1 post tagged “cookery”
Being a big fan of Rick Stein I did a search for and found this cool article about the famous La Tupina restaurant on www.london-eating.co.uk . It is a mouth watering read.
http://www.london-eating.co.uk/newsletter/2005/october/tupina.asp
If anyone has not seen Rick's French Odyssey two disc dvd and loves French things I highly recommend it. I have often watched the whole series back to back and feel like I have been on a fantastic culinary holiday.
What a fantastic series! When it was first broadcast on BBC 2 in 2005 I was suitably impressed being a Francophile and fan of Rick. However, after getting the DVD I am totally hooked. Rick Stein is a very engaging man. He liberally peppers his enthusiasms for French dishes and style with humour and anecdotes about the fascinating people he encounters during the course of his slow journey from Bordeaux to Marseilles onboard the two canal barges; "Rosa" and the "Anjodi". On this journey his dog Chalky was left behind in the uk on advice of the vet.
In his quest to get to Marseilles, he reminds us that it was Brittany which gave him so much inspiration during the early days of his seafood restaurant at Padstow, Cornwall. En route to the South West Rick also indulges in some very non-British food; for example eels in Breton cider expereinced at a packed Les Routiers truck stop. This experience really shows the differing attitudes that the French have for food ie: in a similar transport cafe in the UK the fare might well superficially consist of sausage, baked beans and egg, beans on toast or just....beans! Ok, maybe chips with beans and brown sauce. Another stop finds him enjoying a superb steak in a railway cafe at Agen's train station wherein he tells of some mouth watering fare on offer,all seemingly at very reasonable prices.
The authentic recipes shown include Vichyssoise, Pissaladiere, Bouillabaise, Cassoulet and Tarte Tatin. A visit to the Victor Hugo market in Toulouse finds Rick salivating over some local hams and the famous Toulouse sausage - to be cooked in duck fat, of course. On my own return to the region this year I might well need to pop to this market to follow in Rick's footsteps.
Onward they travel down the Canal lateral a la Garonne in the Rosa. The canal runs all the way from Bordeaux to Toulouse alongside the river Garonne. Then they changed to the Canal du Midi and travelled down to Marseille in the Anjodi. Rick comments on the tranquil pace of travelling like this and that it is a very interesting way to visit the French towns without all the mess of the outskirts that one normally experiences by road travel.
So, if you want to escape to virtual France for a few hours then pop this DVD in the player and relax with a bottle of good red Bordeaux by your side, some olives in a bowl, press the play button, sink into the chair and imagine you are aboard the canal barge Rosa with Rick and his chums. Sorry Chalky, no dogs allowed in this trip. We'll bring you back some sausage!
