A while ago we did a series on olive oil and it seems only fair, that butter also get’s a chance. Let’s begin with  a brief introduction to get it all into perspective. The Swiss, the Scandinavians, the Dutch, the Belgians and the Brits all make excellent butter as do the French who produce the magnificent Echiré butter. It was first made around 9,000 – 8,000 BC in and around Mesopotamia, probably from sheep and goat’s milk because there weren’t any cows roaming around yet.  Whilst cows had been domesticated in Iraq around that time, they

weren’t common and milking not an option. Butter was made, then, as it still is in some remote parts of Africa, by half-filling a goat skin with milk, blowing air into it, sealing it and then hanging the skin with ropes on a tripod to be rocked about until butter was formed and they would have discovered this when

they transported milk for personal use. The Mediterranean countries knew of the existence and use of butter, but they didn’t use it, probably for two reasons

1. they used olive oil and
2. it may have been impractical given their lifestyle and weather.

However, there were mixed opinions on butter – the Greek poet Anaxandrides called the Thracians ” boutyrophagoi” (butter eaters) and he wasn’t being nice about it. However,  Pliny the Roman, on the other hand, felt that it was a most elegant food eaten by barbarous nations.  Ironic that it was those very barbaric nations that were partly responsible for the destruction of his own seemingly sophisticated one. (The other reason was the total moral decline of the Romans) During the Renaissance, the Scandinavian countries became the most significant butter exporters and thanks, probably, to their cooler climates but also to superior feeding, extraordinarily good vegetation and good old-fashioned animal husbandry it thrived.  They started exporting significantly around the 12th century. After Rome’s demise butter was commonly used throughout Europe even though not considered a luxury item then. As with all good things, the peasants ate it first and it took some time before the upper classes realised what they were missing.  The Brits, in particular, took to eating butter very enthusiastically and for this reason I include here one of their famous and rather delicious bread and butter puddings.

BRITISH BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

This 17th century pudding must not be confused with Bread Pudding which is popular in many other countries around the world. At the same time that bread and butter pudding was born, marrow pudding (or whitepot) and which is made with bone marrow instead of butter, was also very popular.

Ingredients

• 400 g unsalted butter
• 125 g sultana’s or seedless raisins
• 50 ml good brandy
• 10 thick slices white bread, crusts removed
• 150 ml marmalade (apricot jam, optional)
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 60 g demerara sugar
• 500 ml thick cream
• 250 ml milk
• 2 lemons, zest only
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Method

Preheat oven to 200 C

• Soak the sultanas in the brandy, warming them in microwave for 1 – 2 minutes before you add them to the pudding.
• Grease baking dish well with butter.
• Sandwich the bread, butter and marmalade together and make sure that you have a little butter left to sprinkle over the top later.
• Quarter or halve the sandwiches and arrange them along the middle of the pudding dish in whichever way you prefer.
• (You can also cut the bread in half diagonally, spread butter and jam and not sandwich them, but it makes for a pretty messy beginning).
• Sprinkle over the sultanas and brandy.
• Whisk the egg yolks and egg together with the sugar, spices, zest and pour in the cream and milk to this mixture.
• Pour this over the triangles of bread and let them stand for about 10 minutes before putting it into the oven.
• Dot lavishly with butter and sugar and allow to bake for about 45 minutes until the custard has set and puffed up slightly.
• Allow to rest and serve with whipped cream or custard.

BEARNAISE SAUCE

Bearnaise sauce was first made around 1830 by Collinet in a restaurant in the Saint-Germain-en-Laye called the Pavillon Henri IV.  However, a recipe, similar to this appeared in La Cuisine des villes et des campagnes which was published in 1818.

Ingredients

• ½ cup white wine vinegar
• 2 shallots, grated
• 2 tbs fresh tarragon and chervil, finely chopped
• 1 tiny sprig of thyme
• ½ tsp white pepper
• 4 egg yolks
• ½ cup boiling water, cooled to room temperature
• 1 cup warm butter, soft enough to break into little knobs

Method

• Mix the vinegar, shallots, pepper and tarragon in a small pot.
• Bring to boil and simmer to reduce by two thirds.
• Remove from stove, allow to cool slightly, and beat egg yolks in one at a time, whisking constantly.
• Add the water and make sure that it is completely incorporated. Keep pot over very low heat whilst starting to whisk in the butter, a little know at a time, ensuring that the butter is the same temperature as the egg mixture.
• Strain the sauce through a sieve if you like.
• Check and correct the seasoning and adjust the salt to taste
• Béarnaise can be made in a blender.

In the North of Europe butter was manufactured rather differently.  Packed into barrels (firkins) and buried in peat bogs for years, it developed a unique flavour during the ageing process and strangely, remained edible. The surroundings were cool, airless and the antispecic acidity of the bog preserved it.  The Irish did this regularly and if you go to the Irish National museum you will find  a sample.  It looks hideous but apparently no putrefaction has occurred at all.

BUTTERED CHALLA

Ingredients

The yeast mix

• 275ml warm water
• 1 sachet yeast
• 275g strong white flour

The dough

• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 500g strong white flour
• 125ml milk
• 2 level tbsp caster sugar
• 1½ tsp salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg, beaten for brushing

Method

• Beat the yeast ingredients in a bowl, then cover and leave for a couple of hours.
• In a large bowl, rub the butter through the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
• Bring the milk to a boil, set aside until lukewarm and dissolve the sugar and salt in it.
• Beat in the yolks well and whisk into the yeast mix, then add to the buttery flour and mix. Cover, leave for 10 minutes and then lightly knead the dough on a oiled work surface for about a minute. Repeat twice every 10 minutes, cover the dough for 30 minutes.
• Divide the dough into three.
• Roll each piece into a sausage and plait together into a snug loaf.
• Preheat oven to 220 C.
• Line a tray with non-stick paper, put the loaf on top, cover loosely with cling wrap and allow to double in size.
• Brush the loaf with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional).
• Bake for 30 – 35 minutes.

BAKKERSKLOOF BUTTER BISCUITS

Ingredients

• 250 g butter, softened
• 250 g sugar
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 500 g flour
• 5 g ground cardamom
• 5 g dried rosemary, ground
• 7 g baking powder
• 60 g icing sugar

Method

• Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
• As soon as it’s light add the honey and spices and mix it well.
• Add the flour and baking powder mixture to the creamed butter mixture, incorporating everything very well.
• Divide the dough into about 8 portions and roll out into slim logs.
• Place them about 6 cm apart on an ungreased baking tray and then bake them at about 200 C until they are a pale golden brown colour for about 25 minutes.
• Cut them into 2 cm slices and let them cool down on a rack.
• Dust with icing sugar.

