Odyssey 2006: Chapter 4

November 1st, 2006 • Related • Filed Under

by Lins, emmagem overseas correspondent in France

Overheated autumn, local recipes and Voltaire?

In L’Ingénu, written in the 18th century by Voltaire in the wake of a popular movement to liberate the minds of the French people, the reeducated Gordon made these words a famous catchphrase that ends the short story: «Malheur est bon à quelque chose. Combien d’honnêtes gens dans le monde ont pu dire : malheur n’est bon à rien ! » (Translation : Misfortune is good for something. How many honest people in the world can say: Misfortune is good for nothing!) For this entire semester, we will be working on ‘inter-disciplinary’ tools that involve the methods of forming composed commentary based on the philosophical tales and correspondences of Voltaire. Hmm¡­

Now that the classes have been progressing for more than a month, life seems to regain its intended purposes, or at least its strange wanderings when they are least expected. Coming to France was, for me, to learn its culture, its language and its customs but as time revealed, I came to learn more about myself, my culture and my priorities, or whatever I believe I understood. I find telling light hearted stories a good therapy to understand oneself: as far as mocking one’s ego, sharing a few cooking recipes and travel tips can handle. It takes courage too to hang on in a foreign land; just when you thought that you knew it all, things always never fail to surprise; or at least that’s what happened in the chronological time frame - this year, bureaucratic glitches gets even more stubborn than the persisting heat of summer. If you think that the bureaucratic red tapes in Malaysia can be dumbfounding, you haven’t seen the worst yet. And THAT, coming from a developed country, is as mismatched as impression as wearing a pair of pyjamas to a wedding dinner.

Back at the fac, life takes on its usual grind of learning activities, quite spoon-fed at times and extremely autonomous other times. It can be a heady brew of confusion; as our unaccustomed learning pattern acquired back home would unveil progressively the aspects of the term malheur to some compatriots, casualties of the unforeseen, the unsaid and the unattainable; the unexplained and the uninterested in some instances too. To move on, I guess one just have to learn to pick up, don’t look back too often and have enough courage and a light dose of grit to wonder what’s waiting down the horizon. Of course it is always easier said than done, but many who had worked the other side of the fence would realize that the grass has only a common color everywhere. I suppose being away from one’s comfort zone allows certain objectivity towards one’s own state of mind and education, and it can be surreal to see oneself through the other side of the looking glass¡­like what Voltaire wanted the people of France to see in using a protagonist that was brought up in a different culture. Old wisdom never fails in trying times.

And speaking of mind (and lighter things please!), the changing of seasons brings to mind the arrival of an exciting time at the local market. Combing the farmer’s market was one of my favorite pastimes until it became a weekly routine. The onset of autumn, rivaled only by the late springtime market in terms of color, senses, taste and variety, is always buzzing with all kinds of seasonal specialties, bearing in mind that it is also the harvest season for farm produce. Above all, it is the season where one can find games (the hunting season was announced about 2 weeks ago); wild mushrooms, fresh honey with a bewildering array of ‘taste’ like acacia, caramel, nutty, sunflower, etc; pumpkins (Halloween, a popular American cultural export, is now celebrated in France), chrysanthemums ( a Chinese export but now grown locally), the lasts of the dahlias and zinnias; heaps and heaps of noix, marrons and noisettes; fresh apple cider; and promotions for the ever popular foie gras and magret de canard.


Popularly known as cèpes ( porcini in Italian) the boletus mushroom is greatly appreciated for its exceptional flavor and aroma

This year, prolonged summer heat into autumn coupled with torrential rains had created an over abundance of wild mushroom never seen the last three years I was here. A kilo of cèpes that normally goes as far as 35 euros now sells for a mere 15. Good news for the consumers, bad news for the vendors and collectors as I noticed that many stalls are having abnormal unsold quantities. It is also a very French thing to go collect and most people have their own secret collecting patches in the woods and it takes a lot of effort and persuasion to be admitted into this secretive rite as people protect their secrets like gold. Another thing, not knowing how to collect can also end in tragedies: as recently as yesterday, 7 people were admitted into the hospital in critical condition after having eaten collected mushrooms. Two years ago, I’ve collected mushrooms with some French friends in the woods in a small town called Soosay but it wasn’t too fruitful because it was end of season and frost had already begun to set in. They had to be separated, each and every kind, to prevent contamination should there be mistakes and upon the end of collecting, they needed to be verified by a certified pharmacist. The law in France requires certification of the edibility of mushrooms sold in the market. Among the most popular are the cèpe, the pied de mouton, the chantrelle, and the trompette de mort. The famous truffe, a much coveted aromatic mushroom, needs no introduction but it is another case altogether. My first contact with the French cuisine was marked by three unforgettable dishes - potatoes cooked with duck fat and perfumed with cèpes, home made foie gras and the confit de canard. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on duck fat (this exudes a very particular and rich aroma), dried juniper berries, dried cèpes (porcini) and imported duck breast meat from France known as magret de canard, here’s two recipes that are easy to execute and extremely delicious:

