Page 216 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Great Places to Stay in Europe

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2 1 6 FR A N CE

Château de Brélidy at Brélidy in Brittany, page 227, a severe exterior, but relaxing inside
converted medieval Le eastwards you find the ham, conger eel and monkfish
Cagnard at Haut-de-Cagnes sausages, stout stews and to make bouillabaisse, the
(page 254). tangy cheeses of Alsace. In king of fish soups.
the west the pork, cream Entire books have been
FOOD AND DRINK and calvados of Normandy devoted to the wine of
are neighbours to the single French vineyards. All
RENCH COOKING is Breton crêpes, seafood and that can be said here is that
Fprobably the subtlest, lamb raised on the coastal prices range from the
most varied and most salt marshes. stratospheric to rock-bottom;
imaginative in the world. Moving southwest, the foie and that it is a matter of
It is not necessarily gras, truffles, confits and pride for most restaurateurs
elaborate, but the care taken walnut oil of Périgord, the to offer excellent value
to choose, season and wine-based cookery of house wine (vin du patron)
flavour the principal Bordeaux, and the shellfish from the lower end of the
ingredients can lift dishes and lobsters of Arcachon scale. Do try them, if only
into the realms of the and Marennes eventually to give your purse a rest.
extraordinary. give way to the robust and France has been listing
In the late 1980s and early often highly-spiced dishes and classifying wine
1990s, some gastronomes of the Basque southwest. production areas for nearly
felt that French food had Lyon can claim to be 200 years. There are three
lost its edge, at any rate the gastronomic centre of principal classifications:
compared with the new France: in this fortunate city, appellation contrôlée (AC),
cuisines of Britain, Australia Bresse chicken, Charolais which guarantees origin
and the US Pacific Rim. beef, wild fowl from the and a certain standard,
Nowadays, our impression Dombes, smoked sausage vin délimité de qualité
is that French food is re- and freshwater fish from supérieure (VDQS), whichSS
inventing itself. Franche-Comté and the Jura distinguish good wines of
The range of styles is join forces with a host of local interest; and vin de
stupendous – in the north local cheeses such as pays, which is the humblest
the coastal waters yield Vacherin, Cantal and grade of all.
huge platters of fruits de Fourme d’Ambert. Virtually all the best wine-
mer, and travelling The south of France has producing areas are
the brightest palette of dominated by their rivers.
colours: in the markets, The Marne and the topmost
aubergines, courgettes, reaches of the Seine flow
asparagus, huge tomatoes, through Champagne; the
peppers, peaches and Loire through the vineyards
cherries contrast with black producing the dry whites of
olives, walnuts, braids of Muscadet in the west, and
garlic and wild mushrooms. of Pouilly and Sancerre in
The basis of many a dish is the east, and the sweeter
lamb from the Camargue, wines of Touraine and
or red mullet and red Anjou at the centre. The
Cuq-en-Terrasses, page 252 snapper – combined with Charente cuts Cognac in