The Good Life - St George's mushroom

A small panier of St George's Mushrooms

“Les Champignons dans la Nature” by J. Jaccottet [Neuchatel, 1925] opens with the following line: “L’Homme a eté creé pour la marche….” which simply translated means “Man was created for walking”. The improvements in transport noted then in 1925, which he lists as including electric trams and bicycles, reduced ones desire for walking and therefore ability to access the countryside and forests. For one who enjoyed nature as much as Mr Jaccottet, the day was always too short, the sun rose too late and set too early.

Anybody who has done some mushroom hunting will appreciate the fact that there is rarely enough time in the day to find what you are looking for. A combination of patience, luck and a good eye may bring good results but there is no replacement for experience in this pursuit. Finally, when you find the particular variety you have been looking for it is important to never reveal the location of your discovery. People have been known to go to their graves without parting with such closely held secret.

The are a small number of mushrooms which work their way through the earthy ground at this time of year, but among them the St George’s mushroom, which is also known as Tricholome de la St George, Thricholome Georgii L’Écluse and Mousseron du Printemps, is the most highly prized. While they are said to grow in meadows and grassland, they are most likely to be found on the edges of woods. The season described by most writers is from April to June and they traditionally emerge on or about St George’s day and continue in season for a few brief weeks.

In Ireland and England their caps are primarily white, but they can be found elsewhere coloured yellow ochre, and rare varieties are known to be brown or chamois. The caps, which have a dry appearance, vary in size but they can grow to be 15 cms in diameter. By the time they grow to any great size they are more than likely going to be providing refuge and nourishment to a small worm colony, so it is best to pick the small ones when they are found, and check the larger mushrooms for infestation. Beneath the caps the gills are white and fragile. This mushroom has a large foot and grows in tight groups, so you generally will find more than one in any one location. When cut in half the flesh is firm and white. One of the most distinctive characteristics of this mushroom is its smell; the odour is quite strong and pleasant, and has been described as resembling freshly milled flour.

Ignoring Mr Jaccottet's esprit de vivre, we steamed around the hillsides and meadows in an old Peugot 405, which cut down some of the vast wandering required to locate these mushrooms. With the small basket of mushrooms we had collected I decided to make an omelette. After cleaning them, they were cooked on a pan over a low flame in mountain butter with a little salt and pepper. We had earlier liberated some eggs from chickens nearby, and these were whisked and poured over the lightly cooked mushrooms. After two or three minutes I put some grated Comte cheese from Frasne on the runny surface of the uncooked egg and mushroom mixture and finished the omelette under a hot grill. It looked great and tasted really good, but I was scolded for not slicing the mushrooms finer and for overcooking the omelette. I accepted these criticisms graciously while drinking a glass of undated, but assuredly ancient, white wine from the Jura.

In preparation for the meal I found a book entitled “60 Champignons 190 Recettes” by Suzanne Fonteneau and Philippe Joly published in 1978. These authors rate their mushrooms with a star system; four stars being the best, and so on. I will not query why they did not chose a system of marks out of 10 or 5 for example, being nice round figures allowing for a wider variety for distinction, however in their opinion both the Truffe du Perigourd and Tricholome de la St George achieve the lofty and distinguished score of a perfect 4. Among the recipes they offer for the Tricholome de la St George is `Tricholome á la paysanne`. For this recipe you shall require 400 grams Tricholomes de la St Georges; 50 grams of butter; 2 spoons of vinegar; 1 spoon of flour; 1 egg; half a glass of dry white wine;2 spoons of bouillon; salt and pepper.

The method given is as follows: After cleaning the mushrooms, cut them into slivers (remember not coarsely or in chunks!). Gently cook them with half the butter and the vinegar. At the same time make a roux with the remainder of the butter and the flour and mix in the suggested half glass of white wine and the bouillon. All this time, you should keep the juice of the mushrooms moving on the pan seasoning with salt and pepper. The recipe is completed by turning the mushrooms onto the sauce, mixing together, and just before serving stir in the egg yolk into the ensemble to bind it together.

The recipe as given does make sense however; you may wish to experiment with another variety of mushroom and the suggested quantities a few times to gain some confidence in it and to satisfy yourself in advance of cooking these highly prized mushrooms. I would also suggest using white wine vinegar in preference to any other, and it appears that the tablespoon measurement is the weapon choice for this recipe.

A traffic jam or "bouchon" in the Haut Doubs, Franche Comté

French Christmas Adventure

A variety of roots at the Marché in Besancon including beetroots, cerfeuil tubereux, parsley, Oca du Perou, crosne and topinambourg

The difficulty with uploading photographs and then not being able to move them is that I must compose a story around them or just ignore them completely.