CAPE  MALAY BUTTER BISCUITS

Ingredients

• 250 g soft butter
• 7,5 ml ordinary sunflower oil
• 500 ml yellow sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, beaten well
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 cup corn flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

• Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and oil together until light and fluffy at which point the beaten egg is added.
• Beat in the flour and the bicarbonate of soda and mix well until a stiff dough is formed.
• Roll this out onto a floured surface and cut out which ever shape you like.
• Traditionally a diamond shape is used and each biscuit is decorated with candied angelica and cherries.
• Place on a greased baking tray and bake for 200 C for ten minutes.

Cool on wire racks.

The Scythians, a barbaric group of nomadic tribes, were the first people to make butter but they used it used chiefly for medicinal purposes. I use the word ‘barbaric’ not without admiration for them because they were no more barbaric than many of the supposedly sophisticated nations of today! Both men and women were extremely talented horsemen living according to a strict moral code and rigid national discipline – something practically unknown today – they were, also, incredibly talented goldsmiths and jewellers. Their legal code, learnt when

the tribes were still living in Mesopotamia was a sophisticated one and very effective. So important was the manufacture of butter to them, that a specific category of slaves were appointed to do only that, churn butter According to legend the slaves had their eyes removed so that nothing would distract them from churning the butter. The Scythians (image below) left Mesopotamia (current day Iran) to live in the far north of Russia. In France the Gauls were the first old Europeans to use butter for cooking, having been introduced to it by the Normans who had, in turn, learnt how to make it from the Danes. Before butter was

produced and distributed in the format we know today, it was marketed locally and produced at home. The Gauls brought it (often coloured with marigold flowers), to the markets wrapped in herbs or sorrel leaves. It would then be stored in earthernware pots and covered with salted water for preservation purposes. In time the colouring was forbidden because even in the days of the Gauls, butter’s production was regulated and, for example, could not be sold near fish stalls.  Later, the Catholic Church forbade the use of butter during Lent, unless of course a generous contribution was made to the “butter chest” which, thanks to people like the Archbishop Georges d’Ambroise provided funds to build one of the most exquisite cathedrals in France, the Rouen Cathedral. The tomb of Richard Lionheart, image below, can be found there with only his heart buried in it.  His bowels were buried inside the Chateau of Châlus

Chabrol from whose walls the crossbow bolt that killed him was fired and his bodily remains were buried next to his father at the Fontevraud Abbey. Should anyone want to visit it, he’s the one lying on top of his tomb with his name on the side.  That  his bowels, specifically, had to be at Châlus-Chabrol does seem a bit macabre but who are we to sit in judgement of those that came before us?  To say that the French don’t waste is clearly an understatement – considering how effectively Richardt Lionheart was dealt with. Unlike in Africa and Asia where butter was (and still  is) made from the milk of buffalo, camel, goats and donkeys, the French favoured cows, sheep and goats milk.  Butter, as the French know it today, has only been made in this way for a little over 100 years. Thanks, to the phylloxera that destroyed the vines in France, many devastated wine farmers had no option but to turn into dairy farmers.  Being French, they excelled at it and the first cooperative was opened in 1888 at which point pasteurization and selective breeding flourished because the Atlantic coast’s damp weather was perfect for the growth of lush vegetation so necessary for feed. In Echiré (north east of Niort) the local inhabitants founded

a cooperative in 1894 and to this day milk is collected from the local farms by their own trucks. As soon as the cream has been separated, milk ferment is added (1 to 2 %) and then left to mature, biologically, for about 18 hours (give or take a few) at 14 C.  It’s beaten in massive, strong, teak churns which then break down the membranes of the little fat globules so that the butter fat is released and coagulates into even bigger lumps which are called the butter grains.  As soon as the grains are the size of peas, the almost fat free buttermilk is drained off and whatever remains of the buttermilk is rinsed off with fresh spring water to prevent it from tasting like cheese. It’s kneaded so that the grains produce a uniform mass with approximately a 16 percent moisture content. The finished Echiré butter is wrapped in gold foil and put in its characteristic small basket – the taste of this glorious butter is unforgettable. Whilst there are dozens of incredibly good butters in France from places like Normandy, Charentes-Poitou and a many other areas -  it is the Echiré that one never forgets. Read the book, Molecular Gastronomy by Hervé This – there are a few chapters in which he deals with butter, providing fascinating information and dispelling myths and  misconceptions on the subject. Have any of you ever wondered why butter, containing at least 15% water, could seem to be a solid?  He explains it so simply, and I quote:

“Because of the crystals that increase with cooling and interlock with one another; Scraped with a knife, butter seems to soften, not because it is heated but because the crystals are separated. To have an idea how these discoveries can be used in cooking, try testing split crystallization yourself. Melt the butter and skim off the solids as they form, just as the physical chemists did. You will then be able to manufacture your own butters by mixing proportions of solids and liquids and in this way obtain the specific texture appropriate to a particular dish.” Below our own interpretations of the French recipes and in most cases, altered them as we saw fit.

BEURRE à L’AIL (GARLIC BUTTER)

Ingredients

• 100 g butter
• 4 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• Olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

• Pound garlic, parsley and zest with the butter in a mortar.
• Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and a little olive oil to create a smooth butter.

BEURRE AU BASILIC (FRESH BASIL BUTTER) Ingredients

• 100 g butter
• Fresh basil leaves to taste
• Olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Cayenne pepper to taste

Method

• Pound and blend as above

There are many other possibilities, like saffron (au safran), black olive (aux olives), anchovy (aux anchois), almond (d’amandes), crab or prawn (de crabe ou de cervettes), hazlenut (de noisettes), Montepellier (de Montpellier), lobster (de homard), red peppers (aux poivrons rouge) or a myriad of others.   Use your common sense, but should you require assistance, all recipes are available on request.  I recently dug out this Catalan recipe and reminded myself of a visit to Perpignon where I swore I wanted to live for the rest of my life.  One of the most astonishing deserts in Catalonia is the mei i mato (goats milk cream cheese sprinkled with honey) which requires no recipe and so to close, an unusual

TATIN D’AUBERGINES AUX POMMES

Ingredients

• 4 apples (golden delicious),
• peeled and cored & sliced into 12 pieces
• 2 aubergines (eggplants), peeled & thinly sliced
• 100 g butter
• 100 g sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• Frozen flaky pastry

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200
• Thaw the pastry dough.
• Melt the butter in a round non-stick baking pan and then add the sugar gradually allowing it to caramelize.
• Remove from the heat and arrange in alternative slices of apple and aubergines in a circle over the caramel on the bottom of the pan.
• Scatter small pieces of butter over this and then make a second layer of apple and eggplant.
• Place in the oven for about 15 minutes until lightly browned and roll the pastry dough over the tart.
• Brush with egg yolk and bake for 35 minutes.
• Turn upside down and serve so that the pastry forms the base.

