agneau:
Lamb, served
as rack, cutlets, or gigot (leg). L’agneau de Sisteron is
notoriously tender, and succulent, poor thing, and plays a leading role
at the Easter lunch table.
l’aïoli
A simple,
unique combination of garlic mayonnaise, cod, snails, and assorted vegetables,
all boiled: potatoes, carrots, asparagus, beans, artichoke, cauliflower,
green beans etc. Aïoli is one of Provençe’s answer
to Lent, the plat de résistance of Ash Wednesday and is consumed
en famille at the cabanon, their modest “place in the country.”
les amandes
(almonds)
Like the olive, one of the most prolific of nature’s fruits, a
frequent ingredient in confectionery and a dominant
ingredient of the famous Aix “calissson.” (see below)
l’anchoïade
An
anchovy sauce with olive oil, used as seasoning for salads and vegetables.
bouillabaisse
A composite
of several Mediterranean fish, each one of which has its flavor, while
all blend, tender fleshed and shell mixed promiscuously, unequally time-sharing
the same pot with onions, tomatoes, fennel, laurel, orange peel etc.
Bouillabaisse, unsurprisingly, means “boil and
simmer,” its modest label belying its pride of place in traditional
Provençal cuisine.
la bourride
Like bouillabaisse,
la bourride qualifies for a day of fasting at the same time as
it provides gastronomic refinement. Sea perch (loup), whiting (merlan),
and angler (baudroie) accompanied by bread soaked in an aïoli
bouillon derived from the above, are enough to give
Lent a good name.
la bûche
de Noël
The Christmas
dessert, shaped like a yule log, amply plastered with rich cream and
chocolate sugar icing, and filled with more of the same. The original,
cut from a cherry tree, olive, or pear, is borne ceremoniously into
the house, then lit with ritual sprinkling of alcohol or olive oil to
the incantatory exhortations:“alègre, alègre,”
(rejoice and be merry!). The ceremony of the log, with variations as
numerous as there are families, recalls the opportune coincidence of
pagan and Christian rites. Thrice around the house, or thrice around
the table the log is carrried by the patriarch and the youngest member
of the family, while the following litany is repeated, “Oh, sacred
fire, grant us fine weather that our ewes may lamb, our goats caper,
our cows calve, and daughters and daughters-in-law do likewise!”
The lighting of the log, the ceremony itself, and the indiscriminately
delicate association of piety, prosperity, and fertility for all, could
hardly fail to impress any pagan god lurking in the shadows, or blushing
daugter-in-law who might prefer not to be included in the inventory.
le
calisson
A wafer,
diamond, or boat-shaped, surmounted by a thin layer of almonds ground
with glazed melons and fruit syrup, and topped with a thin sugar icing,
a treat enjoyed since the fifteenth century, and an Aix-en-Provence
speciality. The calisson is a “candy for all seasons” though
traditionally it was consumed at holy communion celebrated at the church
of Notre Dame de la Seds at Christmas, Easter and on September 1st.
in commemoration of the plague of 1630. In inviting the faithful “venite
ad calicem” could there, perchance, have been a misunderstanding?
The question is pertinent when one compares the sweet succulence of
the wafer with the rough tongue of the wine. The calisson enjoys the
benefit of the doubt which surrounds its origin, which in no wise diminishes
its reputation! The symbolism of its mystery unleashes facile fantasy.
Is it the nave of the church, the boat that brought Mary Magdalene to
the shores of les Saintes Maries de la Mer, the symbol of the
sea harvest and fishermen protected by Notre Dame de la Garde
, la bonne mère , or simply the shape of the almond, its
chief ingredient? Frédéric Mistral, grand master of the
Provençal Renaissance of the nineteenth century, judged it to
be a phonetic deformation of “canissoun”, a mat of
woven reeds on which it was placed by the confectioner to dry in the
sun. (Cannisses are a current Provençal term for reed
screens used to restrict the view, to mark boundaries, as on the seashore,
or to provide shade against the sun for car-ports and shelters.)
As with
calissons, so it is with all traditions. Behind outward and visible
signs lurk a thousand inventions, possibilities, and beliefs peculiar
to moments in their history. Their “truth,”if it exists, is
in the multiplicity of their origins, their tenacity, and their easy
adaptation to the spirit of succeeding ages.
le crespèu
(crèpe
/ omelette)otherwise, but not quite, “pancake.” A “special”
on Shrove Tuesday, which in northern climes, marks the beginning of
Lent, time of confession, abstinence, and pious renunciation, while
“in Latin countries it is a binge, the hilarious last day of carnival,
known in France as Mardi Gras!” The egg, the crespèu,
and the omelette, pagan symbols all invoke
the sun, fecundity, and life itself..
la fougasse
Unleavened
bread kneaded with olive oil, finest flour and scented with extract
of orange blossom, the fougasse belongs to the gros souper
of Christmas eve, and was originally included among the thirteen desserts.
Today, spiked with olives, anchovies, or ham, it is to
be found in bakeries and is considered as an entrée rather
than dessert.
les fruits
confits
Major
product of Apt in the Vaucluse. Glazed melon, pear, clementines, cherries,
figs, plums, orange and lemon peel, all as delicious as they are treacherous;
like nougat they are “the dentist’s best friend,” and
like the “sweet” fougasse, and natural fruits, almonds
etc. they have their place among the thirteen
desserts of le gros souper on Christmas eve.
Le gâteau
des rois
Crown
(couronne) of brioche hailing the arrival of the three kings
who have journied far to worship the infant Jesus in Bethlehem on the
feast of Epiphany, twelve days after his birth. Concealed in its well
inflated baked tyre is a bean (la fève), placed by happy
coincidence in the slice likely to land on the plate of the youngest,
oldest, noisiest, or most beloved member of the family. He, or she,
then dons the golden paper crown for the remainder of the evening. The
gâteau des rois is served as dessert on the eve of Epiphany, the
“galette” (girdle cake) being divided among family,
guests, and, in distant times, servants, an extra piece being set aside
for “le pauvre.” The “king,” even after the
French revolution, displaced the patriarch at the head of the table,
and chose a queen for the evening’s festivities. A small porcelain
santon has been added to the modern gâteau another version of
which, la galette, is round, flat, rich in almond paste, and,
having no hole in the middle, quite unsuitable as
headwear for a king or anyone else.
Les navettes
yet another
example of the power of the spirit made flesh, or food. Divine intervention
and the cooperation of the baker boulanger-pâtissier have
joined forces at Candlemass, la chandeleur to produce la navette.
Originally a pagan ritual signaling the end of winter (the candle of
winter is snuffed “on mouche la chandelle” on February
2nd) and the light of spring begins to gain in strength and length at
the expense of the cold and darkness of winter. Tiny candles on fragile
wooden craft were launched down the river Sorgue near Bédarrides(Vaucluse).
Their arrival downstream at le Pont Rouge was greeted by the young navigators
of the village with a satisfaction proportionate to the number of candles
extinguished during the voyage. In the nineteenth century Marseille
transformed them into a small crisp biscuit, hollowed inside and shaped
like a skiff, and sold like “hot cakes,” or distributed to
the faithful as they emerged from Mass into the freezing February air.
The transference of the navette to the equally fragile, rudderless
craft that landed Mary Magdalene and her saintly crew on the shores
of les Saintes Maries de la Mer some forty miles to the west
of Marseille, is but one more illustration of the amiable confusion
that reigns in the land of tradition, a metaphor for wishful thinking
that, without being its denial, is an essential locomotive of faith
.
la pompe
à l’huile
See fougasse
above: Whereas the fougasse is generally shaped in irregular
strips of crusty texture, flat, with holes that give the illusion of
inexpert fretwork, the pompe à l’huile is a regular,
round, unleavened “bread” of finest flour, olive oil, brown
sugar, discreetly flavored with orange blossom and lemon. La pompe
à l’huile is included among the thirteen desserts consumed
on Christmas eve.
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