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From My Château Kitchen revolves around three subjects: the author's life in the 17th-century Burgundian château she and her husband own; the work of the farmers, vintners, restaurateurs, and others who live in the area and define its spirit; and Burgundian food, the glorious regional plats that represent a time-honored yet ever-evolving cuisine. Anne Willan, founder and president of La Varenne cooking school (now headquartered at the château), skillfully weaves these strands into a romantic but down-to-earth memoir. With more than 300 color photos and 160 adroitly selected recipes, the book offers both armchair excitement and practical kitchen direction. Those drawn to French regional cooking and the life that anchors it will embrace the book.
In chapters such as "The Adventure Begins," "On Burgundian Tables," and "The Wider Scene," Willan comes, sees, and is conquered--repeatedly. Best of all are her shrewdly drawn human portraits. We meet, among others, the château gardener who picks vegetables only at maximum size, a blacksmith who guards his homemade ratafia in a cathedral cellar, and a father-son pair who operate a traveling cider press. Willan's recipes--all meticulously written--accompany the discussions. Traditional Beef Bourguignon (a definitive formula), Warm Wild Mushroom Mousse, Madame Milbert's Rabbit Terrine, and Apple Gâteau Le Fey are just some of the dishes that illustrate a time, place, or person. Closing with a chapter that presents the château wedding of Willan's daughter (and includes the wedding cake recipe), the book comes full circle; it returns readers to a beginning and reminds them that food, which is the life of the Burgundian land, is without break, beginning or end. --Arthur Boehm
From Publishers Weekly
Owner of La Varenne cooking school and author of La Varenne Pratique, Willan chronicles her culinary adventures at Ch?teau du Fey, a 17th-century Burgundy ch?teau that she and her husband bought in 1982. There are many f?tes at which Willan hobnobs among neighboring ch?telains (dubbed the "ch?teau mafia") with privileged lineages, but her memoir is also punctuated by a colorful cast of local characters--such as caretakers Monsieur and Madame Milbert, cheese expert Hugues Parret, bread baker Robert Haumont? and artisan charcutier Georges Clopin. Her regional dishes include Pork Chops with Mustard and Bacon, Venison Stew with Black Mushrooms and Ratafia (a grape juice liqueur) and Snails with Anise en Cro?te, along with fresh takes on such classics as Truffled Brie, White Cheese Ice Cream, and Cabbage and Goat Cheese Quiche. Willan also showcases select signature dishes (e.g., Roasted Scallops with Sesame and Parsley Salad) of local Michelin-starred Burgundian chefs, family, friends and La Varenne students. Willan's prose is vivacious, her erudite pedagogy underscored with tart, droll humor. While she occasionally basks in the grandiose moments afforded an eminent ch?teau owner, she respectfully recognizes the community of local artisans who have contributed to the success of her beloved Le Fey. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Celebrated teacher Willan understands the influence of the land on cooking, the way the source of ingredients for a dish influences its outcome. She and her family live in Burgundy's Chateau du Fey, where even the groundskeeper has definite ideas on good cooking. His prescriptions for beef Burgundy and potatoes baked in bacon and cream typify the hearty cooking of central France. Willan scours the rest of the Burgundian countryside for its produce and discovers the rivers' superior trout, which she stuffs with spinach and cooks in white wine. Trips to vineyards climax with wine tastings and cheese puffs heady with local goat cheese and chives. Imported products appear in major cities such as Dijon, where phyllo cases hold wine-poached lobster. For dessert there's fig ice cream made heady with marc, the local brandy distilled from the leavings of wine making. A loving account of Burgundian life enriched with Willan's always thoughtful recipes. Mark Knoblauch
Review
Anne Willan blends the romantic and the level-headed in a unique way. She appreciates the sensuous delights of life as only a reformed puritan can. She tells the story of her love affair with France and French food in terms of real people and places: the cooking classes in Paris, the run-down chateau, the growing friendships with local farmers and shopkeepers, the cheese-makers and truffle-hunters, the fascinating neighbors -- all this is a showcase in which Anne sets out her favorite recipes. This is food in context, and a context to make Francophiles everywhere rejoice.