The types of butter commonly produced in France are:

• Farmhouse butter – usually made from unpasteurized milk and naturally matured cream. Always prepared in the area of origin and under the strictest of strict hygiene controls. My absolute favourite butter.
• Pasteurized butter – this is made in factories, officially monitored and not my favourite.
• Dairy butter – also pasteurized but not good enough for the Ministry of Agriculture’s approval and is sold as table butter or cooking butter. Watch out for these.
• Sweet butter – this is made from creams with low acidity and is a fragile and uncommon butter. It does not keep well at all!
• EEC butter - this butter is purchased by the governments when too much butter is produced in Europe. It is deep-frozen for no more than a year and placed on the market when demand is high and the prices are then lower than the cheapest butter. There is nothing wrong with it except that it will not keep for more than a week.
• Imported butter – usually from Denmark or Holland, it is excellent butter and usually whiter than the French butter. The country of origin must always be indicated as this is a legal requirement.
• Restored butter – made from really bad quality cream, reblended with bicarbonate of soda for deacidification and is very rare. If you see it, avoid it.
• Salted butter – this contains about 1,5 to 2 g of butter per 100 g. It actually improves both taste and texture of the food when used in cooking.
• Regional butter – produced only in the specific regions using cream from the local dairy cows, thus preserving and ensuring distinctive flavours, textures and colours.
• Concentrated butter - again known as cooking butter and containing 96% butterfat and a low moisture content. Can be used for frying and it does not decompose at high temperatures. It keeps well.

Butter (maslyanitsa) and milk are an important part of the Russian food culture – so much so that Maslyanitsa is also the name of an annual festival celebrating the advent of summer. From Moscow to St. Petersberg summer is welcomed with this festival just before lent every year for a week. On the Monday the festival kicks off and blini (pancakes) with honey, caviar, fresh cream and loads of butter take pride of place. Superstition holds that the more butter there is, the more sun will shine on Mother Russia. In Uzbek, Bashkir and Kirgiz,

Russians still drink mares’ and donkeys’ milk and which they turn into kumyss, a powerful fermented spirit, often served with huge blobs of butter floating in it. In Marco Polo’s memoirs it’s recorded that Genghis Khan kept a stable of 10,000 white horses for the production of  Kumyss in 1298, so it seems a good deal of butter was eaten at the time! India consumes the most butter in the world, followed by the United States and with Russia in third place.  Nowadays butter is made primarily from cream and in order to continue the discussion, we need to have a look at the milk.

In Tartarstan and the Buryat and Kalmyk Republics, ewe’s and goat’s milk is chiefly used because the increase in fodder prices have seen dairy cow stocks reduce by 25% since 1991. On the positive side traditional milk processing in the smaller villages continues – where sieved milk is sealed tightly in barrels and hung in a well on the ends of ropes. Fat collects and forms the cream which, once skimmed, is churned into butter whilst the skimmed milk is drunk or processed into blancmanges and curd cheese, whilst  the whey is fed to the calves. Until the 16th century they made smetana from buttermilk because sweet cream and butter were unknown  (at the time, anyway. It must be said that the creamy, silky Russian buttermilk doesn’t taste anything like the buttermilk found in Europe or Scandinavia. Natural smetana is enjoyed at breakfast as a staple, added to borscht, shchi, blini and pelmeni.  In the old days of the mighty USSR housewives made their own yoghurt, kefir and cream, but since the 1990′s farmers markets and thriving dairy businesses in the cities have almost taken over.  If you want to try the prostokvash and varenets you would have to go into the country, though.  When they make curd cheese, Russian housewives do not dump the whey but used it to make kisel (cold soup) with berries or for jellies, kvass and so on.

MILK PRODUCTS

Butter (maslo). The best butter in Russia comes from the Vologda area. It’s a bright sunflower yellow and with 82,5% fat, it’is much higher in fat than most European butters! Salted Russian butter is quite possibly the tastiest on the continent.

KEFIR

A delicious tangy drink, especially good in summer, this pasteurized milk is charged with kefir mould and depending on how long it is charged, a drink with up to 2% alcohol is formed.

SMETANA

Fresh, full cream milk is set aside in a flat bowl for about 15 hours to enable the fat to rise. Buttermilk is added to the skimmed cream to sour it and when the jug is full it is whipped, heated briefly and put in a clean rinsed container in a cool place – used in a variety of dishes and piled on top of very sweet cakes, it is worth traveling to Russia for this treat.

YOGHURT

High fat milk is heated for about 10 minutes to just under boiling point to kill bacteria and then cooled so that yoghurt cultures can be added whilst stirring. Stiff competition for the Greeks whose yoghurt I have always listed as my personal ‘best of the best’.

TVOROG (soft curd cheese)

The milk is allowed to stand for at least 2 days until it is thick, then it’s heated at 30 C for 30 minutes until curds and whey are formed.

VARENETS, PROSTOKVASHA AND RYASHENKA

Milk is boiled, poured into a clay pot, left overnight, mixed with smetana and then reduced over heat. It’s super high in fat and tastes of roasted chestnuts at Christmas.

TVOROZHNIKI (aka Syrniki)

Ingredients

• 400 g soft curd cheese
• 100 g soft butter
• 200 g sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 60 sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch salt
• Butter for frying
• Smetana and jam to serve

Method

• Mix all the ingredients together (with the exception of the butter which you will use for frying) very well.
• Roll out onto a floured board until it is about 1 ½ cm thick and cut out round cakes with a glass (or a scone cutter).
• Fry in butter on both sides and serve with sour cream and jam.