Pommes de terre aux cèpes (Potatoes with cèpes)

Serves 4
1 kilo new potatoes, precooked in boiling water with a teaspoon of sea salt, skins left intact (or peeled, according to preference)
20 grams of dried porcini, presoaked and chopped coarsely
2 tablespoonful of duck fat
2 tablespoonful of sunflower oil
3 large cloves of fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoonful of chopped fresh parsley

Salt to taste

Heat up a deep frying pan, pour in the sunflower oil and infuse the oil with a touch of the garlic. Follow up with the presoaked mushroom. They need to be well cooked before they let out their aroma. Be careful not to burn them in the process. When you can smell their strong aroma, add the potatoes and duck fat. Coat the potatoes evenly with the duck fat and let them simmer slowly in low heat, turning frequently to avoid uneven cooking. The aroma from the mushroom and the duck fat will penetrate into the potatoes. Just about when the potatoes are done, in about 10 to 15 minutes, sprinkle salt, add the remaining garlic and stir well. Before serving, sprinkle with the chopped parsley (optional).

For the main dish;

Magret de canard, sauce Grand Marnier

2 pieces of magret about 400-500 grams apiece (do not remove the skin nor the fat)
1 tablespoonful of dried juniper berries, freshly crushed
Freshly grounded sea salt
Grand Marnier (liquor) to marinate the breast meat and for the sauce
10 cl of light fresh cream

Coat the breast meat well first with the liquor, then sprinkle of salt and finally the crushed juniper berries. Make deep oblique cuts with a sharp knife on the skin side of the meat to help absorption and also avoid uneven shrinking of the meat when cooked. Cover and leave in the fridge until ready to use. As the duck meat cooks rapidly, it has to be prepared the last minute before serving your guests.

In a well heated non-stick frying pan, put in, the skin side first, the meat and let it sears for 2-3 minutes. Fat will be released from the skin of the duck meat hence it is unnecessary to use oil. Turn the meat and sear for another 2 minutes in its own fat. Do not overcook. Remove the magret and pour in 2 tablespoonful of Grand marnier to deglaze the pan. Stir and add the fresh cream, bringing to a light boil to reduce the sauce and sprinkle freshly grounded salt and black pepper to taste. On a chopping board, cut the magret with a very sharp knife and serve at once with the sauce.

Bon appetite!

The chrysanthemum is a dominant flower in the market in autumn. A Chinese cultural import to France, they are now progressively used widely as a town landscaping element. Normally, its use is limited to decorating tombs and graveyards but since the last two years, it is widely used to decorate the city landscapes. When visiting someone, it goes beyond saying to NOT offer chrysanthemums - a bit like Chinese ‘pantang’ since the flowers are reserved for the dead. The week-long holiday during the celebration of Toussaint (All Saints’ Day) on 1st November see people returning to their hometowns en masse to clean and pay homage to their dead (called ‘défunt‘ in French). I can’t help but compare the similarity of cultures.


Colors of autumn: freshly collected marrons (chestnuts) and noix (walnuts) found in the market


Wide choice of chrysanthemums sold as the choice flower that is frequently used to decorate family tombs on Toussaint- the All Saints’ Day celebrated on the 1st November.

Cultural notes:

  • Voltaire is an 18th century French philosopher that help liberated the French people from the old ‘unscientific’ mindset of looking at things. The 18th century is known as the ‘siècle de lumiére‘, a century of scientific innovations and reasoning of the mind.
  • Noix is French for walnut
  • Marron is French for chestnut
  • Noisette is French for hazelnut
  • Magret is the breast meat of fattened duck
  • Foie is French for liver. Liver from fattened ducks or geese are specialty of the French cuisine.

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