-- Hugh Johnson
In this tender and thrilling book, Anne Willan invites us to share her love affair with Chateau du Fey and Burgundy. Between the delicious recipes she offers an insight into a region with a rich past and long-rooted traditions. The affectionate eye she casts on the local characters and their stories provides an intimate portrait of the not-quite-vanished world of rural France.
-- Claudia Roden
Review
Anne Willan blends the romantic and the level-headed in a unique way. She appreciates the sensuous delights of life as only a reformed puritan can. She tells the story of her love affair with France and French food in terms of real people and places: the cooking classes in Paris, the run-down chateau, the growing friendships with local farmers and shopkeepers, the cheese-makers and truffle-hunters, the fascinating neighbors -- all this is a showcase in which Anne sets out her favorite recipes. This is food in context, and a context to make Francophiles everywhere rejoice.
-- Hugh Johnson
In this tender and thrilling book, Anne Willan invites us to share her love affair with Chateau du Fey and Burgundy. Between the delicious recipes she offers an insight into a region with a rich past and long-rooted traditions. The affectionate eye she casts on the local characters and their stories provides an intimate portrait of the not-quite-vanished world of rural France.
-- Claudia Roden
Book Description
The kitchen of the title is in a 17th-century chateau called Le Fey, high on a hill in Burgundy. From this vantage point, Anne Willan -- long known as an authority on French regional cuisine, on food history, and on classic French cooking -- has written a personal book, elegantly interweaving chapters on her life in the chateau with journeys out into the surrounding landscape. She examines the work of the people of Chateau du Fey and its surrounding quarters: the gardeners, farmers, vintners, and restaurateurs who live and breathe French cuisine, and who contribute to the character and flavors of the Burgundian table.
Foremost in the cast of characters in Anne Willan From My Chateau Kitchen is M. Milbert, gardien and gardener, who will pick no vegetable before its time. But there is also Claude the water man, who looks after pipes and plumbing for both village and chateau, and who figures prominently in the group of local hunters who follow the age-old rules of la chasse. We are introduced to M. Simon, the blacksmith with a network of cellars under a nearby cathedral, where he makes ratafia. And M. Haumonte teaches traditional bread and croissant making using the chateau's wood-fired oven. There is the lady from Morvan who makes 500 varieties of jam, the beekeeper, and the father and son with the traveling cider press. Anne Willan takes us through the countryside, to markets in Sens, to the makers of mustard and spice bread in Dijon, to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, where Leslie Caron presides over an establishment serving Burgundian fare, and to Joigny, where Lorain father and son reign in 3-star splendor.
Anne has chosen to share recipes for the dishes she cooks and eats at home, including such classics as Leek Quiche, Oeufs en Meurette, and Jambon Chablisien. There are also recipes that cope with the garden's staggering bounty, such as Spiced Red Currant Jelly and Gratin of Summer Vegetables in Herb Pesto. Other recipes are brought by the chefs who cook at the La Varenne school -- including Snail and Mushroom Ravioli with Parsley Sauce and Dried Fig and Marc Ice Cream.
In almost 300 color photographs and with more than 160 recipes, Anne Willan renders an intimate appreciation of both the food and the culture of Burgundy. As this beautiful and personal book proves, Anne Willan has succeeded marvelously in her chosen (and enviable) task of exploring, understanding, and teaching the art of French cuisine as it manifests itself in one of France's most food-oriented provinces. Which just happens to be her back -- and front -- yard.
From the Inside Flap
The kitchen of the title is in a 17th-century chateau called Le Fey, high on a hill in Burgundy. From this vantage point, Anne Willan -- long known as an authority on French regional cuisine, on food history, and on classic French cooking -- has written a personal book, elegantly interweaving chapters on her life in the chateau with journeys out into the surrounding landscape. She examines the work of the people of Chateau du Fey and its surrounding quarters: the gardeners, farmers, vintners, and restaurateurs who live and breathe French cuisine, and who contribute to the character and flavors of the Burgundian table.