SHARLOTKA S YABLOKAMI
(Stirred apple butter cake)

Ingredients

• 500 g cooking apples, peeled & very finely diced
• 6 large eggs
• 200 g caster sugar
• 200 g cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 4 cloves, ground
• 2 tablespoons of raisins soaked in a little brandy
• Butter and fresh breadcrumbs to line the inside of your cake pan

Method

Pre-heat oven to 170 C

• Mix breadcrumbs with sufficient butter and line the bottom and the sides of the pan well.
• Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and foamy and sugar has completely dissolved. Sift in flour mixed with baking powder and mix in apples as well.
• Fill the lined cake pan with the cake batter, bake for about an hour and test with a skewer.
• (Should cake get brown to quickly – because of the butter – cover with foil and continue baking).
• Serve with lashings of brandy butter sauce and whipped cream.

HALVA

Ingredients

• 200 g clarified butter
• 250g ground sesames
• 250 g whole wheat flour
• 200 g runny honey

Method

• Toss the flour in the honey until it is gold.
• Mix with the honey and then fry for 6 minutes.
• Spread on a piece of marble and cut into squares.
• If you feel like it, add 50 g of pistachio’s – delicious!

And finally, pumpkin pancakes, Ukraine style:

NALYSNKY Z HARBUSA

Ingredients

• 1 kg pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed and finely grated
• 200 g self raising flour
• 2 large eggs
• Salt to taste
• Butter to fry
• 200 g melted butter
• 100 g honey
• 50 g poppy seeds

Method

• Combine grated pumpkin with everything except the melted butter, the honey and the poppy seeds.
• The batter can be quite crumbly, image above, and if you like, add a spot of milk for smoothness
• Warm honey and mix into melted butter.
• Stir in poppy seeds.
• Fry as thin as possible, remembering these are pancakes and once completed serve with melted butter, honey and poppy sauce.

There’s no doubt that Vologda is Russia’s butter capital – known for flax and lace, it’s particularly the butter for which it is famous and the delicious light, creamy Vologda butter (Vologodskoye maslo) undoubtedly ranks as the best of Russian butter. In the 12th century butter was first made here and the famous ‘melted butter’ became an excellent source of income for the city. Homemade butter was consumed untilt he beginning of the 1800′s with an ever increasing demand resulting in the phasing out of traditional butter making

equipment and the introduction of efficient, new industrial milk processing plants like the Vologda gubernia set up in 1835. Since 1881 only three dairies in this region have been making Volgodskoye maslo with it’s luxurious 82, 5% butterfat content. Vologda butter owes a debt of gratitude to Nikolai Vereschagin who noticed the sour taste of certain butters and developed a process to separate the sweet cream from the milk twice, instead of the standard once. Real butter can be recognised by the little picture of a milkmaid next to the name, Vologodskoye maslo as well as the certificate of authenticity. Look for this mark of authenticity before you buy because there have been attempts to sell really disgusting surplus government butter under the same name! If you find Vologdoskoye in birch wood casks, you’ll know you hit gold. The advent of the industrial revolution sadly encouraged production of butter to alter in such

a way that small landowners and farmers became part of a new system that enforced cooperation between, literally, thousands of peasants, locals and the dairies with the foreign merchants owning everything.  Vologda then became the leading producer of butter and today, although not the biggest, still the best. The advent of World War 1 and communism did no favours for butter or butter production but fortunately today, slowly, things are getting back to normal.  What really counts, to my mind, is that farmers markets are once again delivering excellent butter despite the onslaught of margarine. Matters have improved markedly since the days of communism and increased money has enabled Russians to embrace proud culinary traditions once again.

Excellent butters choices to try are:

• Vologodskoe
• Krest’yanskoe, a Soviet-era brand made by various manufacturers but the most popular brand in Russia, more so even than Vologodskoe
• Derevenskoe (from Petrosoyuz)
• Domik v derevne

Interesting and varied culinary traditions in this massive part of the world, for example, the butter ‘desert’ of the Yakut are now shared with all of us. The Yakut, an ethnic group who live in the Northern part of Siberia in the coldest part of the world, make Chokoon. For this a soft, creamy butter is mixed alternatively with warm and cold milk to make a smooth puree. To this they add berries and sugar, spoon it into small dishes and freeze it by placing it in the frost. It is eaten crushed into small pieces. Below the Lokschen Kugel created by the  Jews in the ghetto’s of East Galicia which is, today, part of the Ukraine. Notwithstanding the hell in which they lived, they always managed to find joy in life and thus in food – this recipe is, without doubt, a testimony to the strength of character so typical of this nation.

LOKSHEN KUGEL

Ingredients

• 500 g egg noodles, usually ribbons
• 5 eggs
• 250 ml cream
• 180 g sugar
• 150 g butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 200 g raisins
• 2 sour apples, peeled and chopped finely
• 200 g walnuts or almonds, roughly chopped
• More butter for greasing generously

Method

• Boil the noodles in lightly salted water, drain, rinse well and set aside.
• Fry apples in a greased pan just until they soften, remove.
• Beat the eggs and sugar and add cinnamon, nutmeg, a pinch of salt, cream, honey and the softened butter.
• Mix very well and pour into the noodles with apples, nuts and raisins making sure that everything is mixed very well.
• Place in a well-greased ovenproof dish and bake at 160 C for an hour.
• Allow to rest for 10 minutes if serving hot.
• Serve hot or cold.

The origin of paprika has been hotly debated so often that a discussion at this stage may seem pointless – but what happens after the dried sweet peppers are ground?  We know that capsicum annuum seeds arrived in Spain for the first time in 1493 when the doctor on Christopher Columbus’ ship returned from Central America and managed them to grow them. At first the pepper plants were used to decorate the baroque gardens of the nobility in Europe and a while later arrived in Turkey via one of the trade routes, from whence it went to Hungary and the Balkans. Cultivation spread quickly into Europe and Asia.

Today, Mexico is still one of the biggest pepper producers in the world, if not the biggest, with Hungary is the biggest in Europe. The Capsicum fruit, regardless of colour, can be used to make the paprika that has now become so widely used in a  large variety of dishes throughout the world the production can hardly keep up.  Known as pimentón in Spain, colorau in Portugal and chiltoma in Nicaragua it is used mainly as a seasoning and often for it’s breathtakingly beautiful colour – there are both hot and sweet paprikas. In Spain, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Portugal it’s often used in sausage makin, but also can be smoked with for phenomenal flavour.

