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The Gourmets's corner
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Gascony is well known for its art of living and its sense of
conviviality... Now we don't need to present our Gascony food because of its very good
reputation. The "foie gras" of goose or of duck, the "confit", the "garbure", wines of
our country, the "Armagnac", the "Floc de Gascogne", the sweet taste of the "croustade"
and the "pastis gascon"...
Welcome to the land of Gers for the pleasure of your tastebuds.
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The "foie gras" |
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In the ancient Egypt, Egyptians used to appreciate the tasty flesh of
the geese. Then, Romans fed the geese with figs to reveal the taste qualities of their
livers.
In Gers, the tradition has always been kept and the breeding way is
always the same since the ancient Rome. |
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Now, the "foie gras" is a starter of choice, for a party meal, a birthday,
a celebration, all year long. |
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Goose or duck?
When tasting it, you will make a
difference between the goose liver with its subtlety and its tender melts in the mouth,
and the duck liver with its typical taste, more rustic. |
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To start a sumptuous meal or to welcome some friends, you will serve a
cooked "foie gras" in a jar following an ancient grandmother's recipe, or mid cooked in
"terrine" or fresh fried.
Even if the "foie gras" is prepared in a different way, we meditate,
closing the eyes to savour it. |
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The "confit"
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If there is a famous dish, this is of course the "confit". Its name
comes from its way of being prepared which consists of : first, putting for many hours
the noble parts of the goose or the duck in tha salt and then cooking them in their fat.
The "confit" is prepared in winter. |
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To savour it, you have to cook it in a frying pan or the hot oven, in a
dish until the skin is browned.
You will serve it with green beans, "sauté" patatoes, "cèpes"...
This is a coponent of the "cassoulet" that cannot be ignored. |
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The "magret" |
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This term which origin Gascony refers to the filet of the force-fed
goose to make the "foie gras" now takes part of the traditinnal cuisine.
We savour it hot, cooked on a barbecue or in the oven, with vegetables.
Moreover, we can eat it cold after salted it and dried under the natural light of the sun
following the way of the "jambon de pays". |
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The Gersois vineyard and the "Armagnac" |
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The history of the gersois vineyard is old because it comes up from the
Gallo-romain age. Today, the vineyard occupies essentially the west part of the
departement.
The soil, the climate and the ability give together to the gascony wines all
the richness and the diversity. |
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The "Armagnac" name :
It is divised into three zones of production which outlines takes
the exact shape of the vine leaf.
- Low-Armagnac
- Armagnac-Ténarèze
- High-Armagnac. |
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The mentions :
-"Three stars" is given to the Armagnac which is less one year canned in the wood.
-"V.S.O.P." ou " Réserve " is given to the Armagnacs of four years old and
canned in the wood.
-"Extra" "Napoléon" ou "Vieille Réserve" is given to the Armagnacs which
are five years old and canned in the wood.
-"Hors d'Age" is given to the Armagnacs which are ten years old at least. |
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The year concerns the date of the harvest of the wine to develop the brandy. |
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The "croustade" and the Gascony pastis |
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This is a traditinal pastry.
If its recipe is simple ( the Gascony pastis is made with flour, water, salt and the yolk
of the eggs ) its making demands the technical and the know-how. |
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The grandmothers had the secret and had transmitted it from generation to
generation because they' re the only ones to know how to stretch the pastry until it
becomes as thin and transparent as a sheet. |
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This dessert that you will find on most of the Gascony tables will permit you
to discover gathered perfumes of the apples and the "Armagnac". |
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