Early on Saturday morning we had a phone call from Corinne`s mother explaining that the weather conditions were very bad, and that we might not make it to Besancon. A few minutes later there was another call, from my mother, who explained that the weather situation in Ireland was severe and that our flight may be delayed. I had already taken out the rubbish and wondered where this bad Irish weather was, or if it turned up since! It was not an auspicious start to our little trek but we stepped off the train in Besancon 14 hours later in good order. It was -14 Celsius and there was snow everywhere, but not too deep.

In describing poor driving conditions the French say "les rues sont delicates". This was the first of many double meanings which I might experience over the next few days! As the temperatures began to increase the weather changed and it also began to rain. It was still freezing and the roads. In France snow is either all good or all bad and the rain altered matters considerably making the roads deadly.

Butchers preparing meat at the marché in Besancon

The marché at Besancon is building up to the biggest family feast of the year; le Rèveillon. This is effectively a feast of gourmandies and as midnight approaches the children are put to bed just before Pere Noel (a.k.a. Santa Claus) arrives at midnight. This character, typically clad in red with a white beard, indulges in disappointent and never appears to wait around for the good childen of the land to open their presents. Obviously the disappointment of the children is short lived for the most part as they tear the wrapping from their presents.

The food is always the centre of attention during his time and the build up to Rèveillon is everywhere to be seen. The year end fixation for figures and statistics is bound up into this expectation and excitement. The chiffres (figures) reveal that there was 20,400 tonnes of foie gras produced in France in 2007. One newspaper article centered upon a producer from Alsace who had created an academy for foie gras. He elaborated on the characteristcs and qualities of the various foie gras; the vigeur (vigor) of the foie gras de canard and the douceur (sweetness) of the foie gras du oie. However, he also brought it one stage futher announcing "canoie"; a combination of foigras de canard and foie gras du oie (duck and goose livers). Foie gras forms an important part of the meal of the Rèveillon and its subtle flavours have gone through many fads and styles of preparation through the years; it is available smoked, salted or sweetened with figs and other fruits and now as canoie.

Corinne's mother has prepared her foie gras by placing it in milk for two days with salt, pepper and a little spice. After that it was wrapped in plastic and mascerated in a little port hile rolled into a cling film and bound in your best dish cloth! It tasted stunning this morning and no doubt will acquire a little more flavour from the port over the next day or so. In this part of France it is normally served with pain d'épices; a tradtional dence golden brown loaf made from honey and spices.

Chocolate snowmen or bonomme de neige at Hirsinger, Arbois

Chocolate shops do a roaring trade in France over Christmas. There are sweets everywhere from the humble papillottes to the more elaborate pieces produced by master choclatiers. The papillotte is the equivalent of our crackers at the table. They are typically a chocolate covered praline sweet and are covered in bright eye catching wrappers. While our crackers have jokes the papillottes contain questions to be posed to your fellow diners. For example "How heavy is a big male chimpanzee? a. 70 kgs; b. 90 kgs; c. 110 kgs". The answer of course, as everybody knows, is 70 kgs and more impotantly we are informed that he is three times stronger than a human male of the same weight! In contrast Corinne and myself pulled a cracker together before we left, and I was left explaing the following joke contained therein; "The local police station was burgled recently. The police had nothing to go on".

Le Morillon - a cheese stuffed with morelles

There was almost 50,000 tonnes of Comté cheese produced in Franche Comté this year, a fact based upon the offical chiffres or statistics. Cheese mongers are far from left out in this season of feasting; cheese is an essential course and every region celebrates its own produce. The fromageries or fruiteries in Franche Comté are stunning emporia and often produce their own cheese on the premises, some only selling what they produce such as bleu de gex, Comté, or Mont D'or. One shop in Champagnole sold a number of locally produced buches de chèvre or goat's cheese which I had never seen or heard of. They included Truffe ventidor, Tanpiniere and Bicaillon which were all stunning looking and quite individual in their appearance.

The scenery of the Haut Doubs of Franche Comté is dominated by pastures, forests, large farm houses and cow sheds that often resemble large farm houses. When the snow arrives it becomes a winter wonderland and the Montbeliard cattle are nowhere to be seen as they have retreated to the safe havens and sheds where the chill of the wind and snow will not be felt.

Winter in the Haut Doubs

Besancon

View looking South over the rooftops of Besancon from Fort Griffon towards the Citadelle

I first arrived in Besancon in March of this year and have been back a number of times with Corinne (my better half). The East of France and the Franche Comte region had eluded me up to this time, and admittedly I knew few details of its history, culture and folklore; I was in general terms aware of the expansion of the Roman provinces in Gaul and a little more recent general history of the area but was totally unprepared for the uniqueness of the region incorporating the Doubs, Haut Doubs and Jura.

Upon leaving the train station at Besancon, I was driven away by Corinne's father on a circuitous route, which navigated its way through old fortifications, redoubts and ramparts in the north of the town and then eventually eastwards along the Doubs. This city is not big but impressive and located on a significant strategic site, on a vast sweeping bend in the river Doubs. It has been settled for many thousands of years, but came to prominence as Vesontio over two thousand years ago, when it was the first city of the Sequani tribe. They in turn came were subjugate by and came under the influence of the Romans, under the command of Julius Caesar, and despite a number of revolts during the early empire the site was further developed and romanised with an aquaduct, lavishly decorated buildings, an amphitheatre and triumphal arch known locally as "la porte noire".

Roman Amphitheatre remains at Besanson

Neptune Mosaic found on the site of the Abbey of St. Paul in 1973, Musee des Beaux-Arts et d'Archeologie de Besancon.

Reading the ancient historian's and source's descriptions of places, and routes taken, it is easy to be misled by dry narratives evoking generic landscapes, mountains, rivers and passes, however Julius Caesar in his De Bello Gallico describes this settlement with extraordinary clarity, care and conciseness. Roman preparations for war left little to chance and Julius Caesar identified a base that could sustain his armies in Winter and through the Summer, with the unsettled and enemy frontiers not too distant.

Book 1:38 recounts as follows:

"When he had proceeded three days' journey, word was brought to him that Ariovistus was hastening with all his forces to seize on Vesontio, which is the largest town of the Sequani, and had advanced three days' journey from its territories. Caesar thought that he ought to take the greatest precautions lest this should happen, for there was in that town a most ample supply of every thing which was serviceable for war; and so fortified was it by the nature of the ground, as to afford a great facility for protracting the war, inasmuch as the river Doubs almost surrounds the whole town, as though it were traced round it with a pair of compasses. A mountain of great height shuts in the remaining space, which is not more than 600 feet, where the river leaves a gap, in such a manner that the roots of that mountain extend to the river's bank on either side. A wall thrown around it makes a citadel of this [mountain], and connects it with the town. Hither Caesar hastens by forced marches by night and day, and, after having seized the town, stations a garrison there."

An early incription refering to Vesontio possibly dating to the period of the Emperor Trajan

Following the demise of the provinces of Roman Gaul, Besancon was eventually incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire until it came under the influence of the Dukes of Burgundy, and thence following a strategic marriage, the Habsburgs. In 1674 Besancon became a French town and a few years later the city was in effect transformed by the arrival of the military architect Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban. He was commissioned by Louis XIV primarily to redesign and reconstruct the Citadelle, a grand task which took 30 years, being completed in 1711.

Other fortifications, on hilltops around the city received attention including Fort Griffon, and these forts, ramparts redoubts and defences still dominate and characterise the city today. These new strategic defences were planned in great detail and utilised the local contours, terrain and features of the land upon which they were constructed, a particular feature of Vauban's planning and engineering; the Roman amphitheatre was incorporated and utilised in the establishment of some of the outer defences and ramparts at Fort Griffon.

View of the inner entrance gate of the Vauban Citadelle

Palais Granvelle 16th Century

Buildings on the banks of the Doubs in Besancon

One of my primary interests when arriving in a town is to discover the food and local produce, and local markets are key to this experience. In Besancon, as with most French cities and towns, there is a covered market selling produce daily and an open air market in front of the Musee des Beaux-Arts et Archeologie selling fresh fruit and vegetables.

Before I ever thought of visiting Besancon I was aware of the two most famous cheeses produced in the area; Mont D'Or and Comte. The local breed of cow is the Montbeliard, and these cute docile beauvines are primarily used for dairy production. Smoked hams and sausages called saucise de morteau are full of flavour and are traditionally boiled and served with boiled cabbage and potatoes. However, more modern recipes combine the saucise with reductions of local wines, such as a Poulsard. Artisanal charcuteries such as the one operated by Pierrette and Daniel Buchiex [www.lafermettecomtoise.com] produce a wonderful selection of cured meats and charcuterie; not always shaped in the familiar manner of a sausage, a small square not dissimilar to a pont leveque make these cured meats very tempting indeed. While some features and characteristics of Besancon are thoroughly French, there is an undeniable connection and suggestion of a German or Swiss tradition and the proximity of the Swiss border and the mountains is inescapable.


One surprise for me was the fact that the Theatre in Besancon was built to the designs of Claude Nicolas Ledoux. Ledoux, a unique architect for his time, was favoured by royal commissions for a period prior to the revolution and was commissioned to design and build the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, not far from Besancon. He has since gained notoriety for his futuristic designs and projects proposed in the area of the Loue valley, but sadly many of these were not undertaken. The designs produced by Ledoux for the theatre were ground breaking for the time, and incorporated a sunken orchestra and sound box behind it, to project and enhance the acoustics of the theatre. Unfortunately, due to a fire all that remains today of the original theatre is the exterior facade.

In my recent adventures, I have also visited the Royal Saltworks, Haut doubs, Loue river valley and other places of interest in the region and hope you will visit this webpage again in the coming weeks to catch up, or take some time out during your day to see these places and read my comments.