12 September 2021

Lunch with CHM in Bourges, June 17, 2008

CHM and I agree — we will always remember this lunch. What is it? It's foie de veau en persillade served with a purée de pommes de terre et de carottes. Une persillade is a kind of pesto that's made not with basil but with parsley, garlic, and olive oil. When I went back and looked at the picture below, I didn't remember what the side dish was.
It looks like polenta, but it was a puree of potatoes and carrots.


The meal was, as I've said, memorable and delicious. It was the plat du jour in a restaurant that is better known
for serving sauerkraut and cured pork dishes. It was in Bourges, just steps from the city's famous cathedral.
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On a different subject entirely, here's a photo that I took one morning about 10 days ago.
I was across the river on high ground and looking south toward Saint-Aignan.
This vantage point is about two miles north of the church and château.

12 comments:

  1. What is memorable about this lunch is the foie de veau that, for once, was cooked to perfection, which is almost rare, and usually very rare in most restaurants where it is overdone. You very seldom see foie de veau on menus. The combination of puréed potatoes and carrots is unusual in restaurants and very good.

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    1. One day when we were looking for the moulin à vent we took about the same photo of the church and chateau of Saint-Aignan. This one is very good.

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    2. I was a little farther from Saint-Aignan when I took the photo in this post — by maybe 500 meters.

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    3. Did you use the Somy for this photo?

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  2. Foie de veau is one of my most favorite meals of all time! I agree with you chm that it is very rare, no pun intended, to find this dish cooked properly in a restaurant. The puree of potatoes and carrots looks delicious, not to mention pretty, and would be so easy to make.

    Great view of Saint-Aignan’s church and chateau, Ken.

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    1. Hi, BettyAnn. Like many (should I say most ?) Americans, my late partner was disgusted by the idea of offals. Once, I prepared foie de veau my way, searing it quickly on both side in a skillet in olive oil and cooking it one minute or two, almost rare as I said in my above comment. Removing it from skillet and deglazing it with a few drops of vinegar. He found it delicious with a little French Dijon mustard. Bon appétit would say my good friend Julia!

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    2. Generally I am on that list of non-offals. I don't know why this is - I think we don't get much exposure growing up. But liver is something that I will eat, and I agree overcooked it's very unappetizing. This plate looks delicious.

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    3. I know I learned to enjoy offal, especially liver and kidneys, in France. We didn't eat such things when I was growing up in N. Carolina.

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    5. This reminds me, in a way, of that story that you told, Ken, about a recipe that used the blood of the chicken for the sauce. The Americans that were served that dish marvelled at the sauce. They didn’t know what went into it!

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    6. La Taverne de Maître Kanter n’existe plus. Ellle a été remplacée par Le So Much (??). Qu’est-ce que ça veut dire? Any idea?

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