Hungarians cook in kettles similar to those used by the nomadic Asiatic Magyars, who also inspired their famous goulashes and there are varying theories on how the seeds got there:  some believe the seeds came from the Turks (who were occupying Hungary at the time) who grew the plants under strict guard in the central courtyards of their homes. Ordinary Hungarians were threatened with decapitation should they plant the pepper plants themselves, but I’m dubious.  It seems more likely that Hungarian clans or prisoners, fleeing back to Hungary,  stole seeds from the Turks and then planted them upon their return to Hungary.  Szeged and Kalocsa are the centers of Hungarian paprika culture and are situated in the southern part of the great plain – very close to the Balkans.  In 1932 Albert Szent-Gyorghyi discovered that capsicum pepper had as much as nine times the vitamin C as tomatoes by weight – note that high heat will remove the vitamin C from the peppers with the result that the naturally dried peppers will contain more Vitamin C than commercially dried peppers, that most probably contain very little.

Judging by the local cookbooks, it was only towards the end of the 1800’s that paprika became popular in Hungarian cooking and in 1879 Auguste Escoffier introduced paprika to the rest of Europe at the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo. Because paprika has a very high sugar content, it burns easily and gives a brutally bitter taste so be careful not to use it in a direct heat situation.  Keep correctly in cool cupboards and you’ll be able to use it for up to six months – after that, discard it.  Peppers are ground between stones and steel cylinders in what they call a “closed system” so that the essential oils that are released can give colour and taste.  Because of the high sugar content, there is a slight caramelization during the grinding process that adds to the taste and if the taste isn’t quite right, the millers add some seeds to the pods beforehand. They rely purely on experience for this process as there is no way to judge accurately (and a mistake here could destroy and entire batch).  Once the pepper is ground, laboratory checks have to be carried out, the paprika tasted and then put into bags and stamped.  In the last century the Palfy brothers from Szeged started grinding the pods without stalks and seeds, producing the varieties of paprika now available and roughly categorized as follows:

• Special Quality (Különleges) – mildest & reddest with divine aroma;
• Delicate (Édes csemege) – light to dark red, mild with a rich flavour;
• Exquisite Delicate (Csemegepaprika) – mild red with pungent aroma;
• Pungent Exquisite Delicate – (Csípős Csemege, Pikáns) - exactly as the name says;
• Rose (Rózsa) like the name but pungent;
• Noble Sweet (Édesnemes) - this is the one we all know;
• Half-Sweet (Félédes) – a medium pungency (you know it’s there);
• Hot (Erős) – light brown & the hottest of all;

It is interesting to note that capsaicin is used in treating of rheumatism in cream form to stimulate blood supply. It is also an excellent natural antibiotic.

GULYÁSLEVES (Goulash soup)

Ingredients

• 1,25 kgs beef neck or shoulder
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons butter (the authentic recipe calls for fat)
• ½ teaspoon caraway seeds (you can grind them)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 1 medium carrot, sliced
• 2 sweet peppers, sliced and seeded
• 1 large tomato, peeled and cut into cubes
• 2 whole celery stalks, thinly sliced, leaves included
• 500 g baby potatoes, halved
• Pasta pieces to taste (pasta is extremely important in Hungarian cuisine)
• Oil for frying

Method

• Cut the meat into cubes.
• Fry onion in oil I in large pot or a kettle until transparent.
• Add the caraway seeds and crushed garlic, remove from the heat and then add the paprika, the meat and salt to taste.
• Should you find it necessary, add a splash of water.
• To this you add all the vegetables, excepting the celery that’s added half way through the cooking process.
• Pour over one and a half liters of water or vegetable stock and simmer on a medium to low heat for about twenty minutes until the meat is tender to the fork.
• Now add the pasta and cook for another five minutes.
• Check and correct the taste.
• Serve hot with fresh white bread, dried hot paprika pods and kardaka (local red wine) or a Burgundy Pinot Noir.

PAPRIKA CHICKEN (Parikás csirke)

Ingredients

• 1 Free range chicken (about 1,5 – 2kg), divided into pieces with skin
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground paprika (medium)
• salt to taste
• 2 sweet peppers, sliced and seeded
• 1 large tomato, peeled and diced
• 500 ml sour cream
• oil for frying

Method

• Fry onion until transparent in olive oil.
• Remove from heat and cover with the paprika (there is enough fat from the chicken and add salt.
• Add all the rest of the vegetables and cook the chicken over very low heat in it’s own juices, taking care not to let it burn.
• It should take about 20 – 25 mintes.
• Just before the end stir in the sour cream and cook for about 4 – 5 minutes.
• Check and correct the taste.
• Serve with dumplings and a good Burgundy Pinot Noir.

As can be expected there are literally thousands and thousands of recipes calling for paprika in the Hungarian cuisine. No-one knows who discovered the need to combine paprika with fat and onions for optimum taste, but who cares? At one stage during the Napoleonic wars when the cook was running out of provisions, he realized he had potatoes and pasta left for a meal. Having to come up with something quickly, the Hungarians serving in the imperial army came up with this because they had a spice that could colour and flavour the simplest of food.

GRANÁNÁTOS KOCKA (March of the grenadiers)

Ingredients

• 600 g potatoes, peeled, cut into small dice
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped finely
• 3 1/2 tablespoons oil
• 1 heaped teaspoon mild, sweet paprika
• Salt to taste (remember potatoes draw a lot of salt)
• 400 g large, square, flat pasta shapes

Ingredients

• Fry the onions in oil, remove from the heat and add the paprika, combining it well with the onions.
• Add salt to taste.
• Pour over a little water, return to heat and cook until it is soft but still lumpy.
• Make sure it doesn’t burn and if it gets too dry, obviously add water.
• the pasta separately and once cooked ‘al dente’, add to the potatoes, combining it well.
• Check and correct the seasoning.
• Heat the mixture again taking care that it does not stick to the pan and serve hot with sour gherkins.
• It is usually served at the winter meal accompanied by Lescó (a dish of peppers, tomatoes and paprika) and these days also meat.
• It was created from need and passed through the generations to remain popular to this day.

Cassoulet originated in the 100 years at the time of the siege of Castelnauday. To invigorate the exhausted battle weary men of the town before their final battle against the English, the women prepared a huge meal using up the last of their stocks of food since they felt, quite rightly, that without victory, they would all die anyway. If one takes into account how cruel the English were at the time, they were probably quite right.  The cassoulet of Castelnaudary consists of haricot beans, sausage of Toulouse, goose or duck confit, a pork, pork rinds and the duck or goose fat.

The name is derived from the cassole, a terracotta dish that gave it’s name to the cassoulet. Today the cassoulet is a officially made from haricot beans, goose, herbs and  golden crumb crust that’s probably the most important thing about the thing. The cassoulet from the Languedoc is the official one and is made with 70% Spanish haricot beans,  30% pork or mutton with  preserved goose , but never smoked meat.  The Etat Generaux de la Gastronomie Francais issued a decree regulating the proportions, the recipe and the ingredients  required for the dish. The simplest version that I know has been inspired by Louis Cazals, an expert on the food of Toulouse.

CLASSICAL CASSOULET

Ingredients

• 500 g dried white Spanish Haricot beans
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced thickly
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 bouquet garnis
• 1 thick Toulouse sausage
• 300 g thick round pancetta, cut into rounds (unsmoked)
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled and de-seeded
• 1 – 2 large goose quarters
• 100 g goose livers

Method

• Soak white haricot beans for 12 hours, drain, wash and then boil in salted water for about an hour.
• They must not be soft.
• Wash and return them to a pot of boiling water.
• Add blanched and rolled up unsmoked bacon rounds, sliced carrot, garlic cloves and a bouquet garnis.
• Now add a good Toulouse sausage and cook.
• On the side, brown a goose quarter (s) and the livers lightly with two peeled and de-seeded tomatoes.
• When done, add this to the bean mixture and cook for a further two hours, give or take.
• You’ll know when it’s done and put into a glazed earthenware dish (strictly speaking you should use a cassole) but for today, the earthenware dish will do .
• Slice the sausage that you used and mix into the beans.
• Place a round of fresh sausage on top and press in lightly.
• Cover with grated breadcrumbs and bake in a slow oven.
• During the baking process, break the crust a few times and continue baking.
• There are a number of wines to have with this all over the world – to my mind, hearty and red and not too complicated should do the trick.
• Traditionally a Corbieres is served with cassoulet.

This next recipe is from a little place outside Perpignan where I had the good fortune to eat on my second visit. It has been adapted over the years to suit a largely meat eating country, but it’s worth a try but I’ll name it for them since that’s where I tasted it the first time.

L’ARAGO CASSOULET

Ingredients

• 1 kg  dried haricot beans  or tarbais beans.
• 1 onion, spiked with 3 cloves
• 1 bouquet garni (thyme, laurel, parsley)
• 1 large pork rind, sliced into 2 halves
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 x thick chunks of lamb neck
• 8 x 100 g lamb shoulder chunks
• 8 x 100 g chunks pork loin
• 8 x preserved duck thighs
• 8 x 5 cm of Toulouse sausage, roasted
• 200 g carrots
• 200 g onions, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bouquet garni
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 150 g goose fat
• 220 g bread crumbs

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 C

• Soak the dry beans overnight in unsalted water.
• Place the beans in a large pot and cover them with fresh water, add the carrots and the onion with the cloves, the bay leaves, the bouquet garni and the pork rinds.
• Season with pepper and do not salt.
• Simmer and skim the froth that forms on the surface.
• Fry the carrots, garlic, onions and the bouquet garni in a little goose fat for about 10 minutes, covering on low heat and set aside.
• Brown the meat in goose fat until everything is golden brown, drain and set aside.
• Stir the tomato paste into the vegetables and simmer for about 2 minutes and then add the meat, covering everything with cold water.
• Bring to the boil and check and correct season for both pepper and salt.
• Place in the oven, covered, for two hours.
• As soon as the beans are cooked, add salt, drain and stir into everything else in the oven.
• As soon as the meat is ready (and you’ll have to check when it is soft), use a fork retrieve bones and the bouquet garni.
• If you have fussy eaters, don’t  leave any small bones at the bottom of the dish.
• Remove excess fat from the remaining vegetables using a spoon.
• *Optional and not traditional: mix the vegetables in a blender  to obtain a delicious vegetable puree and check and adjust the seasoning.
• Turn the heat up to 210 C.
• Put the meat, the beans, the sausage and the pork rinds (cut into 8 pieces) in the cassole or a large terracotta dish and cover with bread crumbs.
• Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven to break the crust and return.
• Bake for another 10 – 15 minutes and remove again, break the crust and return.
• Now bake for 15 minutes and the dish should be ready.

Russian Caviar comes from the sturgeon, a bony,  spineless fish that dates back to  the time of the dinosaurs. The queen of  the Russian zakuska tables, it’s the most valuable  fish in Russia today but was only presented to the world for the first time in 1900 at the great World Exhibition in Paris. In the Soviet times it was a “poor mans food”, eaten by Black Sea fisherman for breakfast, given to the soldiers and sold, in huge quantities, in ordinary food stores during the 1960′s!  Nowadays it is expensive, rare and too often illegally caught and distributed, leading to overfishing and indiscriminate poaching.

There are many types caviar and it helps to know what they are so that you can buy what you enjoy – at the current prices there’s little point in simply buying one of each and trying them all.

• Malossol is a slightly salted caviar that keeps for up to a year.  (The saltier caviar is often the inferior quality)
• Beluga (image above)  the true caviar, an exclusive rarity that comes from the biggest of the sturgeon is the most expensive caviar on the market today. The large, thin skinned, silver grey grains have a loose texture and a taste too exquisite for words – not for nothing is it considered the best in the world. This sturgeon is caught in the Caspian and the Black sea as well as the Dnieper and the Dniester rivers.

• Osyotr caviar, also from the sturgeon has a nutty taste. The colours range from bluish black to dark green and then to silver. Royal black caviar is an Osyotr speciality and comes from the young fish and has a dark black and has a thin shell. Though delicious, as far as I am concerned, it doesn’t beat the Beluga.
• Sevruga is the smallest grained caviar and has a slightly harder shell with a tangy taste. The individual grain is small, the size of a pin head, and the colour ranges from mid to darkish grey.  This sturgeon hails from the Black, the Caspian and theAral seas as well as the Don, the Kuban rivers and the Syr and Amu Dayra’s (inKazakhstan)

• False Caviar (red Salmon caviar) comes from the chum salmon of the East Pacific as well as the Amur or the King salmon.
• Pink Caviar from the whitefish, muksun or sea trout is a Siberian delicacy and they are welcome to it.
• The yellowish orange, course grained caviar from the Lake Baikal salmon has a delicate flavour.
• Roe of a variety of fish (hake, cod, pike and zander) is pressed and the so called German caviar is dyed red or black and used for decorative purposes.