Foremost in the cast of characters in Anne Willan From My Chateau Kitchen is M. Milbert, gardien and gardener, who will pick no vegetable before its time. But there is also Claude the water man, who looks after pipes and plumbing for both village and chateau, and who figures prominently in the group of local hunters who follow the age-old rules of la chasse. We are introduced to M. Simon, the blacksmith with a network of cellars under a nearby cathedral, where he makes ratafia. And M. Haumonte teaches traditional bread and croissant making using the chateau's wood-fired oven. There is the lady from Morvan who makes 500 varieties of jam, the beekeeper, and the father and son with the traveling cider press. Anne Willan takes us through the countryside, to markets in Sens, to the makers of mustard and spice bread in Dijon, to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, where Leslie Caron presides over an establishment serving Burgundian fare, and to Joigny, where Lorain father and son reign in 3-star splendor.
Anne has chosen to share recipes for the dishes she cooks and eats at home, including such classics as Leek Quiche, Oeufs en Meurette, and Jambon Chablisien. There are also recipes that cope with the garden's staggering bounty, such as Spiced Red Currant Jelly and Gratin of Summer Vegetables in Herb Pesto. Other recipes are brought by the chefs who cook at the La Varenne school -- including Snail and Mushroom Ravioli with Parsley Sauce and Dried Fig and Marc Ice Cream.
In almost 300 color photographs and with more than 160 recipes, Anne Willan renders an intimate appreciation of both the food and the culture of Burgundy. As this beautiful and personal book proves, Anne Willan has succeeded marvelously in her chosen (and enviable) task of exploring, understanding, and teaching the art of French cuisine as it manifests itself in one of France's most food-oriented provinces. Which just happens to be her back -- and front -- yard.
From the Back Cover
Anne Willan blends the romantic and the level-headed in a unique way. She appreciates the sensuous delights of life as only a reformed puritan can. She tells the story of her love affair with France and French food in terms of real people and places: the cooking classes in Paris, the run-down chateau, the growing friendships with local farmers and shopkeepers, the cheese-makers and truffle-hunters, the fascinating neighbors -- all this is a showcase in which Anne sets out her favorite recipes. This is food in context, and a context to make Francophiles everywhere rejoice.
-- Hugh Johnson
In this tender and thrilling book, Anne Willan invites us to share her love affair with Chateau du Fey and Burgundy. Between the delicious recipes she offers an insight into a region with a rich past and long-rooted traditions. The affectionate eye she casts on the local characters and their stories provides an intimate portrait of the not-quite-vanished world of rural France.
-- Claudia Roden
About the Author
Anne Willan has had an extraordinary career in the culinary arts and is established as one of America's preeminent authorities on French cooking. She is president of the Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne, which she founded in Paris in 1975 and which is now based in Burgundy at Chateau du Fey. She is also director of La Varenne at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. Anne has more than 30 years' experience as a teacher, cookbook author, culinary historian, and food columnist. Her many books include the prize-winning La Varenne Pratique and the Look & Cook volumes featured in the 26-part PBS series. Her most recent book is Cook It Right. Anne has served as president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (which honored her in 1999 with its Lifetime Achievement Award) and she is on the Board of the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in Napa, California.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A Vanishing Life
By the end of our first summer, we'd learned several sharp lessons. From the start, Monsieur Milbert had made it clear he was boss of the garden and determined to remain so. None of us was permitted to pick produce; we were expected to leave a note in the kitchen with the following day's requests. Madame Milbert did the gathering under her husband's eye. If he reckoned a fruit or vegetable was not ripe, we had to wait -- and we still do. Leeks are a constant bone of contention, left at least six months to gonfler (swell) before lifting. Just last week we had an argument about young green cabbages. "Non," Milbert said firmly. "They dissolve to nothing in the pan." Which is, of course, just why I like them. For a while I thought Monsieur Milbert was simply disobliging until I realized he adheres to a long-standing rural principle: anything edible must be left to grow as large as possible for maximum yield. Tenderness and flavor do not count.
The push and pull of rural life leaves its mark on the landscape, too. At the nearby Château de Bontin, for example, a farmer who had bought the surrounding land took it upon himself to fell a centuries-old allée of trees, leaving the house standing stark and bare. It is only now, a generation later, that Arnaud de Bontin has regained the ground and replanted frail trees that will take fifty years to mature. Near Chablis, Bernard and Brigitte Lefebure look over a charming vista, landscaped by a master hand, to the vineyards of Chablis in the distance. But merely the shell remains as the lake and retaining walls that anchored the panorama were destroyed to plant crops with easy access for the tractor. The Lefebures have the old plans, but restoration is a major undertaking.
