French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [78]
One would not, of course, have all these things at the same time, the choice depending a good deal upon the time of year; only very small quantities of each should be served, so that nobody will be tempted to eat too much before the main course.
With a plat de crudités is usually served either a slice or two of pâté de campagne, salame sausage or raw ham; in the south, olives and anchovies, or tunny fish in oil; in the north, pickled gherkins and sardines or fillets of mackerel in white wine; and if there is no other rich sauce, possibly an egg mayonnaise.
LA CHARCUTERIE
PORK PRODUCTS AND COOKED MEATS
Under this heading come all pork products such as the cured salame type of sausage, hams raw and cooked, galantines and the like. A charcutier, or pork butcher, also sells various other foods in the form of cooked or cured meats, pâtés, ready prepared dishes, and sausages for cooking; but for the moment we are only concerned with those which are served as cold hors-d’œuvre.
Nearly every province in France produces its own special variety of ham, the most renowned being that of Bayonne, which is in fact produced in the Orthez district of the Béarn; the hams of the Auvergne and of that part of Burgundy known as the Morvan, of Alsace and of Lorraine are equally prized, and one comes across any amount of locally cured hams all over the country, many of which are very good, although none, I think, has quite such a fine flavour as the famous Italian hams of Parma. The only French ham which ever appears in England is that of Bayonne, and it can be served with figs or melon, or just with butter, in the same way as the prosciutto di Parma. But look out for imitations with little or no merit. The so-called Bayonne ham from Denmark, heavily smoked, has no relation to the original article, for real Bayonne ham is very lightly smoked, sometimes not at all. (It is a common misconception that all hams eaten raw, including that of Parma, are smoked. It is not the case.)
Very little in the way of French charcuterie is at present exported to England, but instead of the cured sausage of Aries or Lyon or other country districts (a particularly good one called the rosette is to be found in the Ardèche, and another with the curious name of Judru is a speciality of the little town of Chagny in the Côte d’Or) we can buy Italian salame which is at least as good, if not better.
When buying it make sure that it is the genuine Italian variety, very fresh, of a deep rose colour, and the fat very white. If the fat is yellow, or the sausage dry and cracked, it is not worth buying. If you serve salame often, it is an economy to buy a whole sausage, or at least a half one; keep it hanging up in the larder or some other airy place in a net or string bag, and slice it as it is needed. Cut it very thin, and serve it as described above, in overlapping rows on a flat round or oval dish, with perhaps a few olives in the centre, but never messed up on a plate with salads or any other hors-d’œuvre with a sauce.
Among the commonest and cheapest hors-d’œuvre in France, to be bought at every cooked meat shop and on the market stalls, are the salads of museau de bœuf and museau de porc, ox muzzle or pig’s snout; these are sold ready seasoned with a good deal of chopped shallot, parsley and a vinaigrette dressing. To prepare them at home is a lengthy process, for the meat must be first salted for a day or so, then simmered very gently for about four hours until quite tender, then sliced and seasoned. The same sort of salad can be made from any gelatinous meat such as brisket, ox cheek, calf’s and pig’s head, shin and so on. It should be cut thinly into small rectangular slices and seasoned, if possible, while still warm. A recipe for making