Red Salmon Yellow Lemon Pasta

Ingredients

• 500 g Spaghetti
• 1 finely chopped shallot (optional)
• 200 ml tomato seeds (yup, the seeds from inside the tomato)*
• lemon zest from one lemon plus juice from half a lemon
• 375 ml pouring cream
• 250 ml sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• handful chopped fresh dill (or parsley)
• 2 containers red salmon caviar – not the ‘German’ caviar – the dye colours the whole dish and it looks disgusting)

Method

• Boil the water in abundant salted water until ready, reserving some of the cooking liquid.
• Melt butter in a pan, add the cream and heat until it just reaches boiling point.
• Remove from the heat and add the lemon zest, the tomato seeds, half the dill or parsley (reserving the rest for the sour cream), caviar, salt and pepper.
• As soon as the pasta is ready, toss into the cream mixture and combine well, adding the lemon juice bit by bit.
• Under no circumstances heat or cook the caviar!
• Check the taste and correct.
• Put the pasta into the serving dish, combine dill and chopped shallot with sour cream to serve on the side.
• Serve immediately with salad.

*Image of the mixed tomato seeds, lemon zest and caviar above.

A chilled Crimean sparkling wine like a Yubileynoye (rose) from the Novy Svet wine cellars is called for here.

How do you know that the caviar is fresh?

• The grains should fall apart (unless it’s pressed caviar) immediately.
• No colour must come off, they must be very shiny, never dull and without an invasive smell or taste of fish that would mask the nuttiness of the caviar.
• Always serve in a glass bowl, on crushed ice and always eat this delicacy cold.

The best thing to drink with caviar is a good Crimean ‘champagne’ or vodka.
Russians like to serve it with golden yellow blini and little bowls of capers, chopped onions, parsley, chopped hardboiled eggs, and loads of sour cream for the blini.

The first evidence of chocolate was found by archeologists at the end of 2007 when they found evidence at Puerto Escondido in Honduras that dated around 1100 to 1400 BC. Amongst other things, they discovered that the white pulp around the cacao beans was probably used as an alcoholic drink at first because it was such good source of fermentable sugar. In 400 AD the Mayans already grew trees near their homes and made a bitter drink (xocatl) from it – it was used for both every day life and ornate ceremonies and was flavoured with vanilla, chilli and annatto.

They believed it kept them awake – at first it was considered an important luxury and later even used as currency. What I do find interesting is that it was used to cure diarrhoea! The beans were used for tax by the Aztecs (who also made a chocolate drink, but they called it nahuatl). Europeans did not get to know it until the Spanish had slaughtered most of the Aztecs, but it became wildly popular very soon. A thriving trade developed around this thing called chocolate and despite the use of African and Mid-American slaves, it remained pricey, used by the rich and the doctors! It was also darned scarce. The first chocolate house was opened, by a Frenchman, in London in the mid 1600’s only.  With the industrial revolution machines were developed that allowed more people to get hold of it.

Today there are many kinds of chocolate, but one can divide it roughly into white (obtained by adding milk solids, usually vanilla and sugar to the cocoa butter/cocoa liquor mix) – because there’s no theobromine in the white chocolate, animals should be able to eat it – but, please see your vet for confirmation!

• Milk chocolate (rich in sugar, cocoa butter and milk solids has a minimum of 15% chocolate liquor for the Americans and 35% for the Europeans).
• Dark chocolate is produced by adding cocoa butter and sugar to the cocao mixture (a liquid obtained which is the beans are fermented and after they’ve been dried quickly to prevent mould). Cocoa beans are cleaned, roasted, ‘smashed’ and the shells are removed to obtain the nibs. The nibs, are also ground and melted and this is how the cocoa butter and the chocolate “liquor” is made! It is a rich source of antioxidants, thought to reduce the possibility of a heart attack if we eat it often enough in small quantities. I do so religiously.
• Lastly, there is cooking chocolate – pure chocolate liquid, unadulterated chocolate that has a strong, deep chocolate flavor. I buy one for the kitchen and one for me every time.

The three main varieties of cacao beans used in chocolate are

• criollo,
• forastero and
• trinitario.

Criollo is the rarest and most expensive and found in Hawaii, Central USA and the Caribbean. Forastero is the most commonly used and trinitario is a mix of the first two.  Chocolate goes through two processes to get it ready for the market: conching and tempering.

1. A conche is a container of metal beads, that grinds the chocolate so that the refined and blended chocolate mix is in liquid form. Before conching it is gritty and the process makes the cocoa and sugar particles so miniscule and smooth that they’re not felt by the tongue.
2. In the final process, the chocolate is tempered to prevent crystallization – should the cocoa butter crystallize out of control, crystals of differing sizes will form that make the chocolate seem mottled and matted and the chocolate will crumble when a piece is broken off, the snap not audible – dull,  grey chocolate isn’t appetizing!

In conclusion, I have a few really special recipes that have been passed on from friend to friend and always, but always work and are shockingly simple! Thierry – these are for you.

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

400g Lindt 75% dark chocolate (of course you can use another brand)
6 large eggs
95g very dark sugar (muscovado is best)
2 tablespoons good brandy
25g thick cream

Method
Preheat oven to 180 C

• Grease and line spring-form cake tin.
• Melt chocolate the way you normally do and allow to cool.
• Now break the eggs into a heat-proof dish over a pan of simmering water.
• Add the brandy and sugar and whisk madly until it doubles in size
• Take off heat and fold in cooled chocolate, then the thick cream and mix well
• Put the mixture in prepared tin, place right at the bottom of the oven in a roasting pan filled half way with hot water.
• This steam helps to cook it evenly.
• Bake for 40 minutes until skewer comes out clean.
• The timing is essential and because each oven differs, the first time is nerve wracking!
• The cake is versatile so serve as the moment requires or with whipped cream or berries or both.

