1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (36 page)

Bocuse took the big, round, ovenproof footed bowl known as a
gratinée lyonnaise
and filled it with a heady chicken stock bolstered by sautéed mushrooms, carrots, and onions—and then added thick slices of Périgord’s black winter truffles and lumps of goose foie gras. He capped the whole with a dome of puff pastry and baked it all together until the soup was fuming with fragrance and the dome emerged as a flaky, golden crust. When that crust was opened, the dizzying, ecstatic aroma made the act of sniffing almost as fulfilling as that of eating. It still does.

Where:
In Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, France
, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, tel 39/4-72-42-90-90,
bocuse.fr
.
Further information and recipe:
theworldwidegourmet.com
(search black truffle soup elysee).
See also:
Truffe Noires de Périgord
;
Tartufi de Alba
.

An indisputable classic, steak frites appear on countless bistro menus.

Asked what dishes they favor when eating at home, innumerable and diverse chefs cite four choices: omelets, roast chicken, thinly sliced rare roast beef, and steak frites. The last is a classic on the menus of just about every French bistro anywhere in the world.

What of the steak itself? If the bistro is upscale, in France, and warrants healthy prices, the beef should be identified as Charolais, a white, grass-fed steer bred around the Burgundian town for which it is named. It is France’s best breed of beef cattle and, according to some, is a more flavorful choice than even Argentina’s much-vaunted specimens. Succulently marbled, the glorious beef may lack that unctuous tenderness Americans prize so highly, but it more than makes up for it with a rich and quintessential beefy essence. A little extra chewing never hurt anyone.

The kindest cut is also a deviation from the American standards of porterhouse, sirloin, and filet mignon, which are all hindquarter cuts. While upscale restaurants might present the luxurious chateaubriand, the classic French bistro cut is the delicately marbled entrecôte, or rib steak, carved from the four quarters, generally from just between the shoulders. Left on the bone to ensure a tantalizing ripe aroma and flavor, the meat is grilled in the French manner, on a hot iron skillet with a raised grid pattern that produces crisscross sear marks—there is no charcoal overwhelming the beef with acrid charring.

As for the degree of doneness, you have a choice:
bleu
, meaning it will be blue, cold, and raw inside;
saignant
for blood-rare and slightly warm at the center;
à point
for medium rare; or
bien cuit
, so well-done you might as well have ordered pot roast. Neither a generous dab of the parsley-and lemon juice–accented butter known as maître d’hôtel, nor the more elaborate warm, pungent tarragon-and-shallot-spiked béarnaise will hurt a bit. Then all that is needed is a mound of the crisp thin
pommes frites
we call French fries and a glass or two of a strong red wine.

Further information and recipes:
Roast Chicken and Other Stories
by Simon Hopkinson (2007);
foodandwine.com
(search raichlen steak friles).
See also:
Hanger Steak, Flank Steak, and Skirt Steak
.

Intense heat ensures a crisp edge and soft center.

As flatbread pies go, Italian pizza is far more ubiquitous, but Alsace’s flaming cheese-and-bacon tart is rapidly gaining ground in the U.S. And no wonder—it’s a luscious, palate-intriguing combination that melds thin, free-form dough, charred crisp, with melting
fromage blanc
(a slightly ripe pot-cheese), crème fraîche, slivers of crisp bacon, and shreds of lightly roasted onion. A sprinkling of aromatic peanut oil, nutmeg, salt, and freshly ground pepper ties it all together into a salty and addictive snack.

Tarte flambée alsacienne
, also known as
flammeküche
, gained early popularity in the United States at the landmark French restaurant Lutèce, now closed. André Soltner, the Alsatian-born chef who reigned over its kitchen from the 1960s to the mid-’90s, intermittently offered the tart as an appetizer or an amuse-bouche. (For the latter, he prepared it with a delicate puff pastry crust rather than the more traditional bread dough.)

A late-night favorite at brasseries throughout Alsace, the flaming tart is so named because it is (or should be) baked close to very hot, burning embers in a brick oven. It presents only one dilemma: whether to wash it down with a crystalline white such as a riesling or sylvaner, or with the foamy, golden local beer for which Alsace is equally famous.