Winter White Vegetables
So many winter roots are white. You could substitute others -- artichokes or parsnips -- for those suggested here; for color, add carrots or sweet potatoes. The vegetables are simmered in stock, then stirred in bit by bit in the manner of risotto. They make a warming side dish for four.
½ lb/250 g small turnips
½ lb/250 g celery root
½ lb/250 g firm, waxy potatoes
1½ cups/375 ml veal or chicken stock
3 to 4 tablespoons butter
½ cup/60 g grated Parmesan cheese
salt and ground white pepper
Peel all the vegetables and cut them into ½-inch/1.25-cm dice. Bring the stock to a boil.
Melt half of the butter in a large frying pan and stir in the vegetables. Add half the stock and simmer the vegetables, stirring often, until the stock is absorbed. Add the remaining stock and continue cooking until it is absorbed and the vegetables are tender, 8 to 12 minutes total cooking time. Stir in the remaining butter with the Parmesan cheese, taste, and adjust the seasoning.
Spring Soup
Seasonal vegetables and their verdant green color give this vegetable soup its name. This recipe makes a quick first course or light supper for six people.
2 qts/2 liters chicken or well-flavored vegetable stock
¼ cup/30 g flour
the white part of 2 medium leeks, sliced crosswise
the inner stems of a small bunch of celery, sliced crosswise
1 cup/150 g fresh green peas
pinch of sugar
salt and white pepper
the inner leaves of a small head of romaine, shredded
for the croutons
3 slices of white bread, ¼ in/6 mm thick
butter or vegetable oil for frying
Stir about a cup of stock into the flour to make a smooth paste. Bring the remaining stock to a boil, whisk in the flour paste, and continue stirring until the soup thickens. Add the leeks, celery, and peas with the sugar, salt, and pepper. Cover the soup and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Five minutes before the end of cooking, stir in the lettuce.
Meanwhile, make the croutons. Trim the crusts from the bread and cut it into ¼-inch/6-mm dice. Heat enough butter or oil in a frying pan so that the croutons will float (I prefer the sweet taste of butter-fried croutons for this delicate soup). Fry the croutons over medium heat until they are evenly browned on all sides. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. To serve, taste the soup and adjust the seasoning. Spoon it into bowls and serve the croutons separately.
Sauté of Chicken with Vinegar, Garlic, and Tomato
Sauté de Poulet au Vinaigre
Cooking meats and poultry with vinegar is an ancient tradition dating from the Middle Ages before lemon was available to add acidity. A Burgundian classic, the recipe calls, of course, for wine vinegar -- the older the better -- and lots of garlic, which mellows and softens as it cooks to act as a thickener for the sauce. This recipe makes a warming main course for four.
a 3½-lb/1.6-kg chicken, cut into 8 pieces
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons/45 g butter
1 large head of garlic
1 cup/250 ml red wine vinegar
1 lb/500 g tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato purée
a bouquet garni
1 cup/250 ml chicken stock, more if needed
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Melt half the butter over medium heat in a sauté pan or deep frying pan with lid, and heat until it stops foaming. Add the pieces of chicken, skin-side down, starting with the legs and thighs because they need the longest cooking. When they begin to brown, add the wing pieces and finally the breasts. After about 10 minutes, when all the pieces are brown on one side, turn them over and brown the other side for 1 or 2 minutes.
Divide the garlic cloves and add them, unpeeled, to the pan. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Then holding the cover on the pan so the chicken pieces do not fall out, drain off the excess fat. Return the pan to the heat, add the vinegar, and simmer it, uncovered, until very well reduced, 10 to 15 minutes. Chop the tomatoes -- there's no need to seed or skin them as the sauce will later be strained. Add them to the chicken with the tomato purée and the bouquet garni. Cover and simmer again until the chicken is tender, 10 to 15 minutes more -- the pieces should fall easily from a two-pronged fork. If some pieces are cooked through and tender before others, remove them.
Transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish and keep them warm. Add the stock to the pan and simmer the sauce, uncovered, until it is concentrated and lightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Work the sauce through a sieve into a saucepan, pressing hard to extract the garlic pulp. Bring the sauce to a boil, take it off the heat, and whisk in the remaining butter in small pieces. Taste it and adjust the seasoning. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and top with chopped parsley.
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