COINTREAU CHOCOLATE TART

Ingredients

450 Lindt chocolate – 75% cocoa solids
250 ml milk
225g softened unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
175 g fine castor sugar
60 ml Cointreau (Grand Marnier is just as good)
Blind baked sweet, short-crust shell
Shaved dark chocolate shavings – use a thick slab or block to make good shavings
Unsweetened cocoa powder to garnish

Method

• Pour milk into a heavy-based pot on very low heat, add chocolate and stir constantly until chocolate just melts
• Remove from stove and stir until both are well blended, setting aside to cool
• Cream butter and sugar until light and pale, using electric mixer and add yolks, one by one and whisk very well
• Whisk the chocolate mixture into the cream and butter mixture and finally whisk in the Cointreau
• Pour the filling into the blind baked shell and chill until set.
• Garnish with more chocolate, dusted cocoa.
• Serve with cream on the side if you wish.

A massive tourist industry has grown around chocolate and much needed funds are starting to trickle into the cocoa producing countries that, after centuries of economic abuse, are starting to spend money on their own future – their children.

This is  the ultimate birthday cake with a difference. Coffee, almonds, egg whites and cream creates a cake directly out of Fantasia! Crisp, creamy, sweet, light and downright heavenly, it’s a touch on the expensive side but well worth making for special occasions. On the negative side, don’t think the cake isn’t fattening because the it’s made only of egg-whites – it is a tad on the calorific side. When you do make the cake, try to create equally sized circles so that, once they are stacked, the cake isn’t lop sided and make sure that the filling

isn’t too runny because it has to help to hold the whole thing together!

Ingredients

Almond Meringue

• 9 egg whites
• 500 g superfine castor sugar
• 175 g finely ground almonds

Cocoa coffee filling

• 250 ml extra strong espresso coffee
• 400 g 75 g Lindt chocolate
• 6 eggs, separated
• 80 g  superfine castor sugar
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Lightly whipped full cream – for serving

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 120 C.
• Draw 3 x 26cm circles on a sheet of baking paper and invert the paper over three baking trays.
• To make the almond meringue, whisk the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer until stiff peaks form and then start to add the sugar bit by bit, whisking all the time until the sugar as been used up.
• Fold in the ground almonds and put everything into a piping bag or use the Ziploc bag method.
• Starting in the middle pipe in a circle until the outside edges of each of the 3 circles have been reached.
• Bake for 40 minutes, watching constantly unless you know exactly how your oven will react. Switch off and then dry in the oven for about one hour.
• For the filling, put the coffee and the chocolate in a small pot over a low heat and stir until the chocolate has dissolved.
• Remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl.
• Allow to cool and then whisk in the egg yolks (remember that if the mixture is too warm, you will have an omelette).
• In a separate bowl (preferably of an electric mixer) whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, adding the sugar bit by bit until all the sugar has been used up.
• Fold half the beaten egg whites into the cooled chocolate mixture and then add the rest very carefully.
• Keep in refrigerator whilst assembling the cake.
• To assemble, place half the chocolate mixture over one meringue disc with the second disc on top.
• Spread with the rest of the filling and top with the third disc.
• Dust with cocoa powder, cut into wedges and serve with whipped cream.

Champagne has, since it was first created, always used to celebrate great occasions but the habit of using it for celebration was actually purely coincidental.  Because there are so many  historical celebrations in the Champagne region, the wine itself became associated with celebration becaise that was what they had there … and then, once the refreshing wine and the occasions were cleverly combined to become part of the marketing strategy of the brilliant producers, there was no turning back. The wine became increasingly more expensive and the more expensive it became, the more it was desired.

Here then JFN’s choice of a super six.

BOLLINGER

Vieilles Vignes Francais Blanc de Noirs 1996

This is the best of Bollinger – it’s is a big champagne – the grapes are grown on ungrafted vines and is produced from overripe grapes that result in a champagne with an almost syrupy consistency, but without the thickness. Until 2004 Vieilles Vignes Francaises was made from the vines of three small plots, Chaudes Terres, Clos St. Jacques and Croix Rouge. Sadly in 2004 the vines from Croix Rouge were destroyed by pylloxera and so  so from now on this champagne will be a monocru. As the Italians are with food, so the French are when it comes to making great wine. Winemaking is in their blood and in their genetic make up. I have no doubt that Bollinger will continue to be the great champagne it always has.

DOM PÉRIGNON

Rosé 1990

The Cuvée Rosé is intense without being heavy and smooth. The strong presence of the Pinot Noir almost overwhelming the Chardonnay, creates an unusual but absolutely delicious blend.  The 1990 season was as close to perfect as they come. The winter was mild, the summer was hot and sunny and just before the harvest a few light showers made sure that there was no heat stress and a respectable level of acidity. Copper and pink with an aroma that reminds of  Christmas cake, full of ginger, candied citrus and nuts. This is a great champagne, a must have and essential for truly great celebrations.

HENRI GIRAUD

Ay Grand Cru Fût de Chêne 1996.

There is no doubt why this champagne got it’s name (Fût de Chêne is a cask of oak)! Henri Giraud and his family are famed for the use of oak in their champagne making.  The Giraud family have been making champagne since the 17th century and they own thirty plots of land in fourteen lieux-dits in and around Ay.  The oak they use comes from the Argonne forest near Ste. Ménehould, about an hour and a half from Ay.  Burnt gold liquid with a strong sense of vanilla it’s perfect for drinking right now.

GOSSET

Cuveé Celebris, Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut NV

If you like  Chardonnay, you’ll like Chef de cave, Jean-Pierre Mareigner has been working on this champagne since the mid-1990′s, reserving approximately 4,000 bottles per vintage.  The base wines didn’tt undergo maloactic fermentation (a secondary fermentation that converts malic acid into softer lactic acid) and some were fermented in wood. A blend of Chardonnays from eleven different cru’s – (most from the Côte de Blancs) include Grands Crus Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Le-Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger and Premiers Crus Cuis, Grauves, Vertus and Villeneuve-Renneville – are bottled in a truly magnificent manner and encompass a young golden liquid that brings young ripe fruit to the glass in a way few others can.

KRUG

Clos du Mesnil 1979

The Clos du Mesnil vineyard is one of only nine officially recognized clos in Champagne.  The heart of the Grand Cru Le Mesnil-su-Oger has to be a place where Angels meet there’s no other reason why one specific area can produce a champagne that is so much better than anything else available to mortals.  Like all Krug’s wines, it is fermented in little barrels of aged Argonne oak and undergoes no maloactic fermentation and is complex yet rejuvenating champagne. Krug Clos du Mesnil is exciting and sparkles honey, peaches, blossoms but also vanilla coffee and pecan nuts.