “what about here?” my friend replied <insert French accent> “the baguette there is shit, no better than supermarket. I take you to get the best one!” 😂

He was right.

As you can see on the Jamon, the fat and marbling is generous, gorgeous and delicious.

In case you were wondering, the kitchen of my hosts was equipped with a small but effective deli meat slicer. They don’t buy Jamon pre-sliced. When I asked Giles about the Jamon he got a big smile on his face and pulled out a slab of of it from the fridge which was only wrapped loosely with a clean dish cloth.

This became a daily routine of slicing jamon and enjoying it fresh off the blade. Any fat scraps are saved and rendered down to use in cooking or making omelette.

Also on hand was a thermomix (possibly my favorite home appliance), a deep fat fryer (more on that later!) and a pressure cooker. Opening the fridge I found treasures like duck fat (graisse canard), pickled peppers, boudin noir (blood sausage) and a variety of local cheeses plus lots of butter 😋

I really felt at home in this part of the world!

Boulangerie Breakfast

One morning we needed to leave for a full day in Basque wine country. On our way to meet my friends wine teacher we ran into a boulangerie to get a breakfast sandwich.

This is ultimate “grab and go”. The bakery smelled like heaven and rows of sandwiches and pastries were lined up ready to be scooped up and enjoyed by hungry patrons.

I went with the classic ham and cheese. ✅

Duck Dinner

This area of the world is legendary for the duck and foie gras raised. My friend told me we had to do a duck meal at home which I happily agreed to.

He went out and picked up Magret breast, Confit leg, Tenderloin Trim and Farci de Canard.

Every part of the duck is used in this part of the world. One to note is the Farci de Canard which is the neck of the duck. The meat is slowly cooked, shredded and then enriched with some foie gras (fattened duck/goose liver) then the mixture is stuffed back into the skin of the neck, making a natural mold and then canned or preserved.

It’s very rich. Think “duck butter” and all you need is a good baguette to smear it on and you’re in heaven.

In Basque if you see a bbq grill outside, it’s not. It’s a griddle or plancha and it’s used primarily for cooking duck. This is a great way to get crispy skin and not smoke out your house which doesn’t have a commercial grade exhaust system.

We got the duck breast going skin side down as well as the confit legs. Only at the end did we add the tenderloin strips which cook in less than a minute or so. Only salt and pepper were used and the fat that rendered out of the duck.

Remember that deep fat fryer in the kitchen? Yeah, there was duck fat frites to accompany the feast which were dipped into chilled bearnaise 🤤

Recap:

We started with a fresh Charentais melon that was perfectly ripe, juicy, sweet and aromatic; along the Farci de Canard on baguette.

Then the main event: Duck 3 ways, duck fat frites with dipping sauces.

One important note. While the meal was rich, it never felt heavy or disgusting.

If you’re thinking the meal was over you are wrong 😂

I didn’t realize dessert was still on the way.

Pastis Landais

Pastis means “leavened dough”, is a bread that is extremely light but with a tight crumb. Almost like a yeasted coffee cake. Anywho, it’s a specialty of Landes close by. It has a moderate-light sweetness. Of course my hosts offered to pour over some freshly made creme anglaise to which I said “yes!”.

This was a fun and stellar meal. Cooking outside with Giles and helping Mariella prep some of the potatoes etc was so enjoyable and felt like I was part of the family.

The meal was enjoyed outside as the sun was starting to set in a temp of low 70’s F.

Basque Daube

The week I was in Basque was during the Fete de Madeleine. This is when the famous Corrida (bull fights) are held which is a long standing tradition in Basque country.

After the bulls have lost their fight, the meat is processed, aged and then sold to locals in the area. No Waste.

One of the classic preparations to use in the area is Daube. Which is basically a french braised stew using the bull meat. The sauce is enriched with red wine and then the meat is slowly simmered for hours and hours. The meat has more density and less fat so it takes a slower and longer cook, but the flavor is very beefy.

Mariella made a delicious delicious Daube that, while finishing, put some potatoes into the pressure cooker that came out fluffy and tender then lacquered them with the cooking liquid.

We first started with boudin noir slices, pickled onions and Dijon mustard (of course with baguette on the side).

Blood sausage isn’t for everyone. I’ve had some really bad versions that I did not enjoy, this boudin noir was really nice and the tangy pickled onions and sharp Dijon mustard played perfectly well together.

As you can see the beef, potatoes and gravy were heavenly. More baguette to make sure no gravy was wasted.

To finish, a simple and light apple tart that is another specialty of the area 🙌

The overriding concept from all the food I was able to try with this wonderful family was: simplicity, good quality ingredients, cooked well.

I was ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over the food and to them, it was just normal. Quite fascinating really.

Grocery Store

Before signing off this post, we popped into a grocery store on the way to a beach. I quickly stalked the aisles and snapped some pics.

Loads of pork with different regional spices blends, duck cuts of every kind, preserved foie gras… I felt like a kid in a candy store.

Upon checkout I was reminded “the grass is always greener on the other side” when I saw the guy in front of me checking out with a jar of Old El Paso guacamole 🤮 😂 . You wouldn’t be caught dead with this in the US and maintain your dignity. In that part of the world though, for him, it’s probably an exotic find.

---

Stay tuned for the next recipe: Basque Mac & Cheese. This was a special request from my friend to make for his nephews and family. I took a great mac and cheese and then used Basque ingredients and it came out delicious.

Will also be posting about my eating out in Basque after that plus more sauces and tasty bites to follow!