Where:
In New York
, The Bar at MoMA, tel 212-333-1220,
themodernnyc.com
;
in Chicago and Boston
, Brasserie Jo,
brasseriejo.com
;
in Costa Mesa, CA
, Marché Moderne, 714-434-7900,
marchemoderne.net
.
Further information and recipes:
The Cuisine of Alsace
by Pierre Gaertner and Robert Frederick (1981);
The Lutèce Cookbook
by André Soltner with Seymour Britchky (1995);
saveur.com
(search tarte flambee).
Special event:
Tarte Flambée Festival, Munster, Alsace, July and August,
tourisme-alsace.com
.

You say onion, I say
oignon.
No matter which way it’s ordered—as
tarte à l’oignon
, as
zwiebelkuchen
, or as
zewelwai
, depending on the region—this sweetly fragrant, savory tart is well worth the potential pronunciation challenge.
An aromatic kissing cousin to the quiche Lorraine (see
listing
), this onion tart is actually a silky, open-face pie filled with a rich egg-bacon-and-onion custard.

The preparation of the onions is essential to the success of this restorative and homey dish. Alsatian cooks say those onions must be very thinly sliced and then slowly, slowly sweated in goose fat (although butter will do) until they melt into lacy filaments. “There should be a lot of creamy filling on very little pastry,” wrote Elizabeth David in her classic
French Provincial Cooking.
And indeed there is, although the Alsatian onion tart is not as deep as a traditional quiche. The custard itself is gently set, a texture that’s the result of more onions than cream in the mix. That ratio also defines the tart’s flavor, the sweetness of the onions contrasting with the salty smokiness of the bacon, the whole spiked with thyme and sometimes anchovy.

Where:
In Bergheim, France
, Wistub du Sommelier, 33/3-89-73-69-99,
wistub-du-sommelier.com
;
in Paris
, Angelina, tel 33/1-42-60-82-00,
angelina-paris.fr
;
in New York
, The Modern at MoMA, tel 212-333-1220,
themodernnyc.com
;
in Las Vegas
, Fleur, tel 702-632-9400,
hubertkeller.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Lutèce Cookbook
by André Soltner with Seymour Britchky (1995);
French Provincial Cooking
by Elizabeth David (1999);
foodandwine.com
(search alsatian onion tart);
epicurious.com
(search alsatian onion and bacon tartlets).

Use either large chunks of fruit or thin slices.

An elegantly royal take on apple pie, the exquisite
tarte Tatin
deserves a place in dessert paradise. The name honors the sisters Tatin, the proprietors of a restaurant near Orléans who devised the dessert in the early 1900s. The recipe begins simply enough, with flavorful apples of the not-too-juicy variety, sliced and seasoned with melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon and laid in a heavy butter-and-sugar-lined skillet. Topped with a round of buttery pie-crust pastry, the whole is baked until the crust has crisped and the apples turn golden and sweetly syrupy.

Then comes the moment of drama. The whole tart-filled pan—hot and heavy—is inverted onto a serving platter. What emerges, hopefully, are silken, golden-caramelized apples atop an unbroken bronze crust. Those in search of the cleanest, roundest form should stick with the dry golden delicious apples, while those willing to take a risk on shape for the sake of flavor should opt for Northern Spies or Cortlands, both at their best in Fall.

Most delicious and aromatic when warm, the tarte Tatin needs only a cool splash of crème fraîche or half-whipped, unsweetened cream as a topping, although a small scoop of slightly softened vanilla ice cream can’t hurt. A nice thick wedge of the tart and a cup of coffee makes a decadent special-occasion breakfast.

Further information and recipes:
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1
, by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck (1961);
Larousse Gastronomique
(2009);
tartetatin.org
;
jamesbeard.org
(search tarte tatin).

Greens and sweet pastry prove a delectable pair.

Many a modern chef would be celebrated for having invented such an unexpected application for Swiss chard, served as a dessert in this mildly sweet and seductive pastry. Sound strange? It’s divine. The flaky dough wrapping contrasts with softly wilted leaves of the bittersweet chard, enhanced by dottings of pine nuts and golden raisins. A bit of brown sugar, brandy or rum, butter and olive oil, and a binding of eggs and grated Parmesan cheese work their magic. The thin dessert is served sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar and cut into squares at many bistros and street stands in Provence. It is particularly evident at outdoor food markets along the Cours Saleya in Nice, where it shines among the other tempting street foods.