With the holidays fast approaching, having seen Tran Anh Hung's film "The Taste of Things" currently in cinemas, my taste buds are watering to the max! A film marked by the poetry and magic of ingredients, making one so eager to cook... All accompanied by a fine bottle, of course! A thought to Alexandre Dumas... "father" of gourmands - cited in the film, "Wine is the intellectual part (dare I say sensory and immaterial... ? Forgive the great man!) of a meal. Meats and vegetables are merely the material part."!
This month, the "Curious Palace" is organized differently... rather around the upcoming festive meal with "favorite" ideas to accompany the noble dishes on your table. Without aiming for an exhaustive list, these suggestions will whet your appetite and new ideas will sprout within you!
Of course, do not hesitate to contact us with your Christmas menus so that we can provide you with a customized offer. The same applies if you have corporate gifts to prepare - we always enjoy making beautiful packages with personalized messages or small technical sheets for your recipients. Delivery in the Pau agglomeration is possible, as well as shipments throughout mainland France with well-adapted packaging.
Our shelves are well-stocked and we receive beautiful new arrivals every day - we are ready for the holidays. Open all December, non-stop from Monday to Sunday, 10 am to 7:30 pm*.
A Christmas Meal
The Sea.
Oysters, seafood, and scallops are often on the menu. There are great classics like Melon de B(**rgogne), Chenin de Loire, or Chardonnay from Burgundy or elsewhere... Alsace too, of course, with an elegant and mineral Riesling, a very fine Champagne Blanc de Blancs Extra-Brut or Nature (no added sugar) that would have already been served as an aperitif to avoid too many mixtures... !
For festive fish, turbot, sea bass, and the like, let's play the local card (for us) with beautiful, lively, full, and sharp dry Jurançons at the same time, a combination of citrus and mineral salts with volume in the mouth. Whites are always preferred with seafood, but reds like Cabernet Franc (Bourgueil, Saumur...) or a Sancerre Pinot Noir from the Loire, elegant, fresh, and fluid, or even more original... a red cru from Camargue near the salt marshes that we adore, which could pair wonderfully and surprise with its delicate, infused texture and spices, perhaps for cooking with some oriental touches?
The Land.
The timeless foie gras from the Southwest, of course... natural semi-cooked or pan-fried, not necessarily paired with a sweet wine (a 'meh' pairing... rather boring...!) but rather a dry white with adequate body, or for the more adventurous, a slightly oxidative wine from Roussillon, Jura, or
more local, to reveal the salinity and dried fruit notes... almonds and hazelnuts. A bit of adventure, for heaven's sake!
Poultry is celebrated for the Christmas meal – like Pyrenean lamb at Easter... each to its season... (see further down for poultry from the famous and friendly Pierre Duplantier, grand commander of fine Béarn poultry / order before December 18); the choice is vast between beautiful red Burgundian Pinots Noirs, dark Syrahs with smoky and peppery accents from the Northern Rhône like Cornas or Côte Rôtie.
Another idea... a creamy veal chop and mushrooms with a dry white could also be welcome: let's look for some indigenous southern grape varieties, Carignan blanc from Corbières or Macabeu from Roussillon, full of energy and complexity, to turn heads... dare to dare!
If you prefer feathered or furred game or red meat (mmmmh... a wonderfully tender Beef Wellington en croûte...) with a well-reduced and intensely flavored sauce, a Bordeaux slightly off the beaten path of too entrenched habits ☹... like a Canon Fronsac on the heights of Libourne near the Pomerol plateau or a Châteauneuf du Pape with some beautiful slices of black truffles associated with red meat... no?
Cheeses.
The indispensable cheese board is a moment to make wines shine, and the idea would be to return to a white after a red... a strange idea? Not so much... because some whites respect the distinct taste of well-aged cheeses more, and vice versa, so why not try it?! Or at least a much less tannic, more supple red to marry with the fat of the cheese (the word is out...!) without saturating our taste buds and bodies to the extreme..... ;);) Or try an Orange wine...!!?
Yule Log and dessert.
We all try to save a little room for dessert, and a liquid element is needed to aid digestion, right? A hazelnut liqueur, a Port with notes of cherry, spices, and cocoa, or even a Cerdon, a cheerful sparkling wine from the Bugey massif, absolutely to be discovered with a chocolate or red fruit dessert. A late-harvest, sweet Jurançon from Petit Manseng with notes
of apricot, mango, and fresh, juicy pineapple could pair with an exotic fruit Yule log in a classic and local style.
Visit to the magnificent "Be Ranci" fair in Perpignan, held last November.
Do you know oxidative wines or rancios? Wines under a veil of natural yeasts? These are wines that do not fear the natural effect of oxygen... but rather love it, offering unique, complex, and enchanting notes on the nose: smoke, almonds and hazelnuts, fresh walnuts, spices such as curry and saffron, as well as magnificent intensely yellow/orange and flamboyant reflections, for the pure pleasure of the eye. The palates and finishes are ample, generous, powerful, and infinite.
This fair is magical because it offers, in one place, such a rich and cosmopolitan palette, a unique moment: Spain, with Andalusia and Catalonia primarily represented, Hungary with Tokay, Greece with multiple islands like Santorini or Zante, Italy with Sicily, Sardinia, and Piedmont, and finally France with Roussillon, Jura, and Languedoc, despite a regrettable tendency to lose this tradition... a shame....
Pairings: Creamed poultry, foie gras, morels, sweetbreads, Pata Negra, lobster, or Thai cuisine (ginger, lemongrass, coconut) or Indian with curry, and of course cheeses such as old Comté or Parmesan for example.
CURIOUS PALACE December 2023
To enhance your Sea, Land, Cheese, and Yule Log or Dessert menus, a Curious Palace in connection with our newsletter this month, where we discuss pairings. A Chenin for the Sea or a Bourgueil for fish, a Rancio for foie gras, a Haut-Médoc for game or Beef Wellington en croûte, a red wine from Camargue for cheese, and Cerdon bubbles